A government-commissioned report on local legal advice provision has recommended that the Legal Services Commission work with service providers to reduce the bureaucratic burdens heaped upon them.

This is one of nine recommendations in the 96-page Ministry of Justice report Study of Legal Advice at Local Level, which was commissioned by justice minister Lord Bach last December. The report examined the pressures that the recession and government reforms have imposed on social welfare advice agencies. The report’s publication coincided with a Legal Action Group conference marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the legal aid system.

Under the civil legal advice fixed fee system, the report found that providers are ‘concerned at the level of detail of reporting which the LSC requires, which was felt to be disproportionate to a fixed fee scheme’. The scheme has meant ‘radical changes’ to providers’ administration systems.

The report said: ‘We recommend that, as a matter of urgency, the LSC works with providers and the Office of the Third Sector further to examine its reporting requirements, particularly in line with the government’s commitment to reduce the bureaucratic burden on the voluntary sector, and the desirability of harmonising with other voluntary sector funders.’

To help reduce the administrative burden, the LSC is developing ‘e-forms’.

The study points out that ‘trust and foundation funding is likely to be reduced in the recession, and there is increasing competition for such funding as public money becomes harder to obtain’. The report recommends discussions between the MoJ and relevant government departments to see if cash can be targeted at not-for-profit providers of legal advice.

Responding to the report, community charity AdviceUK drew attention to the ‘heavy-handed legal aid reforms’ implemented by the LSC and how this is hampering advice agencies and threatening community-based provision. The charity said: ‘As predicted by many providers, new fixed fees for legal advice have changed adviser behaviour and placed the burden of new bureaucracy and financial risk on them.’

Julie Bishop, director of the Law Centres Federation, said: ‘We see this report as a first step. It has identified urgent problems with the funding and adequate provision of legal services. These must be addressed.’

An implementation report on the recommendations will be published in September.

The report can be read at: www.justice.gov.uk/publications/legal-advice-local.htm