CCMS was introduced in November 2012. Universal Credit followed six months later and since then has been the main type of benefit received by almost all people applying for Legal Aid Certificates.

Because Universal Credit had not yet been introduced, the original developers working on CCMS did not include this new benefit in the types of benefits to be selected as part of the CCMS means assessment process. Providers were asked to select Guaranteed Pension Credit as the type of income for clients who were receiving Universal Credit. It seemed that this was a temporary measure to be used until the Legal Aid Agency updated CCMS to correct this problem. That was over ten years ago but nothing has happened and Universal Credit is still not recognised by CCMS

Some may say that I am being pedantic or petty in making a fuss about Universal Credit not being included in CCMS and that it’s not such a big deal to select Guaranteed Pension Credit from a list of benefit types rather than the correct benefit. I disagree.

As with the double login requirement, mentioned in my last post,  I am happy to be set straight as to why the system cannot easily be updated to correct this error, but it does not seem like a major change to me. I think that having a means assessment system that does not include the main benefit received by clients shows a lazy, sloppy approach on the part of the Legal Aid Agency. It is also a nuisance when having to explain to clients that we know that they do not receive Guaranteed Pension Credit but have had to put this on their means assessment because the Legal Aid Agency has not been able to get their house in order. It is also a nuisance for suppliers when training new members of staff to have to point out this problem and the need to use Guaranteed Pension Credit instead of Universal Credit