Commentary on Sections Section 4: Consequential Amendments
35.Section 4 makes consequential amendments to other legislation which are necessitated by the Act. Subsection (1) amends the Attachment of Earnings Act 1971 so as to enable a magistrates' court to make an attachment of earnings order to secure the payment of any sum required to be paid under regulations made under the new section 17A(1) in the 1999 Act which is inserted by the Act. A similar power already exists in relation to sums required to be paid under orders under section 17(2) of the 1999 Act.
36.Subsection (3) amends provisions in the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 and the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 which are listed in subsection (2), as a result of the re-introduction of means testing. These provisions restrict courts' powers to deal with a person who is unrepresented. Before the Access to Justice Act 1999 those four provisions, which pre-dated that Act, provided that the courts' powers were limited in respect of an unrepresented person, except where he had refused or failed to apply for legal aid, having had an opportunity to do so, or if legal aid had been refused because his financial resources made him ineligible. The second exception was removed by the 1999 Act. With the re-introduction of means testing the exception is now being restored to the pre-1999 Act provisions and added to the one post-1999 Act provision. An exception is also made where the right to representation is withdrawn because the person's financial resources make him ineligible.