Key messages for legal aid suppliers - November 2021

Review of inactive cases in the Legal Aid Management System (LAMS)

As detailed in paragraph 3 of  circular LSA 08-2021 and paragraph 4 of the letter to Account Administrators regarding inactive cases, practitioners are reminded that, where the Agency does not receive a reply to correspondence issued in relation to inactivity, once the Legal Aid Certificate has been discharged on a case the Agency will, at the point of closure, proceed to recoup any interim payments made on that case without further recourse to you.

Change to March 2021 key message – financial eligibility passport benefits

In the March 2021 key messages, in paragraph 3.3 (a) the Agency said

A message will be sent to the supplier indicating that the benefit selected is not in payment and we will advise which benefit is currently in payment.

Following a review of this process the Agency will no longer be able to advise which benefit an applicant currently has in payment. As such the wording of the March 2021 key messages has been updated to reflect the revised position.

LAMS supplier manual

As advised in LSA Circular 11/21 the screenshots in the LAMS Supplier Manual have now been updated. If practitioners have downloaded or printed copies of the manual these should now be replaced with the most recent version (V9 – Nov 21).