For the first time since 2008-09, Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, has given a clear opinion on the annual financial statements of the Legal Services Commission.

Jump to downloads

For the first time since 2008-09, Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, has given a clear opinion on the annual financial statements of the Legal Services Commission (LSC). This is because he does not consider the estimated £14.5 million of irregular payments by the Commission to legal aid providers to be material in the context of annual payments of £2.1 billion.

The total estimated amount of irregular payments has fallen by 59 per cent to £14.5 million, from £35.6 million in 2011-12.

Irregular payments include amounts paid to legal aid providers where the claim was not in compliance with the statutory fee regimes, and amounts paid as legal aid in respect of people who were not eligible or whose eligibility could not be proven

Mr Morse today certified the accounts of the Community Legal Service Fund and the Criminal Defence Service, prepared by the LSC (which has now been abolished and replaced by the Legal Aid Agency or LAA).

The report found that the LAA starts with an improved assurance framework embedded within the business and significantly reduced levels of irregularity.  This is underpinned by more robust supplier management, risk-based assurance activity and more routine recovery of irregular payments.

The report recommended that the agency keep driving down irregularity through more pre-payment checks and maintain the routine recovery of irregular payments made to suppliers in previous years as these are an essential part of LAA’s management of suppliers and protection of taxpayers’ funds.

Gross irregularity remains high for civil legal help schemes and has increased for some schemes based on eligibility. LAA should focus effort on these areas, particularly on the prevention of errors during means assessments.

The C&AG’s audit of the 2013-14 financial statements will continue to examine the level of irregular transactions and to monitor LAA’s progress in making further improvements.

July 2013

Downloads

Latest reports