Civil legal aid: means testing

Lord Chancellor’s guidance onto determining financial eligibility for certificated work (July(August 2023)

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Assets

If a client has an interest in assets that are in dispute, the value of the client’s assets exceeding £100k should be included in your financial eligibility check. See Regulation 38 in the 2013 Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) Regulations.

Evidence

Keep copies of the original documents that confirm your client’s financial circumstances.

To ensure you collect the correct evidence from the client you should refer to the appropriate form as follows:

Controlled work and family mediation

• CW 1
• CW 2
• CIV MEANS 7

If you can’t find evidence of means for controlled work and family mediation cases, make sure your client is covered by one of the reasons in paragraph 3.24 of the standard civil contract 2013 specification.

Licensed work

• CIV MEANS 1 – initial assessment and further assessment
• CIV MEANS 2 – assessments for people who receive named benefits
• CIV MEANS 3 – assessments for people whose main home is outside the UK
• CIV MEANS 4 – for child clients under 16 with less than £2,500 capital and no regular income
• CIV MEANS 5 – to record an increase in capital

See all CIV MEANS forms.

Passporting

If a client receives certain benefits they’re passported through the income means test, so they automatically qualify within the income limits but you must still assess their capital.

Passporting benefits include:

• Income Support (IS)
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Universal Credit (UC)
• Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit (GC)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

You must assess capital means in all cases. However, if your client receives financial support under sections 4 or 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 from the National Asylum Support Service (NASS), they’re passported through both income and capital tests for controlled work immigration and asylum matters only.

Eligibility limits

Gross income limit

Your client’s gross monthly income should be £2,657 or less. If they have more than 4 child dependants, add £222 to this figure for the fifth child and each further child.

Disposable income limit

This limit is set at £733 per month.

Disposable capital limit

This limit is set at £8,000 for all civil legal services except any relating to an immigration matter set out in regulation 8(3), which is capped at £3,000.

Clients do not make contributions for controlled work and family mediation cases. We’ll collect contributions for licensed work where disposable income exceeds £315 per calendar month and/or capital exceeds £3,000.

Domestic violence and forced marriage cases

The LAA waives all upper eligibility limits if your client is applying for legal aid for an order for protection from domestic violence or forced marriage. However, a contribution may be required.

Checking financial eligibility: step-by-step guidance

1. Check if your client has a partner whose income should be included in calculations - see regulation 16.

2. Check if your client receives any of the passporting benefits (see above). If they do, you only need to means test their disposable capital.

3. If your client doesn’t receive a passporting benefit you need to test that their gross income is £2,657 per month or less before you check their disposable income.

4. Test disposable income to make sure it is £733 or less.

5. If your client has passed the income means tests you should assess their disposable capital to make sure it’s no more than £8,000 - or £3,000 if their case is a controlled work immigration matter described in regulation 8(3): if your client passes this test they’ll be financially eligible.

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Further guidance

LAA civil legal aid eligibility keycard

PDF, 239234 KB, 5 pages

Lord Chancellor's guidance

PDF, 516 KB, 65 pages

Guide to understanding the effect of Universal Credit on means testing

PDF, 286 KB, 2 pages

Means assessment guidance (May(April 2023)2024)

PDF, 1.561.79 MB, 308306 pages

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Disregarded income guidance

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Grenfell guidance on disregarded payments

PDF, 272 KB, 2 pages

Guidance on disregard of Windrush Compensation Scheme payments

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Disregard of payments from Infected Blood Support Schemes (and other specified compensation payments) - Guidance for providers

PDF, 155 KB, 3 pages