LSANI key messages - February 2026

Topics:

Useful information for legal aid suppliers

Date published: 15 March 2026

The LSA has issued the key messages for legal aid practitioners for February 2026.

Graphic for legal services agency northern ireland key messages

1. Certificates of Exceptional Preparation

Practitioners are asked to note that a Certificate of Exceptional Preparation will name the individual supplier to whom it has been granted.

The certificate will confirm the number of hours and category of work for the representative named and only that representative named can undertake the work under a Certificate of Exceptional Preparation.

If any other representative undertakes work and submits contemporaneous records detailing work under a Certificate of Exceptional Preparation for which they are not the named representative, the fees claimed will not be paid and any such claim for payment will be refused.

2. Case Management meetings

Recently, the Agency had occasion to meet with practitioners to discuss novel or complex cases both in advance of applications being submitted for Exceptional Preparation or Exceptional Funding and where issues have arisen in these cases.

These engagements have proven to be highly effective in enabling the Agency to gain a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the case and the work likely to be required, thereby supporting a more informed determination of a grant of funding.

In these cases, we have been able to agree a master grant for use across multiple defendants or, establish a clear approach to the grants required for specific areas of work. This has resulted in applications being processed with either no queries or significantly fewer queries.

Practitioners who are involved in novel or unusual matters, or in multi defendant matters who consider that an early case management conversation may be beneficial can contact the Agency at exceptionality.authorities@lsani.gov.uk to arrange an initial case management meeting.

These meetings can be arranged swiftly.

3. LSA guidance update – Applicant Declarations

Practitioners are asked to note that the “LSANI Guidance on Applicant Declarations – All Levels of Service” has been amended.

Paragraph 8.3 has been amended to confirm that the new format of Declarations introduced under Circular 17/23 have been added to LAMS meaning that the correct Declaration will auto-generate when the application is completed on the system.

4. LSA communications survey

In March 2026 the LSA will issue a communications survey. Your views help shape how we share important updates, guidance, and information on Legal Aid and you are encouraged to take time to complete the survey.

Following our 2023 survey, your input has supported improvements including:

Delivery of online “How to…” sessions
Engagement with local solicitor associations
Bespoke training for the Law Society’s Family Committee and the Family Bar Association
Increased awareness of the LAMS Change Forum.

Your feedback continues to play a key role in strengthening how we communicate with practitioners.

5. LSANI ‘How to….’ session slides

Practitioners are reminded of the availability of the slides used for the LSANI ‘How to…’ sessions. These can be located under the following path on the LSANI website:

Legal aid – Legal Profession – Useful information for legal aid suppliers – LSANI ‘How to…’ sessions

The individual session links are also linked below for convenience:

Slides will be updated after each new session as required.

6. LAMS Change Forum

LAMS change template and email address

The Agency is committed to working with LAMS users to improve the system and we encourage practitioners to submit any ideas for change to our dedicated email address LAMSchanges@lsani.gov.uk using the change request template. Changes received will be forwarded to Forum representatives from the membership bodies who are responsible for collating and completing an initial prioritisation for consideration by the Forum.

7. What you may have missed

Please note that the Agency have published the following, during February 2026, on the LSANI website:

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