On 30 April 2025 the Legal Aid Agency confirmed that there has been a cyber attack on it’s online digital services (on 23 April). These systems are used by legal aid providers, including Pardoes, to submit applications for legal aid, bills, and to process payments from the government. On 19 May the Legal Aid Agency confirmed the incident was far more extensive than originally understood, with the group behind it also having accessed a large amount of information relating to legal aid applicants. In response to this development we are urging all members of the public who have applied for legal aid since 2010 to safeguard themselves. It is recommended impacted individuals are alert for any suspicious activity such as unknown messages or telephone calls and to be extra vigilant to update any potential exposed passwords.
 
For further information on this incident you can read the statement which has been published on GOV.UK. You will find it at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/legal-aid-agency-data-breach.

Nature of the data breach

The Legal Aid Agency has advised that the group behind the attack has accessed a large amount of information relating to legal aid applicants across the UK.

This data may include:

·  Full names and contact information
·  Home addresses
·  Dates of birth
·  National Insurance or ID numbers
·  Employment status and criminal history
·  Financial data such as contributions, debts and payments

What should you do?
If you have applied for Legal Aid recently, the LAA strongly encourages you to take the following steps to protect your personal information:

·  Stay alert for suspicious communications, including unknown emails, texts, or phone calls.
·  Change and strengthen your passwords, especially if the same ones were used across multiple services.
·  Verify identities before sharing any personal information online or over the phone. If in doubt, seek independent confirmation.

For further practical advice, the National Cyber Security Centre has published detailed guidance on how to protect yourself from the consequences of a data breach. You can access it here: Data breach guidance for individuals – NCSC.GOV.UK.

What Pardoes are doing:

In response to the incident, Pardoes Solicitors are taking the following action:

·  We will, as soon as it is possible, change our access credentials to LAA digital services.
·  We are monitoring LAA updates daily and following all guidance provided.

Contact us
If you have any concerns or questions please contact us.