LSANI key messages - January 2026

Topics:

Useful information for legal aid suppliers

Date published: 18 February 2026

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

Graphic for legal services agency northern ireland key messages

1. Reminder - Practitioner File Review (PFR) – Travel and Mileage

Further to Circular LSA 07/24 and LSA 10/25, Practitioners are reminded of the following key points in relation to travel and mileage (T&M):

Evidence Requirement: All travel and mileage must be supported by contemporaneous documentation.
Automatic Recoupment: For bills submitted from 1 January 2026, insufficient evidence of travel or mileage claimed will result in automatic recoupment.
No Post-Error Evidence: Evidence provided after the original file submission or after errors have been identified by the Standard Assurance Unit (SAU) will not be accepted.
Recommended Practice: Maintain a detailed T&M log to substantiate claims.

Failure to comply will result in adjustments without further opportunity to provide supporting evidence.

2. Advice and Assistance Extensions in Immigration and Asylum matters

Practitioners are reminded that there are specific fee descriptors which must be used when seeking extensions to Advice and Assistance grants in Immigration and Asylum matters.

Failing to select the specific fee descriptors will impact on the hourly rates applied to the extension.

The specific fee descriptors for use are as follows:

(a) AA extensions authority – Immigration/ Asylum – Additional advice – miscellaneous;

(b) AA extensions authority – Immigration/ Asylum – Client consultation;

(d) AA extensions authority – Immigration/ Asylum – Reading time;

(e) Immigration/ Asylum – Letters/ Emails/ Telephone calls.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. What you may have missed

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

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