Universal Credit

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 16 November 2017.

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Photo of Stephen Timms Stephen Timms Labour, East Ham

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what categories of claimants of universal credit are entitled to claim (a) help with prison visiting costs, (b) legal aid and (c) remission from court fees; and whether he plans to change those entitlements.

Photo of Dominic Raab Dominic Raab The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

The Assisted Prison Visits Scheme (APVS) provides financial assistance to prisoners’ close relatives, partners or sole visitors who meet qualifying rules on income. Those in receipt of Universal Credit are eligible for the scheme if their income does not exceed £1,250 a month, and those in receipt of Working Tax and Child Tax Credits are eligible if their annual household income does not exceed £17,474.

Legal aid eligibility is subject to statutory tests of the applicant’s financial means, and the merits of their case. All recipients of universal credit are currently deemed automatically to have passed the income element of the means test for legal aid, and will be eligible for legal aid subject to tests of their capital and the merits of their case. The government recently ran a consultation exercise on universal credit and legal aid, which closed on 11 May 2017. Ministers are carefully considering the responses and will publish the Government response to consultation in due course.

Eligibility for courts and tribunals fee remissions is based on an assessment of the applicant’s disposable capital and gross monthly income. Those in receipt of universal credit with earnings of up to £6,000 per annum are deemed automatically to meet the income test for a full fee remission under the Help with Fees scheme. The government is considering the wider implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of R (Unison) v the Lord Chancellor, including the Help with Fees scheme.

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