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Obtaining exceptional funding under LASPO – is it worth applying? (Yes)
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Carol Storer Legal Aid Practitioners Group
Tom Royston Garden Court North
Legal challenges around s 10 LASPO
The statutory scheme
1. There is a right under s 10 LASPO to civil legal aid for any out-of-scope matter where an exceptional case determination [‘ECD’] has been made by the Director of Legal Aid Casework.
2. An ECD must be made where not to provide legal aid would breach:
a. the individual's Convention rights (within the meaning of the Human Rights Act 1998); or
b. any rights of the individual to the provision of legal services that are enforceable EU rights: s 10(3)(a).
3. An ECD
may be made where there is a
risk of such an outcome: s 10(3)(b).
The problem
4. The problem with obtaining funding in s 10 cases is well known. A derisory number of cases have succeeded on application to...
Read the full article here.