300,000 more to be eligible for legal aid

SINGAPORE — Recognising the needs of those with “meritorious legal claims” but are unable to afford lawyers, the Government has amended the Legal Aid and Advice Act to allow some additional 300,000 people to be eligible for legal aid.

Passed in Parliament yesterday, the amendments will widen the scope of coverage from the current 17 per cent of all Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs) to about 25 per cent.

The Senior Minister of State (Law), Ms Indranee Rajah, said in Parliament yesterday that the amendments “are necessary to facilitate greater access to justice by those in need”.

Applicants will now be required to co-pay for costs incurred so that they “exercise responsibility”, with the amount to depend on each applicant’s means.

However, those who “truly cannot afford to pay” will not have to contribute, she said.

Responding to TODAY’s queries, the Ministry of Law said it expects the number of legal aid applicants who pass the means test to increase by about 20 per cent.

It added that the Legal Aid Bureau’s budget — now S$7 million to S$9 million — will be increased to cater for the expected increase in caseload.

To qualify for legal aid, an applicant’s annual disposable income and disposable capital each has to be S$10,000 or below.

Annual disposal income is calculated by taking an applicant’s annual income together with that of his spouse, and deducting living expenses and rental relief.

Disposable capital is calculated by taking the value of an applicant’s assets and deducting the Annual Value of his home, if it is not public housing.

With the amendments, the permitted deductibles when calculating disposable income will be increased.

For example, the living expenses deductible is now S$6,000, up from S$4,500.

New deductibles were also introduced for calculating disposable capital — Central Provident Fund investments are now entirely deductible, while the surrender values of life insurance policies are deductible up to S$46,000.

The amended Act also provides the Director of Legal Aid with greater discretion in applying the means test for family proceedings involving a child or protection orders, such as by relaxing the deductibles in calculating the applicant’s disposable income.

The Director will also have more discretion in applying the means test to applicants who have suffered a sudden loss of income, by increasing the quantum of deductibles for dependants.

Weighing in on the amendments yesterday, Member of Parliament Patrick Tay (Nee Soon GRC) asked whether there was a better way to “capture the current cost realities rather than merely fine-tuning the deductibles and relief”, and if it was better to raise the S$10,000 disposal income limit instead.

Ms Indranee said the S$10,000 figure was based on how much basic legal services would cost, adding that “this is not intended for protracted trials”.

She also clarified that PRs who are granted legal aid would have to co-pay more compared to Singaporeans.