Tag Archive for 'Legal Aid'

Adams v LGO

By FT on 21/12/2011. 4 Comments

I need to make the obvious pun about the Adams family but the monsters in this particular case were really played collectively by Lambeth. The case is R on the application of Janet Adams v The Commission for Local Administration for England. This is essentially a very negative decision on costs in which Pierce Glynn got little or no thanks by way of remuneration for a lengthy battle on behalf of the Adams sisters for suitable accommodation. Janet and Joan Adams are two sisters who have various and significant health problems. Janet is Joan’s primary carer. Neither are able to work and they live on a very restricted income.

Pierce … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All and Various (non-housing). Tags: , , .

Delays, stays and funding limitations

By NL on 02/10/2011. 4 Comments

Windsor and District Housing Association v Hewitt [2011] EWCA Civ 1096 (Not on Bailii or elsewhere. We’ve seen a transcript). It is of interest not least for the Court of Appeal’s view of the meaning of the funding limitations on a Public Funding Certificate.

This was an application to the Court of Appeal for a stay of eviction pending determination of an application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. The original Court of Appeal decision – Windsor and District Housing Association v Hewitt (2011) CA (Civ Div) 19/05/2011 – we reported on here. The issue was whether Ms H had obtained a transfer to a two bed … Read the full post

Posted in assured-tenancy, FLW case note, Housing law - All and Possession. Tags: , .

Ask not for whom the bill tolls

By NL on 21/06/2011. 15 Comments

Closed Temple BarSo there we are – the Legal Aid bill, helpfully called the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, lurched into the light today, accompanied at the same time by the Consultation response [at the bottom of the page]. Some of us saw the bill this morning after it went up on the Parliament site, only to be hastily (but not hastily enough) taken down again (Well done iLegal).

And what does it mean? Pretty much exactly what the initial proposals set out. Oh and the LSC is to be abolished. The MoJ will take legal aid funding decisions in house, with no prospect of possible conflicts … Read the full post

Posted in FLW article, Housing law - All and Various (non-housing). Tags: , , , .

Legal Aid reforms – Housing

By NL on 15/11/2010. 23 Comments

The Ministry of Justice ‘consultation paper’ on reforms to legal aid to achieve a £350 million cut by 2013/4 is out. It is a hefty 224 odd pages. Responses are required by 14 February 2011

I’ve done what I can to fillet out its significance for housing and social welfare provision, cutting out the various justifications, excuses and statements of purpose. The following are the proposals on which consultation is to take place.

Scope:
Housing – to remain in scope are:

  • homelessness, at least at s.204 appeal (the document is silent on help at s.184 or s.202 stages).
  • possession claims (tenancy and mortgage)
  • disrepair counterclaims to possession claims
  • “serious housing

    • … Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All and Various (non-housing). Tags: , .

If you’ve got a spare 30 mins

By J on 28/10/2010. 3 Comments

The Lord Chancellor, the Rt Hon. Ken Clarke QC MP gave a surprisingly frank interview to Law in Action this week. It’s available on the BBC iplayer, here, for the moment and is very much worth 30 mins of your time. The questions on legal aid and, in particular, housing and legal aid are rather short on specifics, but it’s clear that the direction of travel is to remove more areas of law from the scope of legal aid (family law in particular) and to alter the eligibility thresholds.… Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All and Various (non-housing). Tags: .

Parish notices

By J on 28/10/2010. 0 Comments

Our friends at the LAPG have reminded us that the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid meets on Wednesday 24 November in Committee Room 14 of the House of Commons between 2 and 4 pm. The speaker will be Jonathan Djangoly MP, Minister for Courts and Legal Aid. It is anticipated that the MoJ consultation paper on the legal aid budget will have been published by then.

All welcome, although I understand from having attended these things before that preference is given to MPs and Peers and once the room is full, no-one else can get in.… Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All. Tags: .

Social Welfare contracts – not over yet

By NL on 17/10/2010. 2 Comments

While Family and Family and Housing roll on under the old contracts, SWL new contracts are due to start on 15 November.

However, there is another judicial review claim by an unsuccessful firm, Davies Gore Lomax of Leeds. The hearing is listed for 27 October.

The claim is apparently on the grounds that:

The point for having 10 upper tribunal appeal cases was irrational (the same argument advanced by CLP in their settled proceedings)

The points for having an approved intermediary for debt at the time of the bid were unfair when “the LSC said in its consultation response last summer that we did not need to have one … Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All and Various (non-housing). Tags: , , .
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