15.Because costs are not normally awarded against assisted parties who lose their case, their successful opponents hardly ever get their costs back. But if a successful unassisted party who was defending a case can satisfy the court that he or she would otherwise suffer “severe financial hardship”, the court can order their costs to be paid from the legal aid fund. In future, it is proposed that this test should be relaxed to mere “financial hardship”. Also, the procedure for seeking costs orders against an assisted person or the CLS fund would be simplified. The courts would consider costs immediately at the end of the case, instead of adjourning, because the parties would be asked to supply evidence of their means at the time of the trial.
16.These proposals are designed to improve the position of successful unassisted opponents, which is a major cause of complaint against the existing scheme. The funding code (under section 8), which will replace the existing merits test, will also help to reduce the number of weak cases that unassisted parties have to contest.
A: Community Legal Service Eligibility, Financial Conditions and Costs Rules Costs Rules The costs position of unassisted parties