Civil legal aid firms that have run out of matter starts in certain categories of law will be given a second bite of the cherry under a new policy of reallocation within the regions, the Legal Services Commission (LSC) announced this week.

An LSC spokesman told the Gazette that any regions with a pool of unused matter starts - for example, because firms had closed down without using all theirs up - can now reclaim and reallocate them in accordance with the Lord Chancellor's priority areas of law.

The policy will take effect from this week.

'Firms that have run out of matter starts should approach their regional offices to discuss getting extensions,' he advised.

Legal Aid Practitioners Group director Richard Miller welcomed the news as it had already received reports of firms being forced to turn clients away.

'Clients are suffering, and firms are being placed in the ludicrous situation of being required to send clients they are willing and able to help to competitors - if any remain who are able to take on clients - at the very time we are being told that the rules of the market must be respected,' Mr Miller said.

He added: 'There is something wrong with a system that allows this problem to arise.

When contracting was introduced and we forecast this problem, we were assured it would never happen.'

Rodney Warren, chairman of the Law Society's access to justice committee, said the system had the inherent flaw of making solicitors cherry-pick the most profitable cases, in turn causing a rise in the average cost per case.

'It is a form of rationing that means people with less attractive cases are going without help,' he argued.

'A new approach has got to be found.'

Paula Rohan