Funding

Stephen Moore & Co have a contract with the Legal Aid Agency authorising us to provide specialist help to represent clients at the Magistrates and Crown Courts. If you have been charged or had a postal requisition with an offence then please call our Northampton Office on 01604 601000 or our Rugby office on 01788 535127 and a member of our team will help you step by step to apply for and obtain legal aid to cover the cost of your defence.

There are two ways that proceedings in the criminal courts can be funded:

  • By applying for and obtaining legal aid.
  • By instructing a solicitor privately.

Overview for Private Paying Clients.

We will discuss the funding of your case with you before we begin any work, and we may well be able to agree a fixed fee for a straight forward case.   If not, we will detail how our charges are calculated and give you our best estimate of the likely total cost of your defence. We will update you as your case progresses and if there should be any changes to that estimate. 

For private motoring fees, please click here to view.

Our terms and conditions of business set out more detailed information – click here to view.

In order to discuss instructing Stephen Moore & Co please call our Northampton Office on 01604 601000 or Our Rugby Office on 01788 535127 and a member of our team will help you.

Overview for legal aid clients

Magistrates Court cases

The legal aid scheme will provide funding for the cost of your defence in the magistrates court provided:

  1. You qualify on means. This is one aspect of determining if someone qualifies for legal aid to cover some or all of their defence costs.  It takes into consideration: Income, family circumstances, such as the number of children, essential living costs, such as a mortgage or rent.
  2. You will pass the means test if you are in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), Income Support (IS), Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA), Income-based Employers Support Allowance (ESA) or State Pension Guaranteed credit. You are likely to qualify if you otherwise have a very low disposable income. You can click on this link to check if you are eligible for legal aid https://www.gov.uk/guidance/criminal-legal-aid-means-testing#passporting. 
  3. Your case meets the Interests of Justice test (IoJ).

In the Youth Court

All persons under 18 will be passported through the legal aid means test and are almost certain to pass the interests of Justice Test and so be granted legal aid.

In the Crown Court

The legal aid scheme will cover the cost of providing you with Representation but you may have a contribution to pay from your income depending upon your disposable income or from your capital if it is above the allowed limits.