Weekly summary for COVID-19 Interim Payment Scheme requests by legal aid suppliers - week ending 5 June 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 5 June 2020.

COVID-19 Interim Payment Scheme barrister activity as at 5 June 2020

1. Payment requests received

• In the week ending Friday 5 June 2020, 265 IPS requests were submitted via LAMS.  This compares with 380 requests during the previous week and brings the overall number of IPS requests since the scheme began to 1,907.
• These 1,907 payment requests were submitted by 105 individual legal aid providers (including both Barristers and Solicitor Firms).
• Of these 1,907 payment requests, less than a fifth (18%; 352) were submitted by 37 separate Barristers. 
• Figure 1 shows that 52 IPS requests were submitted by Barristers in the week ending 5 June 2020, up from 34 in the previous week.
• Overall, the majority of IPS requests from Barristers have been submitted against current Rep Higher certificates (59%), with 41% submitted against Criminal certificates.  The final 1% were submitted under Rep Lower (Figure 1).

Figure 1 

2. Outcomes of requests received

• Of the 1,907 IPS requests received by LSANI, 1,887 (99%) have a completed status.  While the majority of these (1,261) have been determined, 626 requests have been rejected for various reasons.
• Figure 2 shows that, as at 5 June 2020, 54% (191) of all Barrister requests with a completed status have been determined, while 46% (160) have been rejected.

Figure 2

• In the week ending 5 June 2020, a total of £8,655 was authorised for payment to Barristers, bringing the overall total paid to Barristers since the scheme went live to £77,214.

The reasons for these 160 Barrister IPS requests being rejected are summarised in Table 1.  The most common reason for both Barrister and Solicitor requests being rejected is “Declaration not included”.

Table 1: Reasons for IPS requests being rejected

• Of all Barrister IPS requests that have been rejected by LSANI since the scheme began, over a third (37%) was due to a completed declaration not being included with the submitted request.  Other notable reasons for rejection were that: a full certificate was not held for 3 months (17%); supporting evidence was not uploaded (16%); and payment had been previously received (14%).

COVID-19 Interim Payment Scheme solicitor firm activity as at 5 June 2020

1. Payment requests received

• In the week ending Friday 5 June 2020, 265 IPS requests were submitted via LAMS.  This compares with 380 requests during the previous week and brings the overall number of IPS requests since the scheme began to 1,907.
• These 1,907 payment requests were submitted by 105 individual legal aid providers (including both Barristers and Solicitor Firms).
• Of these 1,907 payment requests, over four-fifths (82%; 1,555) were submitted by 68 separate Solicitor Firms. 
• 213 IPS requests were submitted by Solicitor Firms in the week ending 5 June 2020, the third consecutive weekly drop since the scheme was introduced (Figure 1).
• Since the scheme began, over half of all IPS requests from Solicitor Firms have been submitted against current Criminal certificates (56%), with a further 27% submitted against Rep Higher certificates.  The final 17% were submitted under Rep Lower (Figure 1).

Figure 1

2. Outcomes of requests received

• Of the 1,907 IPS requests received by LSANI, 1,887 (99%) have a completed status.  While the majority of these (1,261) have been determined, 626 requests have been rejected for various reasons.
• Figure 2 shows that, as at 5 June 2020, 70% (1,070) of all Solicitor Firm requests with a completed status have been determined, while 30% (466) have been rejected.

Figure 2

• Of all Solicitor Firm IPS requests that have been rejected by LSANI since the scheme began, a third (33%) was due to a completed declaration not being included with the submitted request.  Other notable reasons for rejection were that: supporting evidence was not uploaded (19%); an incorrect fee was claimed (14%); a full certificate was not held for 3 months (13%); and barristers were not attached to the case (10%).

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.

Share this page