Legal aid management “far from competent”
MPs have taken aim at the Legal Services Commission (LSC) over its “poor financial management” and lack of knowledge about the costs and profitability of legal aid law firms.
The Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) published a report last week criticising the LSC for having “lax” financial controls and management information which, for example, led it to overpay solicitors by £25m in 2008-09 resulting in it having its accounts qualified.
Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the committee, said: “The LSC has been doing a far from competent job of buying legal aid from lawyers.
“The commission’s plans, recently abandoned, to introduce price competition in the legal services market were hamstrung by its lack of knowledge of that market. It must now gather much better information on the costs and profits of firms providing legal aid. Without this basic information, the commission will not be able to set prices which are good value for money for the taxpayer and, at the same time, make legal services work attractive enough to firms.”
The report, The Procurement of Legal Aid in England
