Update on LAA Portal availability

Dear Members,

Please see below correspondence from the LAA.

We are closely monitoring the situation and note that a further update is expected tomorrow.

Best wishes,

Casey

Casey Lee Jenkins

Legal Executive Advocate

MK Law Solicitors

Mobile: 07849 631811

Office: 0208 692 2694

CJSM: casey.jenkins@mklaw.cjsm.net

Unit 13, 224 Shoreditch High Street, London E1 6PJ

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Registered Office: 46 High Street, Bromley BR1 1EA

T: 0208 692 2694 (All Offices – 24 HOURS) / Website: www.mk-law.co.uk

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MK Law Solicitors Limited T/A MK Law /Company Registration Number: 06969519

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From: Legal Aid Agency <legalaidbulletin@labulletin.org.uk>
Sent: 21 May 2025 18:40
To: admin@lccsa.org.uk
Subject: Update on LAA Portal availability

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	21 May 2025

Dear Provider, To ensure that providers have the latest position with respect to legal aid applications and billing contingencies, they are shared with you below. These processes will remain in place over the coming days until further notice. As promised, we will write to you again on Thursday with a further update. UPDATES: Why did two payments appear in my account w/c 19 May? Following the extended downtime of the LAA Portal on 8 and 9 May, the LAA worked hard to process as much of the backlog as possible to ensure providers received the payments they are due. To do this it is was been necessary to undertake two payment runs. What bills will be paid in the payment run for on 27 May? Civil Representation and Crown Court Bills authorised up to Friday, 16 May. Are provider IT systems at risk? There is no direct risk. There is no direct connection from LAA systems to any provider system – it is a one-way provider to LAA connection only. Provider obligations to report to ICO/Client? We would also like to confirm that there is no contractual obligation on providers to report this incident to the ICO or to inform clients. The data impacted by this incident is either owned by the LAA or is considered Shared Data within the definition of the contract. The contract at clause 16.3 of the standard terms sets out that the responsibilities of the data controller will be exercised by the party in possession of the data – in this case by MoJ as the data controller for LAA. MoJ has notified the ICO of the incident, and has notified data subjects through the public announcement on GOV.UK on 19 May. Civil applications: For civil applications, where a provider cannot utilise delegated functions and has an imminent court hearing they should contact the LAA customer services team on 0300 200 2020. If a provider needs to submit an urgent amendment for a High Cost Family case, please contact the Customer Services Team who will refer the matter over to the High Cost Family team for urgent consideration. For Non-High Cost Family cases, follow the same process where the item will be referred to the Civil Applications team for urgent consideration. Crime applications: Whilst the Portal is unavailable providers will be unable to gain a date stamp for applications. When the Portal becomes available providers will be invited to complete applications as normal and indicate in the ‘Further Information’ section that they were unable to submit their application and the date that they would have submitted it but for the outage. LAA caseworkers will backdate representation orders to the requested date where applicable. Contributions for existing certificates will continue as normal, however, it would be appreciated if clients could be advised to take particular care to provide valid payment references such as Case ref, CCMS account number or invoice number. Please note that during this contingency only, we will backdate all applications (including indictable only) to the date that they would have been submitted had the portal been available. Once Crime Apply becomes available, we will revert to the existing backdating arrangements as set out in CLAM. Crime Lower and Legal Help monthly submissions Where providers have not yet submitted their April CWA submissions (due by 20 May), they should email the Reconciliation team reconciliation@justice.gov.uk with their total monthly submission value for their April submission by 20 May. This should be a global amount for each submission which the provider normally makes on CWA. When CWA is available, the submissions should then also be submitted via the system, to allow them to be reconciled. CONTINGENCY PROCESSES FOR THE MAGISTRATES’ BILLING TEAM CRM4 Prior authority applications (CRM4s) cannot currently be submitted on the portal. Urgent CRM4 applications can be sent via email to CRM4contingency@justice.gov.uk. Please complete the PDF version of the CRM4. Please note that this is an old version of the CRM4, but the required information is the same. The CRM4 should be submitted along with the usual documentation, including the quote from the expert. A decision will be provided to you via email. If you experience any difficulties with this process, please contact magsbilling@justice.gov.uk. Please also see the attached guidance on editing a PDF. CRM4 appeals can be submitted in the usual way to CRM4appeal@justice.gov.uk. CRM5 Please complete the PDF version of the Application for Extension of Upper Limit form (CRM5). Due to changes in the CRM5 process over the years, the most recent PDF is from 2009. Since then, there have been some changes in terminology and scope. Please ignore any references to Prison Law or parole hearings. Wherever it reads CDS1/2/3/5, this is the old terminology for CRM1/2/3/5. Please include a breakdown of hours and hourly rates in the box on page 3. Please complete all other sections as usual. If you are requesting a disbursement, please attach a copy of the quote to your email. If there is any other information you would like to submit, please also attach it to your email. Please send a completed copy of this form to CRM5applications@justice.gov.uk. If you experience any difficulties with this process, please contact CRM5applications@justice.gov.uk. Please also see the attached guidance on editing a PDF. CRM5 appeals can be submitted as usual to CRM5appeal@justice.gov.uk CRM7 Please submit non-standard Magistrates’ claims (CRM7s) via paper. Please send your CRM7 and file of papers to: Legal Aid Agency 3rd Floor, B3.20 1 Unity Square Queensbridge Road Nottingham NG2 1AW DX 10035 Nottingham A copy of the paper CRM7 can be located here: CRM7: non-standard fee magistrates' court claim and appeal form - GOV.UK CRM 18As There is no change to the submission of CRM18 claims. Submit CRM18 (Police Station Escape Fee) claims to the Magistrates’ Billing Team in Nottingham. Email Crime.Exceptional@Justice.gov.uk Alternatively, you can send by post or DX: Legal Aid Agency 3^rd Floor, B3.20 1 Unity Square Queensbridge Road Nottingham NG2 1AW DX 10035 Nottingham CRM18s cannot be accepted via Secure File Exchange. All of the necessary forms can be found at https://legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk/contingency-forms/ Thank you for your ongoing patience and cooperation at what are extremely challenging times. If you have any concerns with respect to any of the contingencies set out above, please contact the LAA customer services team on 0300 200 2020 in the first instance, or your LAA Contract Manager for queries about your specific circumstances. Yours sincerely, Alistair Adan Head of Case Management, LAA

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