LSC pledges to tackle civil legal aid bill rejection

The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has pledged to find ways of cutting down on the number of civil legal aid bills that are incorrectly rejected.

Working with The Law Society, the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) and family lawyers’ group Resolution, the commission will examine how it could help lessen payment delays and resulting cash flow problems.

Jenny Beck, LAPG’s co-chair and head of professional practice at the Co-op’s family law service, said that delays could put some practices into “financial jeopardy”.

“LAPG receives a lot of emails and phone calls from practitioners who are extremely frustrated at the delays in processing bills.”

Over 1,000 additional bills could be paid each week if documents did not need to be returned, according to the LSC.

The LSC conceded that many bills were incorrectly rejected because of inconsistent application of guidance.

But the commission asked practitioners to play their part in the process by ensuring their bills are correct before submission, while it assesses the information given to practitioners regarding changes in procedures.

LSC chief executive Matthew Coats (pictured) said this was “a joint problem that requires a joint solution.”

“By working together, we aim to radically reduce the error rate and the time wasted on rejects. Providers getting it right first time is only part of the solution - we also need to get it right at the LSC.”

Steve Hynes, director of Legal Aid Group welcomed the news and told Solicitors Journal “the LSC has been in a state of constant turmoil over the last ten or more years due to reviews and changes of policy”.

“From everything we’ve heard the problem was getting acute, with claims rejected often on trivial grounds.”

“A period of calm in which the remaining legal aid system is administered more competently would benefit all parties, especially clients. The only problem is that experience shows this is unlikely to happen. I sincerely hope I’m proved wrong.“

“We look forward to seeing improvements in LSC processes and greater clarity about requirements,” said Law Society president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff.

“Practitioners can also assist by carefully checking their claims before submission. This should speed up the billing process for the benefit of legal aid practitioners and the LSC,” she added.