Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of applying the same exemption for back payments of employment support allowance from the capital means test for legal aid eligibility as was applied for payments made under the Windrush compensation scheme.
In its Legal Support Action Plan published on 7 February 2019, the Government announced a review of Legal Aid Means Testing, which will look at the thresholds for legal aid entitlement and their interaction with wider criteria.
As part of this review, the Government will study the income and capital thresholds for legal aid entitlement, including the range of exemptions and disregards, which apply to both the civil and criminal legal aid means assessments.