CIVIL CLAIM FIX- WHEN THE LAA HAVE GOT IT WRONG!
The Legal Aid Agency have recognised that on occasions (or more regularly- the experience of the provider) that caseworkers do incorrectly reject a claim or wrongly interpret the rules on assessment. In light of this the Civil Claim Fix team was set up initially to deal with incorrect rejects.
The team is based in Liverpool and consists of 15 or so caseworkers who are dedicated to looking into the incorrect rejects and document requests. They have a 24 hour turnaround target on all requests.
The LAA has recently extended its Civil Claim Fix service to include challenges to any work related to civil claims including case outcomes.
As it is important to remember that case outcomes need to be submitted in advance of claims to ensure prompt payment, it is a welcomed improvement by the LAA that case outcomes rejects can now be challenged by the Civil Claim Fix team.
When to make a challenge
Challenges will be considered by the Civil Claim Fix service where you believe the LAA have:
- Rejected a claim incorrectly
- Rejected an ‘outcome’ incorrectly
- Asked for information already provided or not required in a ‘document request’ on a claim or outcome
When you are emailing the Civil Claim Fix team it is important to remember that you will need to set out your reasons clearly and include any relevant supporting evidence.
Who to contact
If you do consider that you have a matter and have encountered one of the above three scenarios then you will need to contact LAACivilClaimFix@justice.gov.uk
Further Guidance
The LAA has provided further guidance available to help avoid a reject or a request for further for further information which includes:
- The Civil Finance Electronic Handbook
- Advanced billing guides– these are on the Client and Costs Management System website and detail the processes to follow when submitting your claim
Alternatively, as we are the experts please do not hesitate to get in touch with us and we will leave no stone untouched on your behalf.
To find out more about John M Hayes and how outsourcing your legal costing requirements can benefit your company call us today on 0370 300 3780 or email info@johnmhayes.co.uk.
Alternatively see our website for a full range of our legal aid services.
Kenny Shealey
LLB (Hons)
Date Published
Wednesday 2nd January 2019