Costs of first appeal for ILR and legal aid

[Masih92]

Hello everyone! I live in Northern Ireland and I'm on low income. I don't receive any benefits. I applied for an indefinite leave to remain in March 2020 but was rejected for a silly reason so we decided to appeal the decision in October and so far have not heard anything other than that we should file some legal skeleton (?) soon. The original application was rejected on the basis of not enough evidence because someone had a look at the case right before the 6 months deadline and we had heaps of evidence if required.
My solicitor applied for legal aid hoping they would cover the entire amount. But the legal aid agency have come back and offered me the aid on the condition that I make contributions of 1200 pounds which seems like an atrocious amount for someone living paycheck to paycheck. I tried to talk to my solicitor but she simply said it seems like a good offer since appeals are really costly and might run in the thousands. It is a straight forward case that's been in limbo for ages. Sometimes I wonder if the solicitor exaggerated the costs hoping legal aid would cover everything but they didn't and now I have to pay about 1200. Are there any other alternatives? What do you guys suggest? I live in a small town where they aren't many immigration lawyers so my options are limited.

Thank you