Policies
4. Criminal Law Matters – when legal aid is available
4.11. Criminal Indictable matters
4.11.1 Indictable matters – when legal aid is available
Legal aid is available for criminal indictable matters listed for trial or sentence in the Supreme Court or District Court.
Legal aid is available for the following proceedings:
- bail applications (this does not include Supreme Court Bail applications)
- mentions and adjournments
- sentence matters including breaches of recognisance, Community Correction Order or Conditional Release Order
- variations or revocations of a Community Correction Order or Conditional Release Order, and
- criminal trials.
To be eligible for legal aid the applicant must satisfy:
- the Means Test, and
- if the application is for a variation or revocation of a Community Correction Order or Conditional Release Order sought by the offender, the matter is subject to the Merit Test.
Note: the Means Test is not applied to applicants who are children.
See Criminal Law Guideline 1.3 on costs in criminal trials.
When a legal aid applicant has criminal matters involving both Commonwealth and State law, Criminal Law Guideline 1.5 sets out the procedure for managing the application and administering the grant of legal aid.
4.11.2 Back-up matters
Legal aid is available for back-up matters dealt with under Chapter 3 Pt 3, Division 7 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW).
To be eligible for legal aid the applicant must satisfy:
- the Means Test
4.11.3 Bail applications in the Supreme Court
Legal aid is available for bail applications to the Supreme Court.
To be eligible for legal aid the applicant must satisfy:
NOTE: see Criminal Law Policy 4.16.10 for Supreme Court bail applications for children and young people.
Date Last Published: 05/12/2022