LEGAL AID COMMISSION (ACT)
Objectives
The Legal Aid Commission (the Commission), established by the Legal Aid Act 1977 (the Act), provides legal assistance in accordance with the Act.  The assistance may be provided by private legal practitioners or the Commission’s own officers.  The Commission also represents regional residents whose legal proceedings take place in the ACT.
The main objective of the Commission is to maximise access to justice in the ACT by providing legal services to disadvantaged members of the community.  The Commission also provides other services such as duty lawyers, advice, community education and input on law reform.
2005‑06 Highlights
Strategic and operational issues to be pursued in 2005‑06 include:
•	implementing a new ACT/Commonwealth Government funding agreement;
•	monitoring a partnering project with South-East Aboriginal Legal Services to address the family law needs of Indigenous Territorians;
•	analysing and evaluating a potential new service for the provision of a family law duty lawyer service at the Family Law Courts; and
•	continuing the improvement and implementation of web‑based service delivery to both clients and practitioners enabling access to relevant information, the ability to lodge applications for aid and to process bills electronically.

Legal Aid Commission	
Operating Statement	
  2004‑05			  2004‑05	   2005‑06		  2006-07	  2007-08	  2008-09		
    Budget			Est.Outcome	   Budget	   Var	  Estimate	   Estimate	  Estimate		
    $'000			   $'000	   $'000	    %	   $'000	    $'000	   $'000		
		Income								
		Revenue								
180		User Charges - Non ACT Government	316	324	3	331	341	349		
6  079		User Charges - ACT Government	6  143	6  384	4	6  555	6  717	6  883		
0		Grants from the Commonwealth	310	96	-69	99	101	104		
550		Interest	1  102	854	-23	825	781	750		
6  809		Total Revenue	7  871	7  658	-3	7  810	7  940	8  086		
		Gains								
0		Total Gains	0	0	-	0	0	0		
6  809		Total Income	7  871	7  658	-3	7  810	7  940	8  086		
		Expenses								
2  834		Employee Expenses	3  160	3  261	3	3  368	3  451	3  501		
518		Superannuation Expenses	508	528	4	546	559	567		
3  609		Supplies and Services	4  703	4  485	-5	4  598	4  452	4  017		
70		Depreciation and Amortisation	24	30	25	27	0	0		
7  031		Total Ordinary Expenses	8  395	8  304	-1	8  539	8  462	8  085		
-222		Operating Result	-524	-646	-23	-729	-522	1		

Legal Aid Commission	
Balance Sheet	
    Budget			Est.Outcome	   Planned		   Planned	   Planned	   Planned		
as at 30/6/05			as at 30/6/05	as at 30/6/06	   Var	as at 30/6/07	as at 30/6/08	as at 30/6/09		
   $'000			   $'000	    $'000	    %	    $'000	    $'000	    $'000		
		Current Assets								
1  527		Cash	409	0	-100	0	0	0		
97		Receivables	230	231	-	232	233	234		
50		Investments	1  421	1  226	-14	523	0	0		
62		Other	62	62	-	62	62	62		
1  736		Total Current Assets	2  122	1  519	-28	817	295	296		
		Non Current Assets								
372		Receivables	340	340	-	340	340	340		
157		Property, Plant and Equipment	57	27	-53	0	0	0		
529		Total Non Current Assets	397	367	-8	340	340	340		
2  265		TOTAL ASSETS	2  519	1  886	-25	1  157	635	636		
		Current Liabilities								
576		Payables	470	470	-	470	470	470		
663		Employee Benefits	715	726	2	726	726	726		
1  239		Total Current Liabilities	1  185	1  196	1	1  196	1  196	1  196		
		Non Current Liabilities								
71		Employee Benefits	67	69	3	69	69	69		
71		Total Non Current Liabilities	67	69	3	69	69	69		
1  310		TOTAL LIABILITIES	1  252	1  265	1	1  265	1  265	1  265		
955		NET ASSETS	1  267	621	-51	-108	-630	-629		
		REPRESENTED BY FUNDS EMPLOYED								
855		Accumulated Funds	817	171	-79	-558	-1  080	-1  079		
100		Reserves	450	450	-	450	450	450		
955		TOTAL FUNDS EMPLOYED	1  267	621	-51	-108	-630	-629		

