The LSC £millions overspend

You may have read about the NAO's crtiticisms of the LSC about excessive claims by Solicitors in family cases.

It is difficult to explain how this can happen but essentially the system created by the LSC is so unclear that it is possible to genuinely claim one thing when the LSC, later, assess it as another. It is the necessity for after the event checking which shows how poorly constructed the system is.

Fees are suppoosed to be fixed and simple. This is supposed to lead to less administration by the solicitor and by the LSC. This then saves money.

The problem is that the fee system is not simple or straightforward.

Add to this the fact that the reduction in fees paid has meant that more and more work is undertaken further and further down the legal "food chain" because profit has been squeezed out of the legal aid fees system. Senior Solicitors are seeking private clients and moving away from legal aid. Junior staff and secretaries are left to deal with legal aid. There should be supervision and there is, but it is proportionate to the fee paid per case. After all time spent supervising ie checking what someone else has done, is unpaid work and, in the current climate, sitting at a desk not earning fees is just not financially viable.

The Ministry of Justice and the Legal Services Commission demand high quality standards whilst paying minimal fees.

A Solicitor can work 1/3 of the files if paid privately by a client to earn the same amount from legal aid cases. That means a legal aid solicitor operates 3 times the files as a privately paid solicitor to earn the same income.

It is no wonder firms are working out how to abandon legal aid.

"So what!" The taxpayer cries. "It has been a gravy train for too long."

Children will be unrepresented at Court in care proceedings. Contact and residence applications will be argued out by the parents in person. Cases will take longer and cost more. Children and parents will suffer.

Neither the MoJ nor the LSC places any value on the work of Solicitors. All they care about is the price.