Legal aid is a pillar of our public services. Properly funded, it levels the playing field for our communities – making sure that no-one has to simply accept injustice.
Legal aid providers can make the difference between a home and homelessness or give stability for children caught up in family separation.
But right now, firms are being forced out of legal aid work because of the government’s failure to invest in it for decades.
Given how these small businesses operate on the margins of financial viability, the increased insecurity caused by the cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency was the last thing they needed.
On 19 May, the LAA confirmed it had been the target of a cyber-attack that resulted in a major data breach. The incident led the LAA to take its digital services offline and triggered contingency measures for legal aid providers.
Since then, we’ve been urging swift action from the LAA to restore services and minimise the fallout for solicitors and their clients. Legal aid firms have been hit hard by this major breach through no fault of their own.
I have had regular meetings with the LAA chief executive and her officials. We have also been making strong representations to Ministry of Justice ministers, MPs and the media about the serious ongoing impacts of the shutdown.
Immediate priorities were urgently clarifying billing arrangements, informing legal aid providers about contingency measures and making sure the LAA understood the stress and financial impact on solicitors and firms.
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Following sustained pressure from us, the LAA re-established regular monthly payments for legal help and crime lower work, arranged for payment of Crown Court bills and set up a contingency process for certificated work.
The LAA agreed to speak to HM Revenue & Customs to ensure they understand what has happened in case firms need to seek respite in relation to VAT and tax payments that are due.
On the civil side, we are also seeking clarity ourselves as to how HMRC believes the LAA’s contingency payments should be treated for tax purposes, given that they do not directly relate to any individual case, and have no clear contractual basis.
Subsequently, in June we set out 10 key steps the government, LAA and judiciary needed to take to get the justice system back online following the cyber-attack.
These asks included setting out a timetable for restoring online services, ensuring vital representation in the courts and reimbursing and compensating legal aid providers for the disruption caused.
As a result of our lobbying, the senior presiding judge issued guidance to courts covering how adjournment requests should be managed in cases where an individual is unable to secure legal aid.
Other concessions we have achieved include assurances from the LAA that firms will not face recoupment for decisions made in good faith during this emergency, and a range of technical changes to the contingency arrangements in response to feedback from members.
The LAA still needs to urgently reintroduce a system for processing civil certificated bills, and give further clarity on timelines for restoring services, and what restoration will look like. They also need to set out their proposals for compensating firms for the substantial additional costs they have incurred through no fault of their own.
While the attack and its aftermath has threatened access to justice and hit firms in the pocket in the short term, the longer-term impact is also concerning.
The incident has further exposed the need to bring the LAA’s antiquated IT system up to date. The fragility of the IT system has prevented vital reforms, including updates to the means test that could help millions more access legal aid. Has the cyber-attack delayed the already overdue means test reforms even further?
Implementation of much-need increases in immigration, housing and criminal legal aid may also have been delayed. We need clarity from the government as to when these increases will come through.
For years we at the Law Society have warned that the situation for legal aid providers is unsustainable. The shutdown further exposed their lack of economic resilience. For some, the loss of a single month’s payments would have meant they couldn’t cover salaries.
This is a clear warning to the UK government that they must invest in this vital public service to ensure legal aid lawyers are there when any of us may need them.
Richard Atkinson is president of the Law Society of England and Wales
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