Civil news: exceptional legal aid funding for immigration cases
Court of Appeal decision and guidance on funding.
Exceptional case funding for refugee family reunion work remains available under section 10 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).
This follows the Court of Appeal decision in the case of Gudanaviciene and others versus the Director of Legal Aid Casework and others on 15 December 2014.
You should refer to the immigration rules for guidance on carrying out family reunion work. These are set out in Part 11 of the Immigration Rules 352A – 352FJ. See also, Part 8 of the Immigration Rules 319L-Y – links below.
Exceptional case funding under section 10 of LASPO is the only option for family reunion work.
It remains the case that legal advice required on existing matters or new applications under the above Immigration Rules (after 15 December 2014) are not in the scope of Part 1, Schedule 1, of the LASPO Act.
We published a news article on 24 July 2014 on the original Judicial Review which led to the Court of Appeal case. This is now available through the National Archives – see below.
Further information
Gudanaviciene judgment – to download full judgment
Immigration Rules part 11: asylum – see 352A – 352FJ
Immigration Rules part 8: family members – see 319L-Y
Update on refugee family reunion work – Justice website news story following Judicial Review