Immigration contracts

On this page:

The Immigration contract
Contacting the Immigration Policy Team
Frequently Asked Questions
Immigration specific claiming guidance
New arrangements from October 2007
Contract amendments in April 2005 and October 2006
Performance indicator for Controlled Legal Representation
Eligibility changes and National Asylum Support Service (NASS)
Asylum and Immigration Tribunal report
Fast Track Duty Scheme guidance
Bar Asylum Advocacy Scheme

The Immigration contract

The Immigration Specification took effect in April 2004 and has been subsequently updated. It contains specific rules for Controlled Work in immigration.

Please see Documents for:

Contract Specification for Solicitors
Contract Specification for NfPs
several FAQs relating to these.

Review of responses to the Immigration Detention Advice Specification

Our post-consultation report on the draft Unified Contract Immigration category specific Detention Advice Specification is under Documents. It provides:

• a background to the report
• a summary of the responses to the draft contract clauses.

This report should be read in conjunction with the Unified Contract Standard Terms, the Civil and Immigration Specifications found on the CLS>Unified Contract page.

The Immigration Draft Detention Specification is under Documents on this page and also on CLS>Consultations>Unified Contract Specification.

Contacting the Immigration Policy Team

If you have any queries on the Immigration Specification, the Immigration & Asylum Graduated Fee Scheme or any of our published guidance, a new email address is available to contact the Immigration Policy team: immigration-services@legalservices.gov.uk.

For queries on individual funding applications or operational matters please contact our National Immigration & Asylum Team (Tel: 020 7718 8091).

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs effective 20 March 2008 are under Documents. They are no substitute for reading the Civil Specification, Immigration Specification, Funding Code decision making guidance and Civil Codes guidance.

The Civil and Immigration Specifications are available in The Unified Contract section of this website.

The Civil Codes Guidance is available on our Forms > Controlled Work page.

The Funding Code Decision Making Guidance – Section 29, is available on our Civil Legal Aid Eligibility > The Funding Code page.

Immigration specific claiming guidance

The Immigration Policy team have designed additional guidance for suppliers regarding:

The Immigration CMRF
What information should be recorded on the CMRF, in what fields and how the Exceptional Cases calculation will be undertaken in matters payable under the Graduated Fee Scheme.

This guidance is in the form of an Explanatory document concerning the Immigration CMRF and two detailed examples of cases funded under the Graduated Fee Scheme, the costs incurred and payable, how these would be reported and payments triggered.

It can be found under Forms> Controlled Work.

This guidance should be read in conjunction with the existing SMS and Civil Codes guidance.

New arrangements from October 2007

Changes to the operation of the Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme and the Community Legal Service (Asylum and Immigration Appeals) Regulations 2005 are set out below along with a general update on the new contracting arrangements from October 2007.

We wrote to all immigration providers on 26 June 2007 (see Related Documents for a copy).

The Community Legal Service (Asylum and Immigration Appeals) (Amendment) Regulations 2007

These regulations came into force on 30 April 2007 and amended the Community Legal Service (Asylum and Immigration Appeals) Regulations 2005.

They give effect to section 8 of the Immigration Asylum & Nationality Act 2006 which:

extends the power of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT)

gives judges the authority to make a costs order for work that representatives have done preparing for a reconsideration that has been ordered, but does not proceed.

The AIT has a new application form to use when seeking a cost order in these circumstances.

Prior to these amendments coming into force there was no provision to claim these costs. We had allowed the reasonable costs of such work to be claimed without a costs order. This will no longer be the case and providers must apply to the AIT for a costs order.

Please make your application to the AIT using the form Application for costs where reconsideration ordered but does not take place/ is not completed.

The form specifies that requests for costs where the reconsideration did not take place or was not completed should be made within 10 days of the event described in regulation 6(1A)(b).

Contract amendments in April 2005 and October 2006

Following consultation with stakeholders we amended the Immigration Specification in April 2005 to reflect the changes to the asylum and immigration appeals process as a result of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.

We made additional amendments in October 2006.

Copies of the covering letter and notice are under Related Documents.

Performance indicator for Controlled Legal Representation

We published a post-consultation report relating to Immigration and Asylum Work in March 2006.

The consultation related to the proposal to introduce a performance indicator for Controlled Legal Representation and covers:

the background to this report
the submissions received
a summary of responses to the consultation.

The report is available on our CLS Consultations> Closed Consultations page.

Eligibility changes and National Asylum Support Service (NASS)

From 10 April 2006 new passporting arrangements apply to clients in receipt of payments under Section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 from the National Asylum Support Service (NASS).

Details of the changes are in the letter dated 5 April 2006 under Related Documents.

Asylum and Immigration Tribunal report

We published a post-consultation report on the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal consultation that covers:

the background to this report
the submissions received
a summary of responses to the consultation.

The report is available on our CLS Consultations> Closed Consultations page.

Fast Track Duty Scheme guidance

Providers must now complete a form each month for all fast track cases opened in that month.

A nil return should be sent where no costs are claimed.

Full details are in the Fast Track Duty Scheme: Letter found under Related Documents, along with the form.

Bar Asylum Advocacy Scheme

Need a barrister to provide representation on appeals in publicly funded asylum work?

A list of barristers listed in the Bar Asylum Advocacy Scheme is under Related Documents.

As a minimum each of the barristers has completed a dedicated immigration and asylum course that includes an assessment of their skills and knowledge.

This dedicated course and assessment was funded by the LSC and designed in partnership with the College of Law and the Bar Council.

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Last updated: 20 March 2008