Recommendation HIA-11: Legal Aid for Applicants
From Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, published 20 January 2017.
Recommendation
We recommend that applicants should be eligible for legal aid to allow them to obtain legal assistance to make an application for an award.
In brief (written by this site)
The Executive Office (Northern Ireland) stated in March 2020 that "free legal advice is available to all applicants to the HIA Redress Board to assist with the application" (The Executive Office (Northern Ireland), Mar 2020). Prior to this, a report laid before Parliament by the department and the Northern Ireland Office in September 2019 recorded that no formal response had been published because the collapse of the Executive in January 2017 meant the recommendations had not yet been put to it (Northern Ireland Executive response, Sep 2019).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
No formal government response published. The Inquiry reported on 20 January 2017, the month the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed; the report The Executive Office and the Northern Ireland Office laid before Parliament in September 2019 records that, because of the collapse, the report and its recommendations had not yet been put to the Executive.
Delivery
The Executive Office (Northern Ireland) says completed (31 March 2020)
Free legal advice is available to all applicants to the HIA Redress Board to assist with the application.
From: Opening of Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board
Responsible bodies
Who has spoken
- Northern Ireland Executive
Response - The Executive Office (Northern Ireland)
Delivery statement