Fear over LSC pay reform

Civil legal aid: LSC guidance paper for auditors causes concern among the profession

Civil legal aid solicitors have expressed concerns that proposals governing how their work is assessed by auditors will make it harder for them to earn a living - and may lead to more firms dropping out of publicly funded work.

The Legal Services Commission's (LSC) consultation paper on guidance for auditors assessing costs in civil legal aid cases suggested that solicitors should no longer be paid for reviewing files, supervising junior staff and making telephone calls classed as 'administrative'.It also recommends that letters which take more than ten minutes to prepare and are longer than a page should be claimed under the better-paid 'preparation' criteria, with other correspondence coming under the 'routine letters' umbrella.

Respondents to the consultation suggested that this would provide no incentive for solicitors to write shorter, multiple letters which are preferred by clients.

An LSC spokesman said responses to the paper were 'broadly supportive' of changes, scheduled to take effect in March.

But Guy Baddeley, partner at Sheffield firm Howells, said it was vital that the LSC paid for all work thatcontributed to the progress of a case.'[The new guidance] is a licence for overly officious costs auditors to thoroughly demoralise those solicitors still undertaking the work, and will ultimately lead to more and more firms dropping out,' he warned.The Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) said that although the guidance would bring improvements, the key was still proper training for auditors.

'Firms should not be required to justify the ordinary and obvious,' it added.LAPG director Richard Miller said he was hopeful that any problems would be ironed out at a meeting of the Law Society, LAPG and LSC next month.

Law Society President David McIntosh said: 'We share the LSC's aim to ensure the provision of good-quality legal advice and recognise the need to ensure that public money is properly spent.

We hope the LSC will recognise that quality legal advice requires remuneration and will audit firms in a spirit of partnership with practitioners, so that the day to day realities of running a legal aid practice can be appreciated.'Paula Rohan