The reduced operating hours of the Legal Services Commission’s telephone helpline is hampering cases, the Gazette has been told.

Lawyers from around the country have contacted the Gazette reporting that the LSC’s decision to cut the operation of its telephone helpline to four hours a day has left them unable to get through, waiting on hold for an average of 30 minutes, or being cut off.

However, the LSC said it had cut the helpline hours to reduce its backlog of applications and bills.

Denise Lester, chair of the Law Society’s children committee, said the LSC’s move was affecting ‘significant’ numbers of lawyers, including around 370 children lawyers.

She said that where firms cannot get funding in place to progress cases, it is causing delay, leaving clients unrepresented and exposing firms to financial risk if they continue without funding. ‘It’s a further denial of access to justice,’ she said.

Lester warned that the problem will get worse as lawyers and social workers return to work after the summer break, and court business increases.

An LSC spokesman said the decision to temporarily reduce the helpline hours had followed consultation with representation bodies including the Law Society.

He said that since the phone line hours had been reduced, progress had been made on the backlogs, and the operational hours of the helpline would be reviewed in three months.

But he reported that the number of calls from solicitors chasing work that had not been processed had increased, and currently accounted for 60% of calls to the helpline.

The spokesman advised solicitors to check the processing dates on the LSC’s website.

‘We hope solicitors agree that ensuring they get paid and applications are dealt with needs to take precedence over dealing with non-urgent chaser letters and calls,’ he said.