The Legal Services Amendment Bill 2022 was introduced on 16 November 2022, read a first time on 22 November 2022 (under urgency) and referred to the Justice Committee for report by 22 May 2023 (with public submissions due by 3 February 2023). The general policy statement in the Bill’s explanatory note states:

“The Legal Services Amendment Bill … implements the Government’s decision to strengthen legal aid so as to improve access to legal assistance for people with low incomes. There are cost barriers to accessing legal assistance. Those barriers are the user charge, which is payable by most civil and family legal aid applicants, and the interest that is charged on unpaid legal aid debt.

“The Bill removes those barriers by repealing the provisions in the Legal Services Act 2011 relating to the payment of the user charge and the payment of interest on an unpaid legal aid debt.”

For background/progress information on the Bill, see:

• New Zealand Parliament “Legal Services Amendment Bill” <www.parliament.nz>.
• Justice Committee “Have Your Say On The Legal Services Amendment Bill”
  (press release, 28 November 2022) <www.scoop.co.nz>.
• Legislative Statement for Legal Services Amendment Bill First reading (presented 22 November 2022) at <www.parliament.nz>.
• Crown Law Legal Services Amendment Bill – Consistency with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (4 November 2022) at <www.justice.govt.nz>.
• Ministry of Justice Departmental Disclosure Statement: Legal Services Amendment Bill (3 November 2022) at <disclosure.legislation.govt.nz>.
• Hon Kiri Allan (Minister of Justice) Proactive release – Improving access to legal assistance for low income New Zealanders (13 October 2022) at <www.justice.govt.nz>.
• Ministry of Justice Regulatory Impact Statement: Improving access to legal assistance for low income New Zealanders (10 June 2022) at <www.justice.govt.nz> | <www.treasury.govt.nz>.

In the meantime, the Legal Services Amendment Regulations 2022 were gazetted on 17 November 2022 and come into force on 1 January 2023. The explanatory note states:

“These regulations—

• increase eligibility for legal aid by raising the income thresholds for civil legal aid and by raising the legal aid debt repayment thresholds based on income:
• reduce the user charge from $43.48 to $0.00:
• reduce the interest rate payable on legal aid debt to 0.00%.”

The timing involved here (the regulations coming into force before the Bill is passed) was explained by the Minister of Justice in the Proactive release document (above) as follows:

“17    I seek Cabinet approval to make changes to the Regulations to implement these proposals with effect from 1 January 2023. In order to maximise the benefit of the [Budget 2022] funding allocation, I intend for the changes to the Regulations to come into force before any changes to the Act.

“…

“65    Changes to the Regulations will be needed to prescribe the new civil eligibility thresholds and repayment thresholds, and to remove the user charge and interest on repayment of legal aid debt. I expect these to be in force by 1 January 2023.

“66    Changes to the Act will be required to remove the provisions that mandate prescribing a user charge and interest rate on repayment of legal aid debt. The changes to the Act do not need to occur simultaneously with the changes to the Regulations in order for the regulatory amendments to take effect.

“67    Amendments to the Act will come into force following the standard legislative process.”

These legislative developments are noted in Legal Services at [CA00], [LA3.02(3)], [LR5.01], [LR9A.01], [LR10.01] and [LR14.01] on Westlaw New Zealand.