Reporting suspected legal aid fraud

Completing the Report suspected legal aid fraud form

There are several different types of legal aid. Each have their own eligibility tests that an applicant must meet before this is granted. Our website provides more information on eligibility.

Legal aid is granted to those who are financially eligible, including those who are in employment. There is a misunderstanding that an applicant who is working should not qualify for legal aid; this is incorrect.

Legal aid is not always free and eligible applicants who can afford to are asked to pay a financial contribution towards their legal costs.

In some situations, an applicant is automatically financially eligible for legal aid because they are in receipt of certain benefits. If you believe an applicant should not be receiving benefits, you should also consider reporting this direct to The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

An applicant for legal aid must tell us accurate information about their financial circumstances, including any changes which may happen while they are in receipt of legal aid.  Changes we’d expect to be reported can include:

  • moving in with a partner
  • adjustments in your benefits and/or employment
  • receiving an inheritance.

If you suspect an individual in receipt of legal aid has not told us about something which may affect their financial eligibility you should let us know. The easiest way to do this is by using the form below and completing as many of the fields as you can.

Do not worry if you can’t answer all the questions. We will treat the information you give us confidentially. You do not have to give us your name or contact details but you can if you wish.

Please only use this form to tell us about a legal aid applicant’s financial circumstances. If you have information about the legal merits of the court case or want to tell us something about a legal aid solicitor, do not use this form.

Strict rules of confidentiality contained in our legislation prevents us from telling you what is contained in an individual’s application and what action has been taken on the information you send us.

In reporting a suspected legal aid fraud, we assume you give us consent to use the information contained in our enquiries, including telling the applicant why we are looking at their financial circumstances. We will not disclose the source of this information without your consent and can treat as anonymous, if this is your preference.

In some situations, we won’t be able to:

  • tell you whether legal aid has been applied for
  • reply to you.

Don’t assume that we have not acted on your information when you do not hear from us.

An acknowledgement message will be sent to you on submission of the below form, confirming this has been passed to Assurance, who will consider whether any action is needed.

Unless you have new information, please do not make multiple submissions using this form, as this can slow down any investigation process.

If you provide any duplicate information, unless there is good reason to, we will not consider it. This is because it is unlikely to change the result of any previous enquiries we have carried out.

If you would prefer to report suspected legal aid fraud by telephone, please call our Assurance team on 0131 560 2108. Someone will be available to speak to you Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

You can also write to us at: Assurance, SLAB, Thistle House, 91 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh, EH12 5HE or email us at assurance@slab.org.uk.

FORM: Report suspected legal aid fraud