Closure of legacy systems means all new claims and accounts must be submitted using Legal Aid Online from 17 June 2024

Solicitors will no longer be able to submit claims using our legacy Financial Accounting & Management System (FAMs) and the E-business suite from 17 June 2024.

Any new claims or accounts will require to be submitted using our Legal Aid Online (LAOL) system.

We anticipate this necessary change will affect a small number of cases and we have provided guidance below on how to manage the move to LAOL.

If you require any guidance or advice, please contact Accounts System Specialist Lynne Dunlop, E: dunloply@slab.org.uk.

Procedure for draft accounts that have been created and retained on FAMs/E-business

Where a draft account has been created on E-business claim, we would ask that you prepare an account to include all work carried out on the case to-date and submit the account on FAMs/E-business prior to 17 June 2024.

Please note, it will not be possible to update a draft account or submit a claim created from draft after this date, as any draft accounts will be lost.

Interim claims submitted and paid on FAMs/E-business where a final account has not yet been submitted because the case is ongoing and you have further interim claims to submit

From 17 June, you are required to use legal aid online (LAOL) if you wish to submit further interim claims for cases that have not concluded.

This because the option to use the FAMs/e-business system will no longer be available.  Please, note that there is no paper option for submitting interim claims using legal aid online.

When claiming interim outlays using the online system (LAOL) you must upload the invoices in a format that complies with our published guidance.

When claiming interim fees using the online system (LAOL) you must follow the interim fees process.

You should be careful not to claim for work items that have been claimed for previously, as this will result in duplicate payments being made which will require you to make repayment to the Fund.

Submission of final/supplementary accounts

For concluded cases submitted on or after 17 June 2024, any final/supplementary accounts will need to be prepared and submitted on paper.

This is because the deductions of previous interim claims submitted and paid on FAMs/e-business will require to be done manually by the Assessment Officer responsible for assessing the account.

As our old and new accounts systems are not compatible with one another it is therefore not possible for the systems to make the deductions.

Please see our guidance on how to submit paper final/supplementary accounts.

Notifications on LAOL to migrate previous payments made on FAMs/E-business

When submitting a claim on LAOL you will be notified if a previous claim has been paid on FAMs/E-business after you have entered the legal aid reference number (LARN).

Where this occurs, the system will prompt you to “migrate” the previous payments.

You should follow the guidance below.

• Using Legal Aid Online (LAOL), enter the Legal Aid Reference Number (LARN)
• The following message will appear:

• Select ‘Yes Make a New Claim’ to make a new claim
• The following message will appear:

• Select ‘OK’
• If the account has successfully migrated you will receive this message:

• You will then be prompted to search for the LARN

• When searching on the LARN you will be taken to the LAOL summary screen

• Select the ‘Work Breakdown’ tab

• Any previous payments already made on our legacy system (FAMS) will be shown here:

• For final/supplementary accounts which are required to be submitted on paper, please follow our published guidance.
• If the account has not migrated you will receive this message:

Please contact Accounts System Specialist Lynne Dunlop, E: dunloply@slab.org.uk.