When people are facing criminal matters in the Crown Court they may require Legal Aid. These days, you are expected to contribute to your defence costs even when you have Legal Aid in place. This is known as a Contribution Order.
A Contribution Order is based on an assessment by the Legal Aid agency of your means. They take 90% of your assessed disposable income. They only consider basic living costs in mitigation such as rent/mortgage, Council Tax, and basic utility costs (not including things like broadband). They aim to take everything else. For instance, any debt payments are not disregarded.
Once they have worked everything out you will be told a total amount. You can pay this in one lump sum, or over a period of six months. If you pay all five initial payments on time you get your sixth payment free as an incentive to be on time. If you miss payments or canât afford them you will find Marstons debt collectors on your doorstep.
As someone who has recently experienced this system, let me assure you that the system is ânever wrongâ. They assessed me, came up with a figure, and then I lost my job and income dropped sharply. It took them time to reconsider the figure in light of changed circumstances, and so I was left having to find relatively huge amounts of money with no income.
Trying to keep up with payments and meet the demands of the Legal Aid Agency caused me no end of stress, and made me feel suicidal. The impact of the Legal Aid Agency and Contribution Orders was just as bad as facing the criminal matter I was charged with.
To add salt into the wound, now that I have been fully acquitted and exonerated, it will take the Legal Aid Agency 8-10 weeks to return my money to me. If I took that long to make a payment to them I would have debt collectors on my doorstep.
So what is the solution?
Legal Aid Contributions should be treated in the same way as a student debt. That is, it should be lodged as a debt against the defendant. If they are found guilty the debt becomes enforceable, which would carry across their prison term and into their life after prison. Repayments would be set at an amount that is affordable, similar to student loans, allowing ex-prisoners to rehabilitate, get back on their feet, and contribute to society again - including repayment of their Legal Aid debt. If they are found not guilty, the debt is simply cleared off.
Doing it this way saves everyone time, hassle, stress and money. You the taxpayer are funding it all anyway. You are funding Marstons effectively as they are the sole company appointed to collect Legal Aid Contributions. By removing the need invoice people, chase payments, instruct collectors, etc, the taxpayer saves money in the administration of the system. Bear in mind that the Contribution Order is for legal costs, it is not for the administration of the system, so a leaner administration is a saving for taxpayers.
For the falsely accused, like me, it means you donât have to endure a second layer of hell at an already difficult time. The genuinely guilty still have to pay, the same amounts, just at the end of the process not at the start. Marstons still get paid because they can be used to enforce the debt if need be.
With this suggested change, everyone wins.