Housing Legal Aid: the way forward

The government is consulting on a proposed new model for the delivery of housing possession legal aid. This aims to ensure the sustainability of the service and to improve the breadth and quality of advice available for individuals facing the loss of their home.

The key proposals in this consultation are:

• remodel the delivery of the HPCDS to become a new Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS), incorporating both the existing service of advice and representation at court but also early legal advice before court
• expanding the scope of legal aid so that HLPAS providers can offer early legal advice on social welfare law matters to individuals facing procession proceedings
• contracts for individual courts rather than larger geographical areas
• allowing providers to claim for the court duty fee in addition to a Legal Help fee for follow on work
• introducing a set attendance fee for all schemes, replacing the existing nil session payment