Immigration advice charity Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ) went into administration yesterday following cashflow problems which it said were due to late payments by the Legal Services Commission.

Despite a high-profile campaign, with letters sent to the justice secretary and home secretary on RMJ’s behalf by leading human rights organisations and celebrities, the government did not step in to prevent the organisation’s closure.

RMJ said the legal representation of more than 10,000 vulnerable asylum seekers and victims of trafficking, including nearly 900 separated children, is now at risk.

Its chair Paul Gray said: ‘It is with great sadness that RMJ’s trustees took the decision to put RMJ into administration. It is a brilliant charity which has a justifiably high reputation for the quality of support it gives, and we are very concerned about the position of our 10,000 clients, and of our dedicated and highly professional staff.’

He said the closure was down to the delay in receiving legal aid payments, in some cases for up to two years, not due to inefficiency by RMJ.

‘Our staff have performed a minor miracle in cutting costs to live with a fall in income per client of over 40%. Late payment has an unequal impact on charities because they cannot get bank loans to finance the cash gap,’ he said.

Gray said RMJ’s priority was now to ensure maximum protection of its clients, who he said include many of the most vulnerable people in the country.

‘We urge the Legal Services Commission immediately to discuss with the administrators how best to minimise the distress and disruption to our clients during what will inevitably be a difficult transition process,’ he said.

An MoJ spokesman said: ‘It is important asylum seekers have fair access to legal advice. We fully appreciate the value that organisations like RMJ bring in providing this service to particularly vulnerable clients.’

He said the MoJ had worked closely with RMJ over the last few years and given it substantial support to help it transfer to the current payment system.

‘The fixed fee system introduced three years ago is already being successfully used by the vast majority of not-for-profit organisations in this area of law. As other organisations have successfully made this transition, it is only reasonable to expect RMJ to do the same,’ he said.

He dismissed RMJ’s assertion that its closure would leave clients unrepresented and said: ‘We are confident there is widespread provision of legal advice in this area, with more than 250 offices nationally providing this type of service. Providers are also currently bidding to handle more than double the amount of cases currently available.’