Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012 introduces a wide range of reforms to the justice system as well as delivering structural reforms to the administration of legal aid from 1 April 2013. It makes provisions about:

  • legal aid
  • the funding of legal services
  • the costs and other amounts awarded in civil and criminal proceedings
  • sentencing offenders
  • penalty notices for disorderly behaviour and cautions
  • new offences of threatening with a weapon in public or on school premises.

The Act removes legal aid from cases concerning employment, housing (except in cases involving homelessness or risk to health and safety), debt (except in cases relating to certain proceedings where the home is at risk), and most welfare benefits cases (except for welfare benefits appeals in the Upper Tribunal and higher courts).

More information

Note: for pdf files you will need to download adobe acrobat reader. To convert the pdf to alternative formats or for more information on accessibility go to http://www.adobe.com/accessibility.html.