moj-improvement-plan-april-2014

1. Assessment
Legal Aid Agency (LAA)
Over the last few years, the LAA has improved and modernised its services, set up a robust
assurance and control environment, embedded a strong commitment to financial management
and developed strong internal capability.
Since 2010, the LAA has delivered:
• implementation of a wide-ranging programme of reform to the scope of legal aid and clients’
eligibility through Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 in partnership
with MoJ policy, legal and analytical colleagues in 2012;
• These reforms have contributed to the LAA reducing Fund expenditure by £200m between
2010/11 and 2012/13; and
• In 2012/13 the LAA (called the Legal Services Commission at the time) met all of its key
performance measures, reduced its reported error rate to 0.7% (down from 2.4% in 2010/11)
and paid providers within 30 days in a higher proportion of cases than the previous year.
The LAA recognises that the current environment is a challenging one for our stakeholders, and we
value their partnership with us in delivering a more effective, less costly and more responsive legal aid
system to the public. The LAA has a comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy, which utilises a
range of channels; including our Contract Managers, electronic delivery and senior management face
to face meetings.
10 | Improvement Plan