Criminal legal aid: means testing
Determine financial eligibility for legal aid: check household income, calculate living costs, enforcement action, apply for hardship or eligibility review.
Applies to England and Wales
Overview
This page covers means testing for representation in criminal proceedings. For means testing delegated to providers (Advice and Assistance and Advocacy Assistance) go to the further information at the bottom of this page, which includes Keycard 46. You may also refer to the Criminal Bills Assessment Manual and Standard Crime Contract 2022.
The means test is one aspect of determining if someone qualifies for legal aid to cover some or all of their defence costs. It takes into account:
- income
- family circumstances, such as number of children
- essential living costs, such as mortgage or rent
Eligibility also depends on the type of case and where it’s heard.
Applicants must also pass the Interests of Justice test (IoJ). Applicants under 18 automatically pass the IoJ test, as do applicants applying in relation to:
- cases committed, sent or transferred to Crown Court for trial
- voluntary bills of indictment
- retrials
- committals for sentence
Applicants who fail the means test can apply for a review on the grounds of hardship. This will consider any expenditure that we have not yet taken into account, and the likely costs of the case.
Use the calculator
You can use the calculator before submitting an application to quickly check if your client is likely to pass the means test. The calculator may be particularly useful if you’re trying to estimate eligibility for more complex means cases or to estimate contribution levels in the Crown Court.
Passporting
Applicants will passport the means test to automatically get free legal aid if they’re under 18 or receive:
- Income Support (IS)
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Universal Credit (UC)
- State Pension Guarantee Credit
- income-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
They must also pass the IoJ test. As shown above some applicants will automatically pass this.
If your client receives one of the passporting benefits, they need to provide their National Insurance number (unless your client has been remanded into custody by the court). When completing the application in the Apply for criminal legal aid service, a ‘real time’ link to the DWP benefits checker confirms the Passported Benefit status within a few moments.
If your client has missed their benefits sign-on date, it’s possible to search over a longer period. You need to enter their sign-on date in the ‘When did you last sign on?’ field.
Find out more about how to make an application for legal aid.
Initial means test
You need to work out the applicant’s gross annual income and family circumstances. Gross annual income is weighted to account for the number and ages of family members. The resulting value is known as ‘adjusted annual income’.
Use this formula: gross annual income divided by weighting equals adjusted annual income.
Calculate gross annual income
Take the client’s gross income (before tax and National Insurance deductions) and, if they have a partner, add their partner’s gross income.
The means test includes income from employment and/or self-employment, as well as income from:
- relatives and friends
- pension
- property (including rent from lodgers)
- student loan payments
- interest from savings
- maintenance received from former partners
You also need to include any benefits that aren’t listed above as passporting benefits or included in the Criminal Legal Aid Manual as disregarded benefits, for example:
- Child Benefit
- Tax Credits
- Incapacity Benefit
- Industrial Injuries payments
- Disablement Benefit
- Savings Pension Credit
- contribution-based JSA
See Annex S of the Criminal Legal Aid Manual or contact the Criminal applications helpline for more information.
Calculate weighting
- Single adult: 1.00 + any children
- Couple: 1.64 + any children
- Each child: based on their age at their next birthday (see table)
| Age of child (next birthday) | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 0-1 | 0.15 |
| 2-4 | 0.30 |
| 5-7 | 0.34 |
| 8-10 | 0.38 |
| 11-12 | 0.41 |
| 13-15 | 0.44 |
| 16-18 | 0.59 |
How the results work depending on case type
| Adjusted income | Magistrates’ court | Committal for sentence | Appeal to the Crown Court | Crown court trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £12,475 or less | funded | funded | funded | funded, no income contribution |
| More than £12,475, less than £22,325 | depends on full means test | depends on full means test | possible fee, depends on full means test and outcome of appeal | possible income contribution, depends on full means test |
| £22,325 or more | not funded | not funded | depends on full means test and outcome of appeal | possibly not funded* or possible income contribution, depends on full means test |
*For Crown Court trials, applicants with a household disposable income of £37,500 or more are ineligible.
