January LSC payments

Mike Crowley, the Director of Contracting for the Legal Services Commission, wrote to all providers last Thursday outlining how the LSC calculated providers January payments.

Following their decision in November to close the LSC Online system, the LSC has processed providers' claims via a bulk-load spreadsheet, or in some exceptional circumstances, via paper submission. Many of these claims have been rejected primarily because providers are entering the wrong codes on their claim forms. In his letter, Mr Crowley urges providers to make sure they use the correct codes on their claims to ensure they are processed correctly.

Due the very high error and rejection rate on the submissions, the value of the claims made in October and November are in the main much lower than expected. The LSC has therefore decided to calculate January's Standard Monthly Payment (SMP) for all providers using claim data up to and including September 07's submissions and using the lowest average claim rate over the past 3, 6 or 12 months to project what SMP is required for January. This SMP has then been reviewed by the provider's Account Manager to ensure it reflects any agreements about the January SMP that may have been made over the previous month.

In his letter, Mike Crowley asks providers who receive a payment in January that is significantly lower than they would have expected, to contact their Account Manager. If it is agreed that they should have received a higher SMP the Account Manager can authorise an ad-hoc payment that will be paid via the next payment run.

More information, including a copy of Mike Crowley's letter, can be found on the LSC website: http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/aboutus/whats_new_7188.asp.