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7.4Public family law includes special Children Act proceedings and ‘public law children cases’. These are defined in regulation 2 of the Civil Legal Aid (Merits Criteria) Regulations 2013. The term ‘special Children Act’ covers applications for funding from a child, parent or other person with parental responsibility in cases under Children Act 1989 ss31, 43, 44 and 45, and applications from a child under section 25 (use of accommodation for restricting liberty) but not appeals from final orders made in cases under those sections.
7.5‘Public law children cases’ are all other matters described in paras 1 and 9 of Schedule 1 to LASPO, including care, protection and supervision matters that are not special Children Act, and High Court inherent jurisdiction cases. It also includes parties other than the child or person with parental responsibility who are joined (or want to apply to be) to special Children Act cases.
7.6Note that special guardianship orders are private law family (under Children Act 1989 Part II), so the client would need to provide evidence to satisfy domestic violence (Procedure reg 33) or child protection requirements (Procedure reg 34) to be in scope of legal aid. See chapter 6 for a detailed discussion of the requirements.
7.7LASPO Sch 1 para 1 brings within scope:
(a)orders under section 25 of the Children Act 1989 (‘the 1989 Act’) (secure accommodation);
(b)orders under Part 4 of the 1989 Act (care and supervision);
(c)orders under Part 5 of the 1989 Act (protection of children);
(d)approval by a court under paragraph 19 of Schedule 2 to the 1989 Act (arrangements to assist children to live abroad);
(e)parenting orders under section 8 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (‘the 1998 Act’);
(f)child safety orders under section 11 of the 1998 Act;
(g)orders for contact under section 26 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (‘the 2002 Act’);
(h)applications for leave of the court to remove a child from a person’s custody under section 36 of the 2002 Act;
(i)placement orders, recovery orders or adoption orders under Chapter 3 of Part 1 of the 2002 Act (see sections 21, 41 and 46 of that Act);
(j)orders under section 84 of the 2002 Act (parental responsibility prior to adoption abroad).
7.8LASPO Sch 1 para 9 brings within scope:
(1)Civil legal services provided in relation to the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court in relation to children …
1Vulnerable adults are also within scope but not in the family category. See appendix D for a list of work that falls within the Family category under the legal aid standard contract.
7.9Where appropriate, you will be referred back to chapter 5, as that chapter sets out the general rules.
Scope
7.10See chapter 5 for information on the following:
•what to do if your client has received previous advice from another organisation;
•what to do if your client has received previous advice from your organisation;
•clients from abroad or clients who are abroad;
•clients who are children.
For exceptional case funding for cases that are out of scope under LASPO see chapter 4.
Controlled work and licensed work
7.11Controlled work is granted by solicitors according to rules under the Standard Contract 2013. It is called ‘controlled’ because the LAA controls the number of matter starts which are allowed each year. The kinds of controlled work that are relevant to family practitioners are Legal Help and Family Help (Lower). Help at Court is not available in family work.
7.12You need a representation certificate, sometimes known as a legal aid certificate, to represent a client in legal proceedings. This is called licensed work, as the practice has a general licence to do such work, and numbers of matter starts are not limited. Certificates may be granted by the LAA, or, in urgent circumstances, granted as a delegated function, by the organisation.