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Why you might have to help pay for your case

If you are given legal aid, your solicitor or legal adviser will be paid directly - you don’t get any money yourself to pay the legal bills. You may still have to pay some of the legal costs even if you get legal aid. This depends on your financial situation and your type of problem.

Any payments you might have to make towards your legal aid will be based on the financial information you gave to your legal adviser. Not everyone will have to make payments. Your legal adviser will tell you if you have to make payments, how much they are and how you can pay them.

What your legal adviser should explain

Your legal adviser must explain to you how and why you might have to pay back some of the legal aid. They must give you a leaflet called ‘Paying for your legal aid’. If you have not received this leaflet, you can download it.

• Download 'Paying for your legal aid' (PDF, 740K) Opens new window

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Tell your adviser if your finances change

You must tell your solicitor if your financial situation changes, even if you don’t have to help pay your legal costs. Changes in your finances could mean that you will have to start making payments, or that the value of your payments goes up or down.

If you don’t tell your solicitor about a change to your financial situation you could lose all your legal aid. This is called ‘revoking your certificate’ and means you would have to pay back all the money you received as legal aid.

How to make payments towards the cost of your case

If you have to pay any money yourself, there are three ways you can do it:

• a lump sum from your savings (called a ‘capital contribution’)
• monthly instalments from your income until your case finishes (called an ‘income contribution’)
• repaying costs if you get (or keep hold of) money or property by winning your case (called the ‘statutory charge’)

When making payments towards the cost of your case, you might have to use one or all of these methods.

If you are awarded money from your case

If you gain or keep money as a result of your case and you received legal aid, you may have to repay all or some of the legal aid. In this situation, legal aid can act as a loan. This is called the ‘statutory charge’.

You can repay your legal aid at a later date if you used any money you were awarded to buy a home. You can choose to pay the amount you owe in regular payments or make one payment at any time for the full amount.

While you owe money, you may be charged interest on the outstanding amount.

If you are awarded or keep property from your case

As a result of your case, you might get to keep or be awarded property that you will use as a home. You might be able to delay repayment of your legal aid by having a charge registered on your property. This is called ‘registering a charge’ and it means the Legal Services Commission has a claim to part of the value of your property.

How your legal costs are worked out

All solicitors’ bills are assessed by the Legal Services Commission or the court at the end of the case. This is done to make sure the solicitor’s bill is fair.

Your solicitor has to show you their bill before it is assessed. You should contact your solicitor if you have not seen the bill at the end of your case. Your solicitor’s bill may go down once it has been assessed.

• Complaining about a legal adviser or claims company

Help and advice in Welsh

You can get information about dealing with your legal problems in Welsh by following the link below.

• Help with legal costs - Legal Services Commission (Welsh language) Opens new window