Inquests
Section 24A
In certain inquests, under section 60(5) of the Coroners Act 1962, a family member of the deceased may make apply to the coroner for a request to be made to us for legal aid to be provided at the inquest. A request can only be made in certain categories of death and may only be made on behalf of one family member. It is for the coroner to identify if the request may be made in any particular case. We are not involved in this process.
Legal aid or advice cannot be provided by us in respect of an inquest where no request has been made by a coroner.
Outside of this limited range of cases applications for legal services in respect of inquests remain outside of the scope of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995.
Chapter 3 of the Administrative Procedures Handbook details the process for processing requests for legal aid at inquests