The Legal Advice and Assistance (Amendment) Regulations 1997

• Citation: S.I. 1997/751
• Sections: 8

Section 1 Citation, commencement and interpretation

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Legal Advice and Assistance (Amendment) Regulations 1997 and shall come into force on 1st April 1997, except for regulation 5 which shall come into force on 7th April 1997 and regulations 3, 4 and 6 which shall come into force on 1st June 1997.

(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, a regulation or Schedule referred to by number alone means the regulation or Schedule so numbered in the Legal Advice and Assistance Regulations 1989 .

Section 2 Transitional Provisions

(1) Regulation 5 of these Regulations shall apply to applications for advice and assistance made on or after 7th April 1997 and applications made before that date shall be treated as if regulation 5 had not come into force.

(2) Regulation 7 of these Regulations shall apply to applications for advice and assistance made on or after 1st April 1997 and applications made before that date shall be treated as if regulation 7 had not come into force.

(3) Regulation 8 of these Regulations shall apply for the purposes of work done on or after 1st April 1997 to which the Legal Advice and Assistance Regulations 1989 apply.

Section 3 Amendments to the Legal Advice and Assistance Regulations 1989

In the Arrangement of Regulations, the title to regulation 7 shall be amended by omitting the word “criminal”.

Section 4 Amendments to the Legal Advice and Assistance Regulations 1989

In regulation 7, the title shall be amended by omitting the word “criminal”.

Section 5 Amendments to the Legal Advice and Assistance Regulations 1989

(1) Regulation 11 shall be amended by substituting

(a) “£77” for “£75” in paragraph (1) and

(b) “£166” for “£162” in paragraph (2).

(2) Regulation 12 shall be amended by substituting

(a) “£69” for “£67” in each of the places where that amount is stated in paragraphs (1), (2) and (5) and

(b) “£166” for “£162” in paragraph (1).

Section 6 Amendments to the Legal Advice and Assistance Regulations 1989

(1) Regulation 22(3) shall be amended by substituting, for “7(2) or 9”, “7(2), (4) or 9”.

(2) Regulation 22(5) shall be amended by substituting, for “regulation 9”, “regulation 7(4) or 9”.

(3) Regulation 22(6) shall be amended by inserting, at the beginning, “Subject to paragraph (6A) below,”.

(4) After regulation 22(6) there shall be inserted the following:—

(6A) In respect of ABWOR to which Part III of the Act applies by virtue of regulation 7(4) of the Scope Regulations, an application for approval may be refused if—

(a) it appears unreasonable that approval should be granted in the particular circumstances of the case (because, for example, ABWOR is available in accordance with arrangements made by the Board under regulation 7(1)), or

(b) it is not in the interests of justice that approval should be granted (because, for example, the applicable law is not unduly complex or there is no real risk of imprisonment).

Section 7 Amendments to the Legal Advice and Assistance Regulations 1989

(1) Paragraph 9A of Schedule 2 shall stand as sub-paragraph (1) of that paragraph.

(2) After paragraph 9A(1) of Schedule 2, there shall be inserted the following:—

(2) In computing disposable income, a payment made under the Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996 shall be disregarded.

Section 8 Amendments to the Legal Advice and Assistance Regulations 1989

Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Schedule 6 shall be amended by substituting “(a), (c) or (d)” for “(a) or (c)”.