2022年改善法律援助服务措施-法律援助署.PDF.docx

2022年改善法律援助服务措施-法律援助署.PDF 改善法律救济服务的措施-法律救济署 2022 i i i .hk 2022 4 30 Apr 2022 Issue No.30 Measures to improve legal aid services As part of the continued efforts by the Government to widen public access to the legal aid services in Hong Kong, new regulations have been introduced which will effectively enable more people to become nancially eligible for legal aid. The new regulations were the result of a comprehensive review of the criteria for assessing the nancial eligibility of legal aid applicants undertaken by the Government once every ve years. Prior to their introduction, the Government has consulted the Legal Aid Services Council, the LegCo Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services and the two legal professional bodies on the new measures and solicited their views. The new measures embodied in the regulations therefore have the support and endorsement of these bodies. The new regulations, namely, Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources and Contributions) (Amendment) Regulation 2022 came into effect on 20 February 2022 and allow legal aid applicants to claim additional items that can be deducted/disregarded against their income or capital when they have their means tested to determine their nancial eligibility for legal aid. Items that can be deducted from the legal aid applicants income have been expanded to cover (i) maintenance payment and (ii) provision for the care of dependants who cannot take care of themselves while the applicant is at work. Previously, no allowance was given for maintenance payment by an applicant to his separated or divorce spouse and child and an applicant could only claim the dependant care allowance on top of the statutory personal allowance if he has infant child that required care when he was at work as an employee. Under the new regulations, any applicant, whether employed or self-employed who has dependants who are unable to care for themselves by reason of their physical or mental condition while he is at work and incur expenses to hire someone to look after such dependants can make a claim for deduction. Under the new regulations, insurance monies received by the applicant that are required to meet his medical needs following an injury to which the legal aid claim relates are also disregarded as part of the applicants capital for the purpose of the means test. In general, the new allowances and the amount to be allowed save for maintenance payment paid pursuant to an order of the court would be granted only if the Director of Legal Aid considers reasonable to do so having regarded to the particular circumstances of the applicant and his case. Apart from bringing in new deductibles for calculating the nancial resources of an applicant, the Government also reduces the rate of contribution that an aided person who is successful in his claim under the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme has to pay towards the fund out of the damages he receives. The rate has been reduced to 10% from 12% if he is given the damages after counsel is briefed to appear in the hearing of the trial of his claim. This effectively means that an aided person with a successful claim will now be able to retain 2% more of the damages recovered. Another major improvement that will benet successful legally aided person is the change in the calculation of the rst charge interest rate. The rst charge arises in the event that property is recovered or preserved on behalf of a legally aided person in the aided proceedings. When that happens, the Director is entitled to be paid back the costs and expenses incurred in the aided persons case out of the property. However, if the property recovered or preserved is the home of the aided person or his dependants, the Director may defer enforcing the charge, i.e. delay selling the property to pay for the costs and expenses incurred by the Department. A requirement for deferring the enforcement of the rst charge is that interest is payable. The interest rate is at present xed at 10% per annum. On 1 June 2022 when the Legal Aid (Charge on Property) (Rate of Interest) Regulation comes into effect, instead of using a xed rate of 10% per annum, a new formula will be used whereby the rst charge interest rate would vary annually according to market movement and produce a rate that is lower than the commercial best lending rate. The new arrangement for calculating the interest rate will work in favor of legally aided persons who have recovered property through the assistance of legal aid especially in times of low interest rates as they will be charged an interest rate that will always be lower than those charged by the commercial banking institutions. 3 , 8 3 0 3 , 8 90 6 , 0 7 , 0 90 3 , 8 90 7 , 0 90 9, 7 5 0 1 1 , 4 90 1 3 , 6 3 0 1 4 , 2 0 0 1 6 , 5 4 0 h t t p : / / w w w. l a d . g o v. h k Adjustment in Personal Allowances In order to qualify for legal aid, an applicant must show that his nancial resources do not exceed the nancial eligibility limit. The nancial resources are the sum total of annual disposal income and disposal capital after certain deductions have been made. One of the deductible items is the amount of personal allowances, which has been increased with effect from 6 February 2022. For a single person applicant, the amount of personal allowances has been adjusted from $3,830 to $3,890 and for an applicant with one dependant increased from $6,1010 to $7,090. Full details of the new personal allowances are as follows: Household Size Amount Applicant only $3,890 Applicant with 1 dependant $7,090 Applicant with 2 dependants $9,750 Applicant with 3 dependants $11,490 Applicant with 4 dependants $13,630 Applicant with 5 dependants $14,200 Applicant with 6 or more dependants $16,540 The amounts of personal allowances are adjusted in February each year in line with Consumer Price Index A, and every ve years in line with the latest Household Expenditure Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department. Detailed information on the calculation of disposable income and nancial resources of an applicant for legal aid can be found in the leaet “How Your Financial Resources and Contributions are Calculated” published by the Department. It can be downloaded from the Departments website (.hk) or obtained from the Departments ofces. 2 8 5 % 90 % 3 8 5 % 90 % 1 0 90 % 8 90 % Target on criminal legal aid applications raised to 90% The performance targets for processing criminal legal aid applications in respect of appeal against sentence and appeal against conviction will be revised from 85% to 90% with effect from 1 April 2022. Type of Applications Standard Processing Time Performance Targets Criminal Legal Aid Appeals Within 2 months of the application Appeal against sentence 85% 90% Appeal against conviction Within 3 months of the application 85% 90% Court of First Instance of the Within 10 working days of the 90% High Court/District Court application Within 8 working days of the Committal proceedings 90% application Enquiries Correspondence Address 24-hour Hotline 2537 7677 2867 231 2869 0655 Legal Aid Department News Sub-committee LAD Website .hk Legal Aid Department 27/F, Queensway Government Ofces, 66 Queensway, Hong Kong. LAD e-mail ladinfo.hk Tel : 2867 2319 Fax : 2869 0655 第13页 共13页第 13 页 共 13 页第 13 页 共 13 页第 13 页 共 13 页第 13 页 共 13 页第 13 页 共 13 页第 13 页 共 13 页第 13 页 共 13 页第 13 页 共 13 页第 13 页 共 13 页第 13 页 共 13 页