Policy Online
Crime - clients with complex needs
Eligibility criteria for clients with complex needs
Legal Aid NSW will be satisfied the client has complex needs where:
- The client is a client of the High-Risk Offender Unit, and
- Legal Aid NSW has determined that the client has complex needs having regard to:
- The client identifying as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, or
- The client having a mental illness, mental condition, intellectual disability or cognitive impairment or other psychosocial disability that impacts on their ability to understand the legal problem and resolve it without legal assistance, or
- The client presents with cultural issues that impact on their legal problem, or
- The client is illiterate or has an inability to communicate in English, or
- The client has a history of trauma and abuse
- the client is homeless or in unstable accommodation, or at risk of homelessness, or
- in custody or detention.
Legal Aid NSW will make the assessment of complex needs based on these characteristics and experiences.
No Means Test applies to clients who have complex needs.
Date last published: 07/09/2020