Legal Services Commission 2010/11 accounts qualified

The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, has qualified the 2010-11 accounts of the Legal Services Commission because of overpayments made by the Commission to legal aid providers, estimated at almost £51 million.

The National Audit Office, as part of its annual audit of the Legal Services Commission, identified an estimated total overpayment to legal aid providers of £50.7 million in 2010-11; down 34 per cent from an estimated £76.5 million in 2009-10. Of the estimated total error, £29.5 million were payments made to legal aid providers working on cases which were eligible for legal aid, but where legal aid providers over-claimed for the work they did. The remaining £21.2 million of erroneous payments were made to legal aid providers where legal aid had been provided to claimants whose eligibility could not be demonstrated.

They did find that the Commission has made substantial improvements in reducing the amount of overpayments made to legal aid providers.

Community Legal Service Fund and Criminal Defence Service Accounts 2010-11