In a powerful judgment delivered today the Divisional Court has confirmed that Government proposals to introduce a “residence test” for civil legal aid are unlawful. The thrust of those proposals was to prevent those who could not prove 12 months lawful residence in the UK from accessing the legal aid scheme.…
15 Jul 2014
The Public Law Project has produced a further briefing regarding measures in Part 4 of the Criminal Justice & Courts Bill relating to Judicial Review.…
8 Jul 2014
The Law Society is supporting a challenge brought by the Public Law Project on behalf of Rights of Women, over the lawfulness of Government changes to legal aid which are preventing victims of domestic abuse from getting legal aid for family cases, even when it is clear there has been violence, or there is an ongoing risk of violence. Rights of Women argue that this is not what parliament intended.…
10 Jun 2014
"Unjustified", with "significant implications for effective access to justice" and " problematic from the point of view of the rule of law". The Joint Committee on Human Rights today released a strident report on the Government’s judicial review reforms. Following on from last year’s damning report into the implications for access to justice arising out of the Government’s previous tranche of legal aid cuts, including the residence test for civil legal aid, today’s report undermines the Lord Chancellor’s rationale for the ongoing judicial review reforms, both the changes to the payment regime for judicial review work that came into effect on 22 April 2014 and the measures in part 4 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill currently going through Parliament, and warns of their consequences.…
30 Apr 2014
New payment arrangements for publicly funded judicial review cases came into force this Tuesday.…
25 Apr 2014