G and others v Director of Legal Aid Casework and another (British Red Cross Society intervening) [2014] EWCA Civ 1622; [2014] All ER (D) 157 (Dec)
The claimants had been refused civil legal aid funding in cases that involved immigration issues. Their judicial review challenges had been successful. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that the judge had erred in his interpretation of when exceptional case funding was required by s 10(3)(a) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. It further affirmed the judge’s conclusions that the second defendant Lord Chancellor’s Exceptional Funding Guidance (Non-Inquests) was not compatible with Arts 6(1) and, in immigration cases, Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, nor was it compatible with Art 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
