Legal Services Commission - Debt Recovery

dumbo

HI

I received a letter on Saturday from The legal Service Commision for N.Ireland, claiming that we owe them £1300.00 as they did not receive a piece of information required for legal aid. The thing is the legal aid was granted in 2004 & I did return everything they requested at the time. They have been really nice & said that they will send out the form which needs to be completed with income details at that time (2004). As 7 years has now elapsed, I am unsure if I can provide accurate evidence for this.
I was wondering why they have decided to look for this information 7 1/2 years later & if they are legally allowed to chase a debt of this age, as they have never contacted us before this about the debt.

Any advice is welcome.

wifeforlife

Surely it's statute barred! I would ignore it

dumbo

Thank you so much, I knew there was a time limit on a debt but was unsure what that time limit was, with your advice I was able to find a template letter to complete on the consumer advice forum. I cant thank you enough, you have just saved me £1300.00.: :A:A:A

highrisklowreturn

Be wary that there are circumstances under which they can still pursue a statutory barred debt.

saverbuyer

dumbo wrote: »

Thank you so much, I knew there was a time limit on a debt but was unsure what that time limit was, with your advice I was able to find a template letter to complete on the consumer advice forum. I cant thank you enough, you have just saved me £1300.00.: :A:A:A

Can you let us know how you get on? I personally have my doubts as to whether an LSC overpayment would come under the simple definition in the Limitation Order. It’s an interesting one.

NAR

They are following up on a number of old debts; bad news OP this debt is NOT statute barred.

dumbo

Can you tell me why it is not statute barred?

NAR

I'm fairly certain it is because Legal Aid is a Statutory Charge and is therefore not covered by the Statute of Limitations Order.

saverbuyer

NAR wrote: »

I'm fairly certain it is because Legal Aid is a Statutory Charge and is therefore not covered by the Statute of Limitations Order.

I agree with this. I don't think it would be classed as a "debt" anymore than an unpaid VAT bill would be. There is no limitaion period on debts owed to the "crown"

dumbo

I understand what you are saying but I have been digging a little deeper on the subject & found the following here: http://www.newlawjournal.co.uk/nlj/content/news-2

Legal aid debts may not be paid
Large amounts of legal aid money that could have been reclaimed by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) may be lost because of missed recovery deadlines. Last week, the appeal court ruled the LSC was time-barred from recovering money owed it by an individual whose grant of legal aid was revoked by the Legal Aid Board in 1999 for failure to provide requisite documents. The case, LSC v Rasool concerned whether the LSC’s claim, made in 2006 for more than £17,000, was statute-barred under the Limitation Act 1980. The court held that it was. In his judgment, Lord Justice Ward expressed concern that other claims for recovery may be time-barred.
Referring to the county court’s ruling in the case, he states: “[The judge] dismissed the claim but gave leave to appeal because the issue could be a matter of significance to more than the present parties—indeed we were told, I confess to my surprise, that large amounts of money have not been collected in many cases where certificates have been revoked.” Simon Pottinger, of JRS Consultants, says: “The client at the centre of this case had his legal aid certificate revoked, which is not a common occurrence. However, my reading of the judgment is that the statutory limit applies to all monies over six years old and not resolved, in which case potentially significant sums of money—millions of pounds—is involved. It’s a Pandora’s box.”
An LSC spokesman says:
“The court’s judgment in this case provides clarity on the issue involved. We are currently obtaining leading counsel’s opinion on the implication of the judgment. “However, it appears that only a small number of cases, of negligible value, will be affected by the judgment.”

I will send the letter anyway & let you know what the outcome is.

NAR

If your case is the same you may be fortunate. Not sure if this ruling will definitely apply in N.I. Good luck though.