Your responsibility to decide on your client’s eligibility for ABWOR

It is your responsibility to decide whether the proceedings are within the scope of ABWOR and whether your client is financially eligible for advice and assistance.  If you are satisfied your client is eligible and that ABWOR is available for the proceedings, you can start work at once.  Unless you need our prior approval, you should simply intimate the grant of ABWOR (or if you have already intimated a grant of advice and assistance amend the online application, by using an uplift to ABWOR application, to show that you are now providing ABWOR).

Where we find that the provision of advice and assistance (including ABWOR) was not (wholly or partly) in accordance with the relevant rules we may withhold payment or recover any payment made.

In our consideration, we will take note if you have been applying the relevant tests. You should make sure that in the financial eligibility test you have taken care to obtain and keep financial or other documentation concerning the assessment of your client’s circumstances where practicable.

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