The Legal Aid (Information about Financial Resources) (Amendment) Regulations 2014
Section 22 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (c. 10) (“the Act”) provides that the relevant authority (in practice, the Director of Legal Aid Casework) may make an information request to the Secretary of State, a relevant Northern Ireland Department (defined in section 22(8) of the Act as the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland or the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland) or the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs for the purposes of facilitating a determination about an individual’s financial resources for the purpose of legal aid available under Part 1 of the Act.