Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times the Legal Aid Agency has been successful in seeking repayment of overpaid legal aid to a provider in each of the last 12 months.
Applications for civil legal aid, January – December 2019
Month | Applications volumes | Applications successful | Proportion successful (%) |
Jan-2019 | 9,710 | 9,011 | 93% |
Feb-2019 | 9,441 | 8,736 | 93% |
Mar-2019 | 10,573 | 9,822 | 93% |
Apr-2019 | 9,919 | 9,185 | 93% |
May-2019 | 10,577 | 9,807 | 93% |
Jun-2019 | 9,652 | 8,994 | 93% |
Jul-2019 | 11,337 | 10,548 | 93% |
Aug-2019 | 9,861 | 9,181 | 93% |
Sep-2019 | 9,762 | 9,079 | 93% |
Oct-2019 | 11,341 | 10,523 | 93% |
Nov-2019 | 10,262 | 9,518 | 93% |
Dec-2019 | 8,615 | 8,033 | 93% |
Applications for criminal legal aid, January – December 2019
Month | Volume of applications | Volume granted | Proportion successful (%) |
Jan | 28,209 | 27,174 | 96% |
Feb | 24,337 | 23,450 | 96% |
Mar | 26,075 | 25,215 | 97% |
Apr | 24,309 | 23,511 | 97% |
May | 26,705 | 25,765 | 96% |
Jun | 24,147 | 23,306 | 97% |
Jul | 27,035 | 26,188 | 97% |
Aug | 23,920 | 23,191 | 97% |
Sep | 23,633 | 22,901 | 97% |
Oct | 26,325 | 25,556 | 97% |
Nov | 23,923 | 23,153 | 97% |
Dec | 20,781 | 20,119 | 97% |
Note: some applications classed as ‘unsuccessful’ may have been rejected for administrative reasons, as opposed to being refused for not meeting relevant eligibility criteria. An application may be refused due to a lack of merit in the case and/or the applicant not qualifying for public funding financially.
Identification and recovery of overpayments to providers, January – December 2019:
| No. of Payment Errors | % of overall claims where error found | No. of Recoveries | % of errors where recovery made | % of £ paid in error recovered |
Jan-19 | 1,631 | 1.37% | 1611 | 98.77% | 99.72% |
Feb-19 | 1,263 | 1.00% | 1244 | 98.50% | 99.64% |
Mar-19 | 1,307 | 1.02% | 1291 | 98.78% | 99.69% |
Apr-19 | 1,186 | 0.82% | 1167 | 98.40% | 98.62% |
May-19 | 737 | 0.49% | 721 | 97.83% | 98.52% |
Jun-19 | 1,077 | 0.74% | 1059 | 98.33% | 99.21% |
Jul-19 | 748 | 0.50% | 733 | 97.99% | 99.57% |
Aug-19 | 574 | 0.39% | 553 | 96.34% | 99.59% |
Sep-19 | 1047 | 0.75% | 1026 | 97.99% | 99.20% |
Oct-19 | 1,539 | 1.02% | 1519 | 98.70% | 99.83% |
Nov-19 | 845 | 0.56% | 818 | 96.80% | 99.42% |
Dec-19 | 993 | 0.72% | 977 | 98.39% | 99.63% |
These figures refer to errors concerning either the submission or assessment of claims.
A list of all legal aid providers holding a contract to deliver services can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/directory-of-legal-aid-providers. This can be filtered to show those providers holding a criminal legal aid contract only.
Whilst we hold robust data for individual self-employed advocates, they are generally paid directly by the Legal Aid Agency via their own individual legal aid account number, rather than via any chambers they may be tenanted at. Self-employed advocates also receive their instructions from the contract-holding solicitor with conduct of the matter, rather than via a contract with the Legal Aid Agency.