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High Court orders HMCTS to fund lay advocates
Via the Law Society Gazette;
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has been ordered by the High Court to fund lay advocates for parents of a baby at the centre of care proceedings ...
[The judge] said: ‘There is no material difference between the services provided by an interpreter, an intermediary or a lay advocate insofar as they each enable and support parties and witnesses to communicate and understand these proceedings. HMCTS routinely pay for the services of interpreters and intermediaries, I cannot see any principled reason why it should not also pay for the services of lay advocates in an appropriate case.’
The judge said he had enquires made of the relevant court service budget holder ‘who agreed to fund the reasonable costs of a lay advocate for both parents.’
https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/high-court-orders-hmcts-to-fund-lay-advocates/5102958.article
https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2019/3738.html