https://www.slab.org.uk/guidance/advice-and-assistance-and-the-assessment-of-financial-eligibility/
https://www.slab.org.uk/guidance/advice-and-assistance-and-the-assessment-of-financial-eligibility/
The limits of disposable income and disposable capital are specified in regulations and normally up-rated each year. You must determine whether your client is eligible and whether a contribution is due.
To help you assess eligibility, we publish a Keycard containing:
Copies of the up-to-date Keycard are available on our website.
Advice and assistance is also available, subject to payment of a contribution, to your client should their disposable income be within the limits specified in regulations. This is only if they do not have disposable capital over the specified amount. You must take into account their total income, net of tax and national insurance, from all sources for the seven days immediately preceding the application. Separate scales of contribution apply depending on whether you are giving only a diagnostic interview or standard advice and assistance.
Certain benefits should not be taken into account when assessing your client’s eligibility for Advice and Assistance. For more information on what benefits should be disregarded, please see our Keycard.
The contribution payable is based on your client’s disposable income.
You can decide whether or not to collect the contribution, this is not paid to us. You may ask for it in one payment or by instalments, or forgo it. If you put in a claim for payment of fees and outlays out of the Fund, we will deduct the contribution from your account regardless of whether you actually collected it.
If you move into standard advice and assistance, your client will have to pay any contribution due according to the scale of contributions. However, they only pay the balance between any amount they have paid for the diagnostic interview and the amount payable for the standard advice and assistance.
Advice and Assistance application procedures
This page includes information on how to apply for non-templated increases in expenditure under civil A&A. It covers the information you should provide us with; case-related factors to address in your application; the process for reconsideration of refused increases; the process for urgently needed increases; whether authority for retrospective increases is available; and other guidance you may wish to consider.