Weekly summary for COVID-19 Interim Payment Scheme requests by legal aid suppliers - week ending 17 July 2020

The Legal Services Agency Northern Ireland (LSANI) launched the COVID-19 Interim Payment Scheme (IPS) on Thursday 7 May 2020. The figures contained below represent Management Information (MI) detailing activity under this scheme for both barristers and solicitor firms up to and including Friday 17 July 2020. The position as at 10 July 2020 is also provided, as a separate report was not produced due to the July public holidays.

COVID-19 Interim Payment Scheme barrister activity as at 17 July 2020
 

1. Payment requests received

• In the week ending Friday 10 July 2020, 264 IPS requests were submitted via LAMS. This compares with 266 requests during the previous week. A further 128 IPS requests were submitted in the week ending 17 July 2020 (note: 13 and 14 July 2020 were public holidays) bringing the overall number of IPS requests since the scheme began to 3,279.
• These 3,279 payment requests were submitted by 171 individual legal aid providers (including both Barristers and Solicitor Firms). 3,151 requests were submitted up to 10 July 2020 by 164 individual legal aid providers.
• Of these 3,279 payment requests submitted up to the week ending 17 July 2020, almost a quarter (24%; 771) were submitted by 64 separate Barristers. This is similar to the proportion of payment requests submitted by 61 separate Barristers in the previous week, up to 10 July 2020 (23%, 734 of 3,151 requests). 
• Figure 1 shows that 37 IPS requests were submitted by Barristers in the week ending 17 July 2020 (Week 10; note: 13 and 14 July 2020 were public holidays), down from 66 in the previous week, up to 10 July 2020 (Figure 1).
• Overall (as at 17 July 2020), more than half of IPS requests from Barristers have been submitted against Rep Higher certificates (57%), with 42% submitted against Criminal certificates. The final 1% were submitted under Rep Lower. Similar proportions were observed as at 10 July 2020 with 56% of requests from Barristers submitted against Rep Higher certificates, 43% against Criminal certificates and 1% under Rep Lower (Figure 1).

Figure 1

2. Outcomes of requests received

• Of the 3,279 IPS requests received by LSANI up to the 17 July 2020, 3,252 (99%) have a completed status. While the majority of these (2,137) have been determined, 1,115 requests have been rejected for various reasons. 99% of all requests received by LSANI up to the 10 July 2020 had a completed status (3,111 out of 3,151); 2,041 requests had been determined and 1,070 rejected.
• Figure 2 shows that, as at 17 July 2020, 60% (460) of all Barrister requests with a completed status have been determined, while 40% (309) have been rejected. The same proportions were observed as at 10 July 2020 when 438 (60%) of all Barrister requests with a completed status had been determined, while 291 (40%) had been rejected.

Figure 2

• In the week ending 10 July 2020, a total of £22,760 was authorised for payment to Barristers, with a further £6,605 authorised for payment in the week ending 17 July 2020 (note: 13 and 14 July 2020 were public holidays).  These bring the overall total paid to Barristers since the scheme went live to £175,240.

COVID-19 Interim Payment Scheme solicitor firm activity as at 17 July 2020

1. Payment requests received

• In the week ending Friday 10 July 2020, 264 IPS requests were submitted via LAMS. This compares with 266 requests during the previous week. A further 128 IPS requests were submitted in the week ending 17 July 2020 (note: 13 and 14 July 2020 were public holidays) bringing the overall number of IPS requests since the scheme began to 3,279.
• These 3,279 payment requests were submitted by 171 individual legal aid providers (including both Barristers and Solicitor Firms). 3,151 requests were submitted up to 10 July 2020 by 164 individual legal aid providers.
• Of these 3,279 payment requests submitted up to the week ending Friday 17 July 2020, over three-quarters (76%; 2,508) were submitted by 107 separate Solicitor Firms. This is similar to the proportion of payment requests submitted by 103 separate solicitors in the previous week, up to 10 July 2020 (77%, 2,417 of 3,151 requests). 
• 91 IPS requests were submitted by Solicitor Firms in the week ending 17 July 2020 (Week 10; note: 13 and 14 July 2020 were public holidays), down from 198 requests in the previous week (up to 10 July 2020).
• Since the scheme began up to 17 July 2020, over half of all IPS requests from Solicitor Firms have been submitted against Criminal certificates (55%), with 29% submitted against Rep Higher certificates. The final 16% were submitted under Rep Lower. These same proportions were observed in Week 9 (up to 10 July 2020) (Figure 1).

Figure 1

• In the week ending 10 July 2020, a total of £55,730 was authorised for payment to Solicitor Firms, with a further £36,799 authorised for payment to solicitor firms in the week ending 17 July 2020 (note: 13 and 14 July 2020 were public holidays). These bring the overall total paid to Solicitor Firms since the scheme went live to £766,544.

Please note that printable PDF versions of these reports are located within the Important updates & notices page under the title Summary reports for COVID-19 IPS requests.

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