Completing the advice and assistance application form

All civil advice and assistance and ABWOR applications must be submitted online.

Use this to:

• Tell us that you have given a diagnostic interview or granted standard advice and assistance
• Ask for our authority to grant advice and assistance where necessary

Cases of the latter may include:

• • Where, after giving a diagnostic interview, you want to give standard advice and assistance, but the case is not included in the listed categories
  • Where your client has already received a diagnostic interview from you or another solicitor within the last three months, and you wish to grant a further diagnostic interview
  • If your client has already received advice and assistance (a diagnostic interview and/or standard advice and assistance) about the same matter from another solicitor
  • If your client has other rights and facilities that could make it unnecessary for them to receive advice and assistance or ABWOR.

Requests for increases in expenditure should be made using the online increase application.

If you grant a diagnostic interview and/or standard civil advice and assistance, you must send a copy of the form to us within 14 days of beginning the advice and assistance.

Unless shown otherwise, you must answer all the questions on the online advice and assistance application.

When you see clients face to face they must sign the declaration.  If the client is present and cannot sign then you need to provide an explanation when you submit your application via Legal Aid Online.

If you are not meeting your client in person then you must explain the terms of the declaration to them and obtain their verbal consent to its terms.  You may then select the ‘client not present and agrees with the declaration terms’ option within Legal Aid Online.

See our guidance on solicitor and applicant signatures.