Information for solicitors and legal representatives
Access to legal advice is critical to safeguarding the interests of children and vulnerable people.
We believe deeper understanding and closer working between solicitors, legal representatives and appropriate adults will make for a fairer system.
About appropriate adults
The appropriate adult role is defined by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and statutory Codes of Practice (primarily but not exclusively in Code C).
Their purpose is to protect the interests of a child or vulnerable person including their welfare, entitlements and rights - including the right to effective participation.
The absence of an appropriate adult when one is required by the PACE Codes, may render evidence unreliable and unadmissible under sections 76-78 of PACE 1984.
Find out more about appropriate adults here.
The appropriate adult is expected, amongst other things, to:
- support, advise* and assist them when, in accordance with this Code or any other Code of Practice, they are given or asked to provide information or participate in any procedure;
- observe whether the police are acting properly and fairly to respect their rights and entitlements, and inform an officer of the rank of inspector or above if they consider that they are not;
- assist them to communicate with the police whilst respecting their right to say nothing unless they want to as set out in the terms of the caution;
- help them to understand their rights and ensure that those rights are protected and respected."
*It is not the role of the appropriate adult to give legal advice.
Types of appropriate adults
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Family
Parents, family and close friends.
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Organised schemes
People from local official scheme delivered, funded or otherwise supported by local public bodies.
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Known professionals
People who are not part of AA schemes but know the child by virtue of a wider professional relationship, e.g. health, social care, community and youth workers.
Organised appropriate adult services should meet the requirements set out in the Youth Justice Board’s case management guidance on bail and remand, and NAAN’s national standards. This includes providing appropriate adults who are trained, supoprted and DBS checked.
The appropriate adults may be paid staff, sessional workers or volunteers. They may be provided directly by the public sector or by organisations they have commissioned.
Virtually all organised AA schemes are within the NAAN membership.
Children (juveniles)
An appropriate adult must be called for any child (up to and including those aged 17).
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 gave the local authority, through the newly created youth offending teams (YOTs), the statutory responsibility for ensuring the provision of an appropriate adult service for children when parents or carers were not available.
Thus there should be appropriate adult provision in every area. This will be either run directly by the YOT or by another organisation on their behalf.
Whichever agency provides appropriate adults for juveniles, the YOT retains ultimate responsibility for this service.
Vulnerable people
An appropriate adult must be called for a person of any age about whom the police have reason to suspect may be a vulnerable person (see PACE Code C 1.4, 1,13(d)).
The police have to make reasonable enquiries about what information may be available that is relevant to the whether someone is a vulnerable person.
Research indicates that vulnerable suspects are under-identified in police custody and voluntary interviews. Even where suspects are identified as vulnerable, the need for an appropriate adult is not always recognised.
Find out more about which suspects require police to secure an appropriate adult.
Issues
Legal privilege
Under PACE Code C, "A detainee should always be given an opportunity, when an appropriate adult is called to the police station, to consult privately with a solicitor in the appropriate adult’s absence if they want." The same paragraph warns, "An appropriate adult is not subject to legal privilege." However, the case of A Local Authority v. B [2008] EWHC 1017 (Fam), Hedley J concluded that the presence of an appropriate adult during a conversation that would otherwise attract legal advice privilege does not negate that privilege.
Read more on our legal advice policy page.
Appropriate adult called as witness
In addition to being bound by legal privilege where they are party to privileged conversations (i.e. legal consulations), appropriate adults are subject to the common law duty of confidentiality in all their interactions with clients.
This means that in extremely rare cases, appropriate adults may be called to court as witness for either the prosecution or the defence. NAAN has produced information for its members about such situations and has advised them on the procedures to follow in such (rare) cases. Organised appropriate adult services will generally follow these procedures if they receive any requests to access an appropriate adult’s notes or any request for a witness statement.
Right to request legal advice
Trained appropriate adults should first seek to understand any objections the person has to legal advice, such that they request it themselves. However, appropriate adults have the right to request a solicitor even if the person being detained or interviewed waives their right (PACE Code C 6.5A). The police must treat this as a request from the person themselves. The person can refuse to see the solicitor when he or she arrives. Solicitors who attend will be paid by the LAA even if the person refuses to see them. However in almost all cases they will agree to meet.
Identification procedures
Appropriate adults should be present during all identification procedures for juveniles and vulnerable adults. They can and should witness requests for consent to any procedure but cannot give consent on behalf of the detainee. (Code D 2.12, 2.15).
Remote legal advice
Organised appropriate adult schemes have been advised by NAAN not to enable or otherwise support the use of remote legal representation for children and vulnerable people.
Please see our legal advice policy page for further information on remote legal advice.