Once again (see our previous post on child care deductions for students), Ben Hoare Bell has succeeded in persuading the Ministry of Justice to make an amendment that will benefit practitioners and clients alike. The firm pointed out that Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) were abolished under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and replaced with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). PCTs were named as 'relevant persons' under paragraph 6 of Schedule 1 but CCGs were not, which caused a problem due to the way schedule 1 of LASPO restricts legal aid to services which are explicitly within scope. However, Ben Hoare Bell was recently informed that regulations had been laid to include CCGs within the scope of Schedule 1. You can read the letter here. The Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Community Care) Regulations 2014 came into force on 7 July and you can find them on the LASPO Resources page under Statutory Instruments - civil. Many thanks to Ben Hoare Bell for taking this up with the MOJ and letting us know the outcome.