As well as the obvious, a couple of additional matters were announced by the LSC this week. They issued a reminder that clients who have an interest in a trust must declare it, and that failure to do so could lead to revocation of a certificate. Meanwhile, the saga of criminal advocacy payments continues; the LSC have now issued a briefing paper on their IT changes and “recovery plan”. Advocacy payments are not the only area where the LSC’s processing performance is woeful. Civil practitioners will find little to cheer in the news that bill processing is currently running at 10 weeks and certificate applications at 6 weeks (8 for family). The LSC’s service standards can be found here and the complaints procedure is here.
Legal Aid Handbook 