Legal Aid Newsletter | August 2025

If you have any feedback from this newsletter, or would like our team to look into any issues for you, please email us.

LAA cyber incident – new platform is coming

The LAA are working on replacing the old portal with a new platform ‘Sign in to Legal Aid Services’, which will replace the old portal. It will not be available before September.

Services will be restored in phases and the LAA will provide more information in due course. Onboarding has started with a pilot group of around 70 users.  If your firm is in the first group, we should appreciate it if you would provide any feedback on your experience. Please email [email protected].

The process will require information for all users including the name, email address, office account number and role within the firm, where relevant. There will also be a declaration required from providers to confirm that the data is accurate and that the identity of users has been verified.

The LAA said: “We appreciate that this request comes during a peak period for annual leave. However, it is prompted by the need to restore Legal Aid Agency services as quickly as possible. By requesting the necessary data at the earliest opportunity, we aim to minimise delays in verifying users and granting them access to the Sign in to Legal Aid Services platform.”

Resolution working for you – LAA cyber incident information updates

At the end of July, the LAA sent an email to providers to notify them that update emails would in future be sent once a week on Wednesdays.

It is now easier to find new information on the LAA’s FAQs page as entries are being dated, as Resolution has been requesting since the start of the incident.

LAA cyber security incident page provides updates by topic. Entries are not being dated on the page itself; but if you scroll down to the bottom and click ‘show all updates’, brief descriptions of updates are being added.

Monthly Claim Submissions

The LAA has issued the following information ahead of the August reconciliation period:

• The submission deadline remains Wednesday 20 August. However, due to the bank holiday and the short turnaround time required to collate the manual submissions, we kindly ask that you submit your proformas as early as possible.
• Please ensure that you only submit a global total, using the updated proforma, Contingency Monthly Contract Submission template.
• You do not need to send in the bulk load spreadsheet.
• The proforma must be submitted as an Excel document. Please do not send PDFs or SharePoint links, as only the Excel format allows for efficient extraction of the required data.
• Due to the tight turnaround for payments in August, submissions received after 20 August cannot be guaranteed payment by 1 September. Any late submissions will instead be processed for payment on 8 September.

Resolution working for you – MoJ considering an Interest on Lawyers’ Client Accounts Scheme

Many members providing legal aid services received an invitation from the MoJ to attend one of three roundtable meetings to share their views about the potential creation of an MOJ scheme to collect interest from lawyer client accounts. Members of Resolution’s Legal Aid Committee have been attending and putting forward their views.

The MoJ has been considering schemes operating in jurisdictions in the USA, Canada, and Australia which generate funding for various access to justice projects by capturing interest earned on pooled client funds held by law firms.  If introduced, the MOJ say they would use the funds for key areas of their Legal Support Strategy including access to justice.

At one of the roundtables, an MoJ representative said it was very much a policy being formed which is why there were no detailed proposals to discuss. He emphasised that the MoJ is aware how much legal aid firms rely on the interest on lawyers’ client accounts. Information from the meetings will feed into policy thinking and advice to Ministers. Decisions have not been made yet.

Currently they are thinking interest could be transferred from time to time by firms to a body which would administer the scheme and then onwards to the government to use on access to justice initiatives. This would apply to all client accounts, not just firms providing legal aid services. The MoJ are consulting legal aid practitioners at this stage as legal aid is a priority for the MoJ. They are also engaging with the regulators and financial services sector.

Practitioner reactions expressed at one of the meetings:

• • This is a massive issue which will affect all firms
  • Legal aid practitioners rely on interest because fees are so low
  • Fees would need to increase for all private paying consumers and would be a barrier to some, reducing access to justice
  • Fees for e.g. private client and conveyancing would have to rise
  • The more sophisticated firms would be more likely to be able to structure things so their interest would not be caught (their clients will insist on it)
  • The interest is taxable – government is already getting some of it (often at 40%)
  • The proposals are short sighted as interest rates are going down so would not be a reliable source of funds
  • Historically legal aid has provided cashflow and carried some overhead. If the proposals go ahead it would remove the justification for carrying on with legal aid
  • One practitioner said they would have to give up legal aid and reduce headcount. Partners would have to do more fee earning and they would probably be able to make as much money
  • The general consensus was that this would be the final nail in the coffin of legal aid
  • The poorest and most vulnerable would lose access to justice
  • A crime practitioner said almost half of the firms that used to provide legal aid in their area have given up crime already. Defendants will be unrepresented. Initiatives to speed up the criminal justice system would not be implemented as there would be fewer practitioners to do so
  • Many firms would no longer be profitable.

The MoJ wanted to know what the interest  is currently used for. They have heard that some firms use it to offset banking charges.

• • None of the firms present said they did that (although a minority are known to do so)
  • They have used the money to make up for the increase in NI and to give pay rises which they feel staff deserve.

The MoJ wanted to know if legally aided work generated much in interest.

• • The answer was no – most of that type of work is now outside scope. Some matrimonial cases do produce some interest but very little
  • Interest comes from conveyancing and probate.

Resolution is discussing these proposals with the Law Society and other practitioner bodies such as LAPG. We will be monitoring developments and responding as necessary.

Domestic abuse – new standard letters

The LAA has issued the following letters:

• Asking for a copy of a police caution for domestic abuse here
• To get evidence a partner is currently on police bail for a domestic abuse charge here
• To get proof that a partner has been issued with a DVPO or DAPO here
• To get a copy of a DVPN or DAPN here

Other legal aid news

Housing and Debt contracts

The LAA is encouraging applications for contracts in Housing and Debt across many areas in the north of England and in the midlands.
Read more

Market engagement – peer reviewers independent panel members

The LAA is looking to procure a panel of independent experts to advise and oversee the LAA peer review scheme. These independent experts will not operate as peer reviewers but will support and oversee the peer review scheme.

They will need: a law degree or equivalent and have at least 4 years post-qualification professional work experience in the legal sector; a relevant qualification in quality management and/or have at least 4 years practical experience of applying this in a professional setting.
Read more