Legal Aid Services is an umbrella term for the services we offer to individuals and families who are unable to pay privately to access our Housing and Immigration & Asylum legal services.
We are authorised by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) to provide free legal help, advice and assistance to individuals and families who cannot fund their cases on a private basis. We will conduct a financial means test to determine clients’ eligibility for our legal aid services.
The types of legal aid services we provide in respect of our Housing and Immigration & Asylum Work are set out below:
| HOUSING | IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM |
| Disrepair | Asylum and Human Rights Application (Child) |
| Unlawful Eviction | Asylum and Human Rights application (Adult) |
| Suitability of accommodation | Asylum and Human Rights Appeal (Child) |
| Homelessness | Asylum and Human Rights Appeal (Adult) |
| Challenging a Council’s adverse Decision | Judicial Review |
| Defending Repossession proceedings | Further Submissions Application (Fresh Claims) |
| Evictions based on rent arrears | Domestic Violence Victims |
Access to legal aid assistance is subject to eligibility criteria being satisfied and an income and savings (financial means) assessment being undertaken to confirm eligibility. You may qualify for legal aid advice and assistance, if you receive the following benefits:
If you qualify for legal aid assistance, you do not have to pay us for any work we do or carry out on your behalf.
We will, however, monitor your continuing eligibility for our legal aid services throughout the course of your matter and our retainer. Should your financial circumstances change resulting in you being able to afford to pay privately for our services, we would expect you to report this change immediately to our attention to avoid a financial burden being passed on to the taxpayer.
Depending on your case, there may be times when expenses would have to be incurred to assist the progression of your case and enhance its prospects of success. Such payments usually include payments to third parties such as interpreters (if you do not speak English fluently), medical experts (psychiatrists, psychologists etc.) and Barristers amongst others. These payments to third parties are referred to as ‘disbursements’ and they can be incurred at the expense of the legal aid purse if you are eligible for our legal aid services.
Our aim is to provide you with a bespoke quality service. Depending on which area of law your matter relates to, it will be assigned to the most suitable solicitor in either our Housing or our Immigration & Asylum Teams. A member of the appropriate team will competently assess your case and prepare an agreed action plan with you to give effect to your instructions.
If you qualify for legal aid advice and assistance, you do not need to pay us for the work we do or carry out for you. The cost, including disbursements we will incur, will be plainly set out in our initial assessment or client care letter to you. We will bill for our time to the Legal Aid Agency, and they will pay us for the work we have done for you.
This means that following an assessment of your income and savings, you did not satisfy the eligibility criteria to qualify for our legal aid services.
If this best describes your circumstances, it means you will need to privately fund your case, i.e. pay for any legal work we carry out on your behalf.
Virgo Solicitors only offer our private Immigration and Asylum services to clients who are deemed ineligible for legal aid.
Should you be interested in other legal services we offer and would like to view more information about these services and related costs, please click here.
