In the eye of the storm
Date: 13 November 2009
Authors: Carolyn Regan
Issue: Vol 159, Issue 7393
Categories: Opinion, Legal aid
In its 60th year, the legal aid scheme, in common with the rest of the public sector, has to live within its means.
My organisation, the Legal Services Commission (LSC) is working within a fixed budget, and that’s not going to change. However, we remain resolutely focused on our clients, and that’s not going to change, either.
Indeed, within our budget of just over £2bn per annum we’re helping more people than ever with a record 2.9m acts of legal advice last year.
We are meeting—and will continue to meet—the increased demand from clients struggling to deal with the impact of the recession by increasing the amount of appropriate local services. One way is through Community Legal Advice Centres and Networks (CLACs and CLANs).
Increased integration
This integrated approach to advice, jointly commissioned by the LSC and various local authorities, provides a one-stop service that has gone some way to break down the advice barrier which has afflicted some of our more vulnerable clients for far too long.
We have also recently announced a tender for a Community Legal Advice centre (CLAC) in Barking and Dagenham, as well as a memorandum of understanding with Manchester City Council for joint commissioning of integrated services.
Complementing this, our Community Legal Advice phone line and the CLA website have transformed the availability and quality of advice, with attendant innovations such as: text back; Saturday and evening opening; an e-mail advice trial; and British Sign Language advice by webcam.
Looking forward, the 2010 civil and criminal legal aid contracts will address flaws and inefficiencies in the existing systems, while defining the relationship we have with legal aid practitioners until 2013.
Two pilots in best value tendering and the introduction of Crown Court Means Testing early next year will be vital in our efforts to keep on top of the criminal legal aid budget.
On family legal aid funding we listened to practitioners, and announced a new payment scheme for solicitors and barristers undertaking advocacy in family legal aid cases which revised some of our original proposals.
This prompted the Association of Lawyers for Children’s co-chairman, Piers Pressdee, to acknowledge that “the scheme now proposed is immeasurably better, fairer and more practice-reflective than that originally devised”.
Magee review: delivery not reform
In view of this comprehensive change programme, it’s important to emphasise that the recently announced Magee Review will be looking at the way legal aid is delivered and not the legal aid reform programme. Sir Ian has been hearing from senior officials in the LSC, as well as senior officials in the Ministry of Justice.
He will also be meeting a range of stakeholders, and our chairman, Sir Bill Callaghan, and I have made some suggestions of people he might wish to see, including representatives from the judiciary, the Bar and the Law Society.
Accounting errors
We also recognise the seriousness of the recent National Audit Office report into our accounts, and are addressing urgently the issues that it raises. We have taken immediate steps to recover over-payments and we are aiming to recover £2m in relation to family work by December.
We are also strengthening the controls in our systems and working with providers to reinforce the importance of accurate claims, eligibility assessment and record keeping. This is being implemented through an action plan which has the support and engagement of the Ministry of Justice.
I am determined that we should drive through the necessary changes and improvements urgently and I am personally taking an active role in monitoring this, in partnership with our sponsor in the Ministry of Justice. I am confident we can work with our providers and with our partners in government to put these matters right.
E-lessons from the past
Our Delivery Transformation programme will be a significant step in further simplifying processes and preventing over-claims. Delivery Transformation is a three-stage process: We will start to test electronic claim forms in December; civil means and merits tests will be done online by the end of 2010; and by early 2011, there will be full electronic billing and processing.
All of this will allow faster decision-making and the faster progress of cases, giving clients the ability to track their case online, at reduced cost and with reduced administration time. We have learned from our experiences with LSC Online and are ensuring that providers get proper training to use the systems.
Breaking new ground
Finally, legal aid is still breaking new ground in the cases it funds—and that legal aid practitioners so effectively carry out.
In recent times, legal aid has funded key cases that have created new law, be it Colin Ross’s successful fight against his local health trust to get life-saving cancer drugs, the Gurkhas’ settlement rights claim, or Debbie Purdy’s successful bid to clarify the law on assisted suicide.
There are also countless medical negligence claims and child abuse compensation cases that we fund each year, often resulting in life-changing damages.
Challenging times these may be, but legal aid at 60 continues to rise to the challenge, by focusing on the people who we all agree matter most—the clients who need our help.
Carolyn Regan, chief executive, Legal Services Commission
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