Question 1

What is legal aid and who qualifies?

Accepted Answer

**Legal aid** is public funding for legal advice and representation for people who cannot afford it. Its scope in England and Wales was substantially narrowed by the **Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LAPO)**, and understanding what remains matters.

**Criminal legal aid** is the broader provision.

At the **police station**, advice from a duty solicitor is **free to everyone**, regardless of means. This is an absolute right and there is no reason to decline it.

For court proceedings, funding depends on a **means test** and an **interests of justice test** — considering whether you risk losing liberty or livelihood, the complexity of the case, and whether you can follow proceedings. Crown Court cases are more readily funded, though contribution orders can require repayment.

**Civil legal aid is far more restricted.** LASPO removed whole areas from scope. Generally **not** available: most family cases, most housing matters short of possession, employment, welfare benefits (except some appeals on points of law), immigration other than asylum, and most debt and consumer matters.

**Still in scope**, broadly: cases where a person faces homelessness, community care, mental health detention, child protection proceedings, asylum, and **domestic abuse cases** — where evidence of abuse can also unlock family legal aid otherwise unavailable.

**Two tests apply:** **means** — income and capital, including home equity, with contributions required in some brackets; and **merits** — reasonable prospects of success and proportionality.

**Exceptional Case Funding** exists for out-of-scope matters where refusal would breach human rights, though grant rates have been criticised as low.

**The consequences of the reforms** have been well documented: a large rise in **litigants in person**, and **legal aid deserts** where no local provider takes publicly funded work at the rates offered.

**Free alternatives:** Citizens Advice, law centres, university law clinics, pro bono schemes, trade unions, and legal expenses insurance you may already hold.

Question 2

What rights does a victim of crime actually have?

Accepted Answer

A set of entitlements set out in a statutory code — which many victims do not know exists, and which places obligations on police, prosecutors and courts rather than offering discretionary kindness.

Question 3

What is the difference between a magistrates' court and a Crown Court?

Accepted Answer

They handle different levels of criminal offence, with different personnel, procedures and sentencing powers. Magistrates' court. All criminal cases in England and Wales start here, and the large

Question 4

Who decides whether to prosecute someone?

Accepted Answer

In England and Wales, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decides in most cases — not the police, and not the victim. That separation is deliberate and is the point of the arrangement. Why the CPS

Question 5

How are criminal sentences actually decided?

Accepted Answer

By applying published guidelines to the specific case — a structured process that is considerably more constrained than the common perception of judges choosing freely. The Sentencing Council. An

Question 6

What is the difference between civil law and criminal law?

Accepted Answer

They answer different questions, involve different parties, use different standards of proof, and produce different outcomes. Criminal law concerns conduct considered an offence against society. The

Question 7

What is a public inquiry and how is it different from a court case?

Accepted Answer

A public inquiry investigates a matter of serious public concern to establish what happened and why, and to make recommendations preventing recurrence. It is fundamentally different from litigation,

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