06/10/2008 – LASA closes Casework and Appeals Team

The Lasa Appeals Team represents benefit claimants who have been wrongly refused their entitlement at Social Security Tribunals. The team will now close in October 2008 after 24 years of invaluable service.

Commenting on the announcement, the Chief Executive of Lasa, Andy Gregg said -

‘It really saddens me that after 24 years of providing an invaluable welfare benefits appeals and representation service to many of the most vulnerable people in London, we have finally had to call it a day.
The Legal Services Commission's fixed fee regime is really starting to bite and unfortunately Lasa's Appeals Team is the next in what we anticipate to be a long line of similar closures throughout the sector.
The system of fixed fees is based on the assumption that advice providers can still deal with complex lengthy cases by off-setting them with simpler shorter cases. Unfortunately due to our long history as a specialist provider we simply did not get enough shorter cases to make the system work for us.
It is deplorable that such highly valued and trusted services are being forced to close; they are needed now more than ever, as the impact of the credit crunch starts to bite, and the Government's new Welfare Reform agenda is implemented. According to the Government's own research it is estimated that an extra 26,500 appeals will be lodged per year because of these reform changes.
Where will these people go to get the in-depth advice they need? Policy makers must act quickly and recognize the impact the LSC intervention is having on the sector and clients. If they wait too long there may be insufficient providers left to meet the ever increasing need.'

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