In the field of civil justice, pending procedures and proceedings initiated before the end of the transition period will continue under EU law. The e-Justice Portal, on the basis of a mutual agreement with the UK, will maintain the relevant information related to the United Kingdom until the end of 2024.

Legal aid

Northern Ireland

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Northern Ireland

Legal Aid Directive UK Compliance

Article 15 - Processing of Applications

The computer systems of the United Kingdom legal aid authorities ensure that applicants are informed when applications are received and when any decisions are made on an application.

Reasons are always given by the appropriate authority for all full or partial rejections of applications.

In England and Wales, for most forms of legal aid there is a right of appeal to an independent legal panel of experienced lawyers drawn from private practice. Procedures for review of refusal of applications for civil legal aid are also in place in Scotland. All refusals of legal aid in the United Kingdom are challengeable by the Courts through judicial review.

Article 16 - Standard Form

In England and Wales the standard form established under this Directive will entitle the applicant to any required pre-litigation advice. As with any applicant, further information or a further form may be required to proceed to representation in Court. The solicitor providing initial advice will assist the client in preparing any further information or application form that may be required.

Scotland will accept the standard form for applications for civil legal aid for representation from November 2004 but is not yet in a position to introduce measures which will allow it to accept applications for pre litigation advice and assistance under the Directive. However, the existing advice and assistance scheme allows pre litigation advice to be made available to cross border applicants regardless of nationality or residence.

As well as the standard form under this Directive, the United Kingdom will, of course, accept applications for legal aid from persons using its own domestic application forms in cross border cases.

Final Provisions

In relation to Article 18 full information and guidance on legal aid in the United Kingdom can be found in the following website:

Legal Services Commission for England and Wales: http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/

Legal Aid Board for Scotland: http://www.slab.org.uk/

Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission: http://www.nilsc.org.uk/

Transposition Note for Implementation in The United Kingdom of the Legal Aid Directive PDF (104 Kb) en


FINDING COMPETENT COURTS/AUTHORITIES

The search tool below will help you to identify court(s)/authority(ies) competent for a specific European legal instrument. Please note that although every effort has been made to ascertain the accuracy of the results, there may be some exceptional cases concerning the determination of competence that are not necessarily covered.

United Kingdom

Northern Ireland

Legal aid


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Article 14(2), first indent - Names and addresses of the competent receiving or transmitting authorities

Click on the below link to view all competent authorities related to this Article.
List of competent authorities

Article 14(2), third indent - Available methods of receiving applications

We would accept an application by personal delivery or post (including document exchange).  We also accept requests by fax from solicitors to undertake urgent steps on behalf of clients prior to submission and determination of the actual application for civil legal aid.

We are also committed to developing an e-business solution in the longer term.

Article 14(2), fourth indent - Languages that may be used for completion of the application

Applications will be accepted in English.

Last update: 05/11/2018

The national language version of this page is maintained by the respective Member State. The translations have been done by the European Commission service. Possible changes introduced in the original by the competent national authority may not be yet reflected in the translations. The European Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to any information or data contained or referred to in this document. Please refer to the legal notice to see copyright rules for the Member State responsible for this page.