Example
An applicant for legal aid has a gross income of £20,800 and his partner’s is £11,000. They have a child aged 9 next birthday, a child aged 5 next birthday and a child aged 2 next birthday.
The applicant’s adjusted income is calculated as follows:
| Applicant and family | Weighting value |
|---|---|
| Applicant | 1.0 |
| Partner | 0.64 |
| Child 1 | 0.38 |
| Child 2 | 0.34 |
| Child 3 | 0.30 |
The total weighting factor is 2.66.
The total income received in this family is £31,800. Divide this figure by 2.66 to get £11,955, so the applicant passes the initial means test and gets funding.
Full means testing
Use the full means test if the adjusted annual income was found to be more than £12,475 and less than £22,325.
The full means test works out your client’s ‘disposable income’. It’s calculated by deducting living costs from the client’s gross annual income. The adjusted income from the initial means test is not valid for the full means test.
The client’s living costs include:
- tax and National Insurance
- annual housing costs
- annual childcare costs
- annual maintenance to former partners and any children
- an adjusted annual living allowance
Calculate adjusted living allowance
For a single person the allowance is £5,676. This covers an average person’s essential spending on items like food, clothing and fuel.
The allowance is weighted to take account of the size of an applicant’s family - using the same weighting values as above. The resulting value is known as the ‘adjusted living allowance’.
How the results work
| Adjusted income | Magistrates’ court | Committal for sentence | Appeal to the Crown Court | Crown Court trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £3,398 or less | funded | funded | funded | no income contribution |
| more than £3,398 | not funded | not funded | possible funding, depends on outcome of appeal | eligible with income contribution if disposable income is less than £37,500 |
Example
An applicant and his partner have a gross annual income of £43,500 and 2 children aged 12 next birthday and 1 next birthday.
The applicant’s adjusted living allowance is calculated as follows:
| Applicant and family | Weighting value |
|---|---|
| Applicant | 1 |
| Partner | 0.64 |
| Child 1 | 0.15 |
| Child 2 | 0.41 |
The weighting factor is 2.20.
So their adjusted living allowance is £12,487 (£5,676 x 2.2).
They also have rent, childcare, tax and National Insurance costs of £28,340. This is deducted from their gross annual income (£43,500), leaving a disposable income of £2,673. This applicant qualifies for legal aid.
Complex means
A small number of applicants may have complex financial circumstances. For example, if they’re:
- self-employed
- in a business partnership
- a company director
- in the armed forces
- subject to a restraint or freezing order
For details on how complex means are assessed refer to the Criminal Legal Aid Manual.
For practical guidance on the evidence required for different types of self-employment, and what information to provide if evidence cannot be obtained, read . This document has been designed to help avoid delays in the processing of applications and allow us to make a decision on first submission.
Means testing and eligibility forms
You must give the client’s means information in the application for legal aid.
Apply online using the Apply for criminal legal aid service.
See the Apply for legal aid page for further information.
You may also need to access CRM16 - application for review on the grounds of hardship (see below).
Please note the CRM16 form for hardship or eligibility reviews is a paper form and should be submitted as follows:
If you are submitting a CRM16 as part of a New Applications Following Ineligibility, or your client is applying for the first time and wishes to submit a CRM16 at the same time, you should upload the CRM16 as evidence to the application in the Apply for criminal legal aid service. Please make a note in the further information field of the application that a CRM16 is attached.
In all other circumstances you must email the CRM16 form to [email protected]
Making contributions in the Crown Court
For Crown Court trials there are two types of contribution a defendant may have to make - either from income and/or capital.
They may have to pay all, some or none of their defence costs, depending on what the means test decides they can afford from their income and capital assets.
The following flyer explains the responsibilities of those in receipt of legal aid, as well as those of the LAA and its collection and enforcement agent, and may assist clients:
For Crown Court trials, clients who fail the means assessment as their annual household disposable income is above the £3,398 threshold (but below the £37,500 eligibility threshold) will be asked to make a contribution from income. Income contributions are set at 90% of disposable income and will be for a maximum of 6 months. For applicants who have a higher disposable income than their likely case costs, contributions will be limited to a maximum income contribution to reduce the risk of over payment.
