The Legal Services Commission has announced that it has begun transferring urgent files from the collapsed Immigration Advisory Service to other providers.

Following a call for existing immigration contract holders to submit expressions of interest to take on IAS cases, current providers indicated they had the capacity to take on 28,145 cases, well in excess of the number required.

IAS went into administration on 8 July leaving a caseload of 8,000 files, including 1,242 unaccompanied children seeking asylum and 385 appeals with imminent court dates.

The LSC will also make new matter starts available to providers to allow them to take on extra work.

The LSC says it has worked with IAS’s administrators Cork Gully to deal with issues since the closure of IAS and it remains completely focused on ensuring clients get the help they need.