The Legal Aid Agency has paid a staggering £21m in civil legal aid on 7,000 cases that have been 'inactive' for over a year, a freedom of information response to the Gazette has revealed. The LAA could commence steps to recoup the cash if providers fail to submit a final bill.

Last year, the LAA embarked on an information-gathering exercise to get to the bottom of 17,000 cases for which ‘payments on account’ were made but no ‘significant activity’ was recorded on its IT systems for 12 months. In January, the LAA said there were 7,000 cases where it was told work had finished and the provider was intending to bill.

Responding to an FOI request, the LAA revealed that the total figure for payments on account made in these 7,000 cases is £20,898,158.29. 

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Providers have been prompted to submit a final bill otherwise the LAA could commence steps to close the case and recoup any payments on account.

Chris Minnoch, chief executive of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said there are several reasons why providers may not have billed or interacted with the LAA for a while. For instance, it could relate to whether the firm does its billing in-house or outsources, how long court processes are taking, or because settlement and/or costs are being negotiated.

The LAA taking the time to conduct this exercise and be transparent shows the agency is 'trying to reconcile accounts, get cases billed and limit the impact on providers', Minnoch said.

 

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