At the end of the case, if the defendant is found not guilty they will get all their money back with interest at a rate of 2%.
For Appeals to Crown Court, clients who fail the means assessment, and then abandon, or are unsuccessful in, their appeal will have to pay towards the cost of the appeal as follows:
- £500 for an appeal against conviction abandoned or dismissed
- £250 for an appeal against conviction dismissed but sentence is reduced
- £250 for an appeal against sentence or order abandoned or dismissed
Where payment is required, clients will be contacted after the outcome of the appeal.
Enforcement action
If your client fails to make payments after they’ve received contribution orders, they’ll face enforcement action.
Where payment is not made or a payment arrangement is not maintained, the LAA continues to instruct the Debt Recovery Company to enforce unpaid contributions.
If payment is not made interest will be charged at 6% – enforcement action may follow.
The costs of any action will be added to the amount clients owe.
Enforcement options include but are not limited to:
- charging order secured against any property owned
- 8% interest on charging orders
- third party debt order against any money deposited in an account
- attachment of earnings order, where payment can be deducted at source
- High Court enforcement, via writ of Fi Fa
- distress warrants, where goods can be seized, removed and sold
- order to clamp and/or sell any vehicle owned
See the for practical guidance on what to do if you are subject to an application for a clamping order or vehicle sale order and wish to contest the application. This guidance may also be relevant to any other person who shares ownership of the vehicle or who relies on the vehicle for transport.
Money recovered will be returned to the legal aid fund.
Exceptional circumstances: hardship and eligibility reviews
Magistrates’ court hardship application
Applicants who fail the means test (or are likely to fail) can apply for a review on the grounds of hardship. This will consider any expenditure that we have not yet taken into account. You may also estimate the likely costs of their case.
We will assess whether additional expenditure takes your client’s disposable income below £3,398. They will also deduct the likely costs estimate (where provided).
Crown Court eligibility review
Applicants assessed to have disposable income of £37,500 or more can apply for an eligibility review. This will consider any expenditure that we have not yet taken into account.
You should also estimate the likely private costs of their case.
We will assess whether the estimated private legal fees, alone or together with extra expenditure, take your client’s disposable income below £37,500.
If the application is successful, we will calculate whether they’re liable for any income contribution towards costs.
Crown Court hardship application
Applicants who have been granted a Crown Court representation order but asked to make monthly contributions from their income (or are likely to be granted legal aid with an income contribution) may want additional expenditure to be considered. They need to make a Crown Court hardship application.
A revised contribution order will be issued if your client’s disposable income is reduced. If it’s £3,398 or less, the contribution order will be revoked.
How to apply for a hardship or eligibility review
The applicant can seek a hardship review at the same time as their initial legal aid application or afterwards. They must complete a CRM16 hardship application form.
Please note the CRM16 form for hardship or eligibility reviews is a paper form. It should be submitted as follows:
If you are submitting a CRM16 as part of a New Applications Following Ineligibility, or your client is applying for the first time and wishes to submit a CRM16 at the same time, you should upload the CRM16 as evidence to the application in the Apply for criminal legal aid service. Please make a note in the further information field of the application that a CRM16 is attached.
In all other circumstances you must email the CRM16 form to [email protected].
Full details of the eligibility review and the hardship review can be found in section 15 of the Criminal Legal Aid Manual.
Further guidance
Updates to this page
Published 1 June 2014Last updated 13 April 2022 + show all updates
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Update to replace the Criminal Keycard 45A document with the Criminal Keycard 46 document
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Updated the flyer for applicants in receipt of legal aid for Crown Court trials, to include the correct name and contact details for the Debt Recover Company (DRC), Marston Holdings Ltd.
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Published practical guidance for providers on the evidential requirements for different types of self-employment.
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Guidance on disregard of Windrush Compensation Scheme payments published.
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Published a flyer for applicants in receipt of legal aid for Crown Court trials, to explain their responsibilities and those of the LAA and its collection and enforcement agent.
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Content updated.
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Disregarded income guidance published.
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Criminal Keycard 45A published.
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Motor Vehicle Order Scheme guidance published
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Guidance document is updated
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First published.