§ Mr. PickthallTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will reconsider the level of property value taken into account in the awarding of legal aid, with particular reference to London. [92962]
§ Mr. VazI have no plans to do so. It is important to note that the actual market value of the home does not determine eligibility for legal aid. The means test instead takes account of the equity value of the home—that is, the difference between its current market value and the 221W amount required to redeem any mortgage secured on it. This amount depends on the personal circumstances of the applicant and not on where they live. The present amount of equity disregarded for the purposes of determining legal aid eligibility is £100,000. This level was set in the Civil Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) Regulations 1996. The Lord Chancellor consulted widely on those regulations, which were introduced to deal with the problem of apparently wealthy applicants receiving legal aid, and there was broad agreement that exempting a universal amount of equity was the correct way to proceed. The amount is the same as the maximum value up to which mortgage interest is paid for people receiving Income Support. Since eligibility for legal aid is related to movements in benefit levels, it would not be appropriate to make any changes independent of the benefit system.