Government funding for civil cases

• • Under The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of the Offenders Act 2012, which sets up the legal aid agency, legal aid is not available for civil cases unless it is a category specifically mentioned in the Act or other categories such as issues involving children's rights, those involving liberty of the individual and cases being heard at mental health tribunals. It is no longer includes legal aid being available for breach of contract or claims of tort.
• • The funding for legal aid comes from the government's budget. This means that a set amount is made available each year.
• The government-funded Legal Aid Agency provides various advice schemes for civil cases. This includes: contracts with law firms - under these contracts they can give free advice.
• When cuts to legal aid were proposed, the government suggested that advice agencies will be able to fill the gap. This includes: Help lines - It is possible to be telephone help from the Civil Legal Advice which is a government funded scheme for providing advice in civil cases and they will help with problems such as debt, housing family issues and discrimination. From July 2015-2016, nearly 160,000 people rang the CLA telephone service.