CDS News

As from this month a specialist reconciliation team based in South Tyneside will manage all “standard” monthly payments made to solicitors for criminal (lower) and civil (Legal Help) work.

The new team will be responsible for reconciling payments to claims under the Unified Contract and for applying the reconciliation protocol agreed with The Law Society and Ministry of Justice in 2008.

The team will also provide notice when monthly payment levels are to be changed and will deal with any reconciliation-related enquiries.

Communicating with us

If we propose to increase or decrease your standard monthly payment we will provide at least one month’s notice, by e-mail, of the change proposed. 

To provide this notice we will use the e-mail address you have already supplied to us - but if you want us to use an alternative address please let us know.

To make sure we can deal with any query effectively we will ensure that our mail contains the name, telephone number and e-mail address of the caseworker managing the payment to be changed.  

The new team has also set-up a ‘generic’ e-mail address to which any enquiry relating to reconciliation can be directed: reconciliation@legalservices.gov.uk. 

We will seek to respond to any mail we receive on the day of receipt.

How you can help us to help you

Ensure your monthly claim submissions are made on time and if possible, before the deadline date – the 20th of each month. 

Early submission will allow us to process your claims early and leaves more time to resolve any issues that arise.

Raise any issue relating to a proposed payment change as quickly as possible.

Direct any enquiry relating to reconciliation straight to the new reconciliation team rather than to your regional LSC office.