More tech woe at Legal Aid Agency as go-live date missed

The Legal Aid Agency will miss its mid-November target for restoring a major IT system for civil legal aid work following the recent cyber-attack, it has emerged – prompting the Law Society to renew calls for solicitors to be compensated.

Practitioners have endured months of disruption after hackers targeted agency systems required to log work and get paid, forcing the LAA to take its systems down in May. The hackers breached the system on 31 December 2024, but the attack was only spotted in April.

LAA deputy chief executive Hitesh Patel told a Legal Aid Practitioners Group conference last month that crime systems were back online, but the agency was ‘targeting mid-November’ for the main systems required for civil legal aid work, such as CCMS, to be up and running. 

The agency has now announced that Submit a Bulk Claim, the system which enables practitioners to upload legal help, crime lower and mediation monthly submissions, will not go live this month.

Law Society vice president Brett Dixon said: ‘Despite the contingency arrangements, practitioners continue to suffer the fallout of a cyber-attack which was no fault of their own. They also continue to wait for promised legal aid rate increases to be implemented. Nevertheless, it is better that the LAA has acknowledged the problems with the new system rather than ploughing ahead with launching it before it is ready.’

Before the latest timetable news, bar chair Barbara Mills KC wrote to LAA chief executive Jane Harbottle asking for a manual payment process to be put in place should the timetable slip again. Mills was told a paper-based system would increase the risk of errors and create additional administrative burdens, slowing down the system.

Dixon said firms should be fully compensated for the additional time and expense they have incurred.

David Thomas, head of contract management and assurance at the agency, told last month’s conference that the organisation has existing routes for claiming compensation and will keep the matter under review. 

Richard Miller, head of justice at the Society, advised practitioners to keep notes of how much additional time they are spending on cases.