N.B. legal aid commission to review eligibility criteria in wake of auditor general report
Audit found no formalized financial appeals process, commission says it will be addressed
The New Brunswick legal aid commission says it is proud of the service it provides, despite the auditor general's recent finding that some people might not be getting the help they need under eight-year-old eligibility criteria.
In the last fiscal year, the Legal Aid Services Commission provided services in family and criminal law to more than 31,000 clients — 4,000 more than in the previous year, said Chantal Landry, the commission executive director.
But Landry doesn't disagree with concerns raised by Auditor General Paul Martin about eligibility requirements.
"We do recognize that, given the economic realities and the inflation observed in the last few years, it would be appropriate for a review of the financial eligibility grids, and we take no exception to the recommendation made by Mr. Martin on this."
Martin reviewed the efficiency and effectiveness of the commission in providing legal aid across the province between April 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024. His report was released earlier this week.
Martin commended the commission for a number of things, including the timely processing of applications and the consistent application of financial eligibility criteria.
But he found the "lack of timely review of the eligibility grid may contribute to the risk that [the commission] may not be fulfilling its mandate to serve low-income individuals as intended."
Landry said an "appropriate analysis" is to be done, but if it determines an increased need for legal aid, the commission needs to be "properly resourced" to meet it.
Before the current eligibility grid for legal aid was adopted, eligibility was decided based on a means test that looked at the amount of disposable income an applicant had left at the end of each month.
"It was a very convoluted and very, honestly, inequitable system, because for clients who were financially responsible, they typically didn't qualify," Landry said.
The income grid used now is based on gross household income. For example, according to the grid posted in 2017, a single-person household making more than $2,600 per month is not eligible for legal aid.
Landry said the reason the criteria haven't been reviewed in eight years is that there were other priorities and an increase in clients coming through the door.
In Martin's report, he also found no formalized financial appeals process, and people who did appeal were not treated consistently.
The audit found that of the 140 appeals, 14 applicants were approved with an income of more than 10 per cent above the threshold, while 15 were denied despite their income being within 10 per cent of the threshold.
Landry said that in recent years, the commission looked at accepting people who were just above the eligibility cut-off and appealed being denied aid.
"We developed kind of a discretionary standard of accepting a client if their income was within 10 per cent over the top of the grid," said Landry.
"So to address the recommendation of Mr. Martin, we've already put in place some directives to staff, and we will further develop processes to provide more transparency for clients who will want to appeal under this guideline."
Landry said she understands why there needs to be more process in that particular system, and hopes it will be achieved in the near future.
Landry said she was pleased with the positive comments that came out of the auditor general's report, but said there's always room for improvement in any program.
"These are opportunities for change, these are opportunities for progress, and that's the way I like to approach this particular report."
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With files from Information Morning Fredericton and Saint John, Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon