“Ridiculously low” immigration case fee criticised

The Legal Aid Agency has been criticised for adding to funding problems which have created “advice deserts” around the UK by setting a maximum £35 case fee for immigration telephone advisers.

The agency is considering bids to provide telephone immigration advice to detainees in police custody. The Law Gazette reports that the fee was described as “ridiculously low” by the director of the Law Centres Network, Julie Bishop. She said: “One has to ask how much time or effort the Ministry of Justice anticipates could therefore be spent on each call and therefore what is the intention of the service? It clearly reflects the Ministry of Justice’s disregard for those who might wish to use the service.”

Jawaid Luqmani, partner at specialist immigration firm Luqmani Thompson & Partners, warned that the Legal Aid Agency is taking a short-sighted approach by tendering to the lowest bidder. He said: “The fact that the Legal Aid Agency believes that it is possible to run a tender at this price reflects the fact that it is confident and probably justifiably confident that there will be some suppliers content to proceed on this basis. Will it mean more individuals potentially get some form of advice? Yes. Will it mean more people get effective access to real justice? Possibly not.”