Legal aid cost of asylum doubles to pounds 138m

THE legal aid bill for asylum seekers more than doubled to pounds 138 million last year, Whitehall's spending watchdog revealed today.

That compares with the pounds 58 million the Government paid those providing immigration advice in 2000-1.

And the estimated bill for this year will rise to pounds 150 million, says the National Audit Office (NAO). Its report does not explain what is behind the spiralling costs.

Extensive overcharging by solicitors was also uncovered by the probe into the new Legal Services Commission, which oversees and funds legal aid in England and Wales. Wide regional differences were found, with major problems in London.

Almost pounds 700,000 was recovered from a single firm involved in immigration cases in the capital.

Sir John Bourn, the NAO chief, said it should be easier for the commission to stop using firms who persistently overcharge. He was backed by Edward Leigh, the Tory chairman of the Commons Public Account Committee.

Two-thirds of solicitors' bills were inflated, according to the survey of 2,571 firms' work. More than one in three had overcharged by more than 20 per cent.

Allowing a 10 per cent margin for error meant 34 per cent had come in at an acceptable level. Overall the 51,420 claims examined were an average of 24 per cent higher than they should have been - and could have led to an extra pounds 2.5 million on the Government's bill.

Despite these problems the introduction of the Legal Services Commission in 2002 had been a success, the NAO concludes. The total legal aid bill has fallen from pounds 848 million three years ago to pounds 735 million last year.

Copyright 2002
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