Legal Aid Commission	
Cash Flow Statement	
  2004‑05			  2004‑05	   2005‑06		  2006-07	  2007-08	  2008-09		
    Budget			Est.Outcome	   Budget	   Var	  Estimate	   Estimate	  Estimate		
    $'000			   $'000	   $'000	    %	   $'000	    $'000	   $'000		
		CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES								
		Receipts								
6  259		User Charges	6  459	6  708	4	6  886	7  058	7  232		
550		Interest Received	1  102	854	-23	825	781	750		
0		Grants Received from the Commonwealth	310	96	-69	99	101	104		
176		Other Revenue	176	176	-	176	176	176		
6  985		Operating Receipts	8  047	7  834	-3	7  986	8  116	8  262		
		Payments								
3  337		Related to Employees	3  557	3  676	3	3  801	3  894	3  949		
3  609		Related to Supplies and Services	4  808	4  585	-5	4  711	4  568	4  136		
177		Other	177	177	-	177	177	177		
7  123		Operating Payments	8  542	8  438	-1	8  689	8  639	8  262		
-138		NET CASH INFLOW/(OUTFLOW) FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES	-495	-604	22	-703	-523	0		
		CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES								
		Receipts								
0		Proceeds from Sale/Maturities of Investments	0	195	#	703	523	0		
0		Investing Receipts	0	195	#	703	523	0		
0		NET CASH INFLOW/(OUTFLOW) FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES	0	195	#	703	523	0		
-138		NET INCREASE/(DECREASE) IN CASH HELD	-495	-409	17	0	0	0		
1  665		CASH AT BEGINNING OF REPORTING PERIOD	904	409	-55	0	0	0		
1  527		CASH AT THE END OF THE REPORTING PERIOD	409	0	-100	0	0	0		

Legal Aid Commission	
Statement of Changes in Equity	
    Budget			Est.Outcome	   Planned		   Planned	   Planned	   Planned		
as at 30/6/05			as at 30/6/05	as at 30/6/06	   Var	as at 30/6/07	as at 30/6/08	as at 30/6/09		
   $'000			   $'000	    $'000	    %	    $'000	    $'000	    $'000		
1  177		Opening Balance	1  791	1  267	-29	621	-108	-630		
		Accumulated Funds								
-222		Operating Result for the Period	-524	-646	-23	-729	-522	1		
		Reserves								
-222		Total Income And Expense For The Period	-524	-646	-23	-729	-522	1		
		Transactions Involving Equity Holders Affecting Accumulated Funds								
955		Closing Balance	1  267	621	-51	-108	-630	-629		
Notes to the Budget Statements
Significant variations are as follows:
Operating Statement
•	user charges – non ACT Government:  the increase of $0.136m in the 2004‑05 estimated outcome from the original budget is mainly due to an increase in client contributions and recovered costs.
•	grants from the Commonwealth:  
•	the increase of $0.310m in the 2004‑05 estimated outcome from the original budget is due to additional funding from the Commonwealth for expensive cases (cases costing more than $0.1m are separately funded after negotiation with the Commonwealth) and separate funding for the Primary Dispute Resolution program which was unconfirmed at the time of the original budget; and
•	the decrease of $0.214m in the 2005‑06 Budget from the 2004‑05 estimated outcome is due to the exclusion of expensive case funding from budgeted figures.
•	interest:
•	the increase of $0.552m in the 2004‑05 estimated outcome from the original budget is due to an increase in interest rates and an increase in statutory revenue from the ACT Law Society; and
•	the decrease of $0.248m in the 2005‑06 Budget from the 2004‑05 estimated outcome is due to the unpredictable nature of the statutory revenue from the ACT Law Society and the greater than expected allocation of this revenue in 2004‑05.
•	
employee expenses:
•	the increase of $0.326m in the 2004‑05 estimated outcome from the original budget is due to an increase in salaries resulting from the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA), and an increase in other employee expenses; and
•	the increase of $0.101m in the 2005‑06 Budget from the 2004‑05 estimated outcome is also due to an increase in salaries resulting from the EBA.
•	supplies and services:  
•	the increase of $1.094m in the 2004‑05 estimated outcome from the original budget is mainly due to higher costs associated with in-house cases and an increase in amounts paid on referred and expensive cases; and
•	the decrease of $0.218m in the 2005‑06 Budget from the 2004‑05 estimated outcome is due to an expected decrease in legal services, if the statutory revenue received from the ACT Law Society is not higher than the budgeted amount.
Balance Sheet
•	cash:  
•	the decrease of $1.118m in the 2004‑05 estimated outcome from the original budget is mainly due to an increase in the estimated operating deficit and the transfer of funds to a term deposit investment; and
•	the decrease of $0.409m in the 2005‑06 Budget from the 2004‑05 estimated outcome is due to an expected further increase in the operating deficit in 2005‑06.
•	investments:  
•	the increase of $1.371m in the 2004‑05 estimated outcome from the original budget is largely due to a transfer of funds from the operating bank account to a term deposit investment account; and
•	the decrease of $0.195m in the 2005‑06 Budget from the 2004‑05 estimated outcome is due to investment funds being used to fund operational expenses due to the increase in the operating deficit.