Introduction to the Apply for Criminal legal aid service

A first look at the ‘Apply for Criminal legal aid’ service

‘Apply for criminal legal aid’ is a modern processing service for legal aid applications. The service is designed to provide a cost effective, transparent, and simple service for all legal aid applicants using modern and innovative technology solutions which are accessible and driven by users’ needs.

When ‘Apply for Criminal legal aid’ service can be used

This guide gives a brief insight into what the service looks like. The guide also shows the functionality within service, showing the simple and efficient way that applications can be submitted.  

Apply for criminal legal aid service can now accept 100% of application types. It should be used for all applications, excluding:

• Post submission evidence (PSE) for applications that were originally submitted in eForms.

Data will not transfer from the ‘Apply for criminal legal aid’ service to eForms.

Accessing the service

A link to the ‘Apply for criminal legal aid’ service will be on the LAA Portal which can be found here. Once you have logged in, click on the link for ‘Apply for criminal legal aid’ to access the service.

All providers now have access to the ‘Apply for criminal legal aid’ service. If you cannot see the link, or it does not give you access, you can contact LAAapplyonboarding@justice.gov.uk.

Useful information

Here you can find a list of useful pointers on how the service functions. This list will be updated as development progresses:   

• Use dropdown menus to select offence type.
• Additional dates can be added to an offence if there has been more than one instance within the same offence.
• *The representation order and supporting emails are sent to the email address of the user logged into the Apply for criminal legal aid service. See ‘Receiving emails from the service’ section of this page for details of how to check and amend this email address.
• *When submitting an application, you can request that the representation order is sent to another member of your firm (in addition to the user logged into the service) See ‘Receiving emails from the service’ section for details.
• If you have multiple offices, you will be asked to confirm your office account number. This will be the office the application is submitted for. You can change office if needed. See ‘Multiple offices’ section for details.

*We are developing this service in stages, as such some features will not be available in this early iteration of the service. Items above marked with an asterisk (*) are temporary steps in the application process that will be replaced by in-service features as development progresses, for example, once the feature is developed the legal aid decision will be visible within the service.

Applicant declaration

It is still a requirement to complete the applicant declaration form when using the ‘Apply for criminal legal aid’ service. An Application Reference Number will be displayed when an application is submitted. This number should be entered on the applicant declaration form instead of a USN.

Legal Aid Decision

The Legal Aid decision will not be visible in the ‘Apply for criminal legal aid’ service in this early iteration of the service. This is something that we will be developing as the service progresses.

If Legal Aid is refused for any of the offences, the reason(s) for the refusal will be communicated by email.

There is no change as to how you will receive the Representation Order and correspondence.

Returned applications

If the LAA returns an application for further information, an email will be sent to the provider that submitted the application to notify them that an application has been returned. Please log into the ‘Apply for criminal legal aid’ service to view why the application has been returned and the action needed before it is resubmitted.

Receiving emails from the service

• The representation order and supporting emails are sent to the email address of the user logged into the Apply for criminal legal aid service. This email address is the user account email address on record within CWA (Contracted Work & Administration) for the specific user submitting the application.
• To ensure representation orders and supporting emails are sent to the appropriate email address you can:
• Use CWA to check and update the user account email address on record. See page 12 -19 of the CWA user guide CWA Administration Guide Version 6 for details of how to do this. (This guide can also be found using the help link on LAA portal) The person in your firm with the CWA Firm Sysadmin role would need to make any amendments.
•  If you need the documents to be sent to another member of your firm (in addition to the person submitting the application):
•  Use the free text box on the ‘Do you need to add any more information to this application?’ page to confirm the additional email address to send correspondence to.  

Offence names

It is important that when you come to the section whereby you input the offence name, you use the drop-down menu as shown below. You start typing the offence name and suitable options will appear in a drop-down menu. If the offence does not appear on the list you can manually add an offence.

The options provided in the list are taken from the CPS list of offences which can be found here.

Here is an example of the drop-down list:

Multiple offices

If you submit applications for multiple sites, then you must change the office account number depending on what office the submission relates to. Any submissions that you make will be shown under that specific office code. If you want to view submitted applications, then you must select the correct office code to view the submissions for that specific site.

Feedback about your experience of using the service

We would value your feedback about your experience of using the service. There is a link to a feedback questionnaire at the top of each page in the ‘Apply for criminal legal aid’ service in addition to showing after each new application has been submitted. You can also find the questionnaire here.

A look at the screens

When you log in through the portal you will see a link to the new service.

This is the opening screen which explains the criteria you need to meet to use ‘Apply for criminal legal aid’ (please note this information will be updated as the functionality increases).

If you have multiple offices you will be asked to confirm your office account number. 

This is what your homepage will look like. This is where you will see all of the applications that you have in progress, and you can move across the tabs to see any applications that are submitted or returned. You are also able to make a new application from this page by clicking on the green “Make a new application” button. 

You will be asked to enter the client and case details over several screens. We will use your answers to determine what information we require.

Please note that some screens may look slightly different due to the continual updates that are being carried out to the service.