Policy Bulletin 2025/4 Clarification to the Termination Guidelines for grants terminated for failure to sign the charge agreement

30 June 2025

The CEO of Legal Aid NSW has approved changes to the Termination Guidelines to clarify that the requirement to provide notice prior to termination is met if the client was notified the charge agreement was a condition of their grant of legal aid.

Background

Under the Means Test, an applicant for legal aid who owns real property is required to give a charge to secure our legal costs. Signing the charge agreement is a condition of the grant of legal aid. If the applicant refuses to sign the charge agreement, the condition of the grant has not been met and their grant of aid will be terminated, per the Termination Policy.

The Termination Policy states that Legal Aid NSW must notify the legally aided person in writing of the intention to terminate before terminating the grant of legal aid. 

What has changed?

The Termination Guidelines have been amended to clarify:

  • that before terminating a grant for failure to sign the charge agreement, the determining officer must be satisfied the legally aided person was notified that the charge agreement was a condition of their grant of aid and their grant would be terminated if they refuse to sign the charge agreement (Termination Guideline 4.3), and
  • that notification will satisfy the notice requirements in the Termination Guidelines (Termination Guideline 10.2).

The changes can be found on Policy Online: Termination Guidelines

Start date

This change applies to grants of aid terminated on or after 30 June 2025.

Contact

For further information, contact the Client Eligibility Unit at: T-CEU@legalaid.nsw.gov.au.