09/11/2009 – Law Society ‘slams’ Audit Office for ‘unfounded’ overclaiming allegations
The chief executive of the Law Society has formally complained to the head of the National Audit Office (NAO) about the findings of the latest audit of the Legal Services Commission's (LSC) accounts that allege almost £25 million of overpaid legal aid fees.
The Law Society chief executive, Desmond Hudson, has written to the NAO to express his 'grave concern' about the report and the failure of the NAO to discuss the report or the audit processes with the Society prior to carrying out the audit of making the report public. In his letter, Mr Hudson, says that the Society has 'serious questions about the accuracy of the audits you undertook, and believe there may be major errors in the report' and raises a number of specific issues including concerns about -
- the experience of the NAO auditors in understanding the nature of the work and the rules of the legal aid system;
- how the NAO has calculated the 'overclaims' particularly in relation to inadequate evidence of means; and
- suggesting solicitors have overclaimed in cases where assessments are the reasponsibility of the LSC, such as work in the Magistrates Court for ineligible individuals and calculating eligibility for full legal reporesentation and any contributions due from clients.
Mr Hudson also raises concerns about claims in the report that the absence of strict sanctions to deter the submission of incorrect claims may have contributed to the 'incidence of error'. He suggests that the fact solicitors can be struck off the solicitors roll or face criminal proceedings for deliberately misclaiming as well as losing substantial levels of income for one instance of overclaiming are penalties that are 'disproportionate to any benefit from misclaiming'.
The Law Society news article Society hits back at inaccurate legal aid allegations and the Chief Executive's letter to the NAO are available from the Law Society website.