Report exposes level of irregular payouts by LSC
A report by the National Audit Office has found £20.4m was paid to legal aid providers by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) where the claim did not comply with the statutory fee regime. A further £15.2m was paid to people who were either not eligible or whose eligibility could not be proven. The estimated amount of irregular payments has however fallen when compared with 2010/11, from £49.5m to £35.6m.
The comptroller and auditor general, Amyas Morse, has qualified the accounts of the community legal service fund and the criminal defence service because of errors in payments to legal aid providers.
Findings
The report states that while the LSC has made improvements in the level of total irregular expenditure when compared with 2010/11, it has actually increased in some areas.
Areas of improvement include the immigration and family help schemes, which it is estimated has fallen from £14m to £2.8m; and the civil representation scheme which has seen a reduction form £18.2m to £12.8m.
Increased irregularity was seen in claims made by solicitors and advocates in relation to Crown Court cases. Since 1 January 2011, those cases have been administered by the LSC and the estimated irregularity has increased from £1m to £4.5m.
Next steps
The LSC has stated it is taking action to strengthen compliance testing and introduce better examination of the causes of error. It has also undertaken a programme of work to “renew and cleanse” the recording and reporting of debt. Progress will be monitored over the next year in time for the 2012/13 report.
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