From 1 April, all new civil legal aid applications must be made through the Client and Cost Management System (CCMS), the Legal Aid Agency has said.
The CCMS has proved controversial due to repeated complaints from practitioners experiencing technical difficulties with the system. Last week, family lawyers’ group Resolution wrote to the Agency asking them to delay compulsory use of the system as it was “not fit for purpose”. Resolution and the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) released a joint statement this week expressing disappointment at the Agency’s decision to press ahead. They said more than two-thirds of users “reported regularly experiencing problems with CCMS in a recent survey”.
Emma Cordock, chair of Resolution’s legal aid committee, and LAPG co-chairs Nicola Mackintosh and Jenny Beck say they welcome the Agency’s contingency measures allowing for paper submissions in “exceptional circumstances”. However, they warn that the guidance on these contingency measures is confusing and uncertain, and that it is not exceptional for users to be unable to access the Agency portal.
“We recognise that the [Agency] is keen to avoid another government IT failure,” they said.
“Unfortunately, if they plough ahead with CCMS—which 82% of users say is not ready for compulsory use—that is exactly what they will have.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We are very mindful of the recent LAA Online Portal issues, which resulted in some providers having difficulty accessing CCMS.
“The issues have been fixed and providers have seen improved performance as a result. Our primary objective is to ensure that access to legal aid is available and that applications are not hindered. If providers experience significant technical difficulties after 1 April they will still be able to submit paper applications.”
Twitter users have highlighted the issues with the CCMS system using the #CCMSfail hashtag.
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