I have noticed in the past six months a markedly increased level of rejections being received from the Legal Services Commission in respect of claims for payment, for what can only be described as the most petty of reasons. These include, among many:However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was a rejection of a claim in excess of £5,000 on the basis that there was a 1p differential in what was paid to counsel and what was claimed on our claim 1.

  • a character in the LSC certificate number being misprinted on the claim 1 form, despite there being ample evidence with the supporting papers of the correct character, including the LSC certificate itself;
  • counsel had not been paid their graduated fees, despite the fact that confirmation of payment of their fees was received the same day that the claim was rejected; and
  • detailing all the work undertaken on page 7 of the claim 1, then limiting our costs on page 7 to reflect the cost limitation. The LSC required that we limit the actual work done on page 4, as merely limiting our costs was not sufficient.

This was quickly rectified following a rather strongly worded letter of complaint. The LSC has stated that it is not engaging in a campaign to reject as many claims as possible, but I wonder how many other legal aid providers are suffering the same unjustified delays?

Darren Isaacs, London Law Cost Consultants, Halstead, Essex