Support for members with Legal Aid Contracts
AdviceUK monitors legal aid issues and liaises with the Legal Services Commission, subject to resources. If you have a question or issue that you would like AdviceUK to answer or raise, contact Phil Jew, Head of Policy & Campaigns: phil.jew@adviceuk.org.uk / 020 7469 5700.
AdviceUK also runs a Franchise Forum in London. This is London based due to funder requirements, but is open to any member with a contract. See below for details.
For technical queries or training on legal aid contract issues, contact Advice Services Alliance, CLS Support. Their service is free to all AdviceUK members. Telephone: 0845 241 2588.
News on the latest developments is provided below, but things change so rapidly in the legal aid world that we struggle to keep up with placing information on our web site. A good place to find up to the minute news and discussions is i-legal, a free web site for legal aid providers.
To see our views on legal aid issues, click here visit our News and Campaigns pages.
Sample consortia templates and examples of legal agreements developed by local advice networks to assist AdviceUK members in building a consortium to bid for an LSC 2010+ contract can be accessed from our 'Collaborative Working Resources Templates and Examples', section, click here to access these examples.
Joint Protocol between the Law Centres Federation (LCF) and the Legal Services Commission (LSC)
Latest news
October 2010
Following the comprehensive spending review, legal aid’s future is in the balance. A £350m cuts figure was not used in the CSR itself but has been referred to by the Legal Services Commission and Law Society. Two green papers are expected to be published – probably in November – one on implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations regarding civil litigation costs and the other on legal aid reform. The second could include taking certain types of case out of scope of legal aid. There has been much speculation that social welfare law – debt, welfare benefits and housing – could be cut, but it is also possible that the £350m savings come from cutting face to face advice at police stations, family law and clinical negligence.
However, LSC and MoJ may have to await the outcome of 4 outstanding Judicial Reviews before making final decisions and around 40 pre-action letters have been posted.
September 2010
Civil legal aid contracts – latest developments
The latest news on civil contract extension to November, legal action and the legal aid review.
• The LSC have confirmed privately that all civil contracts are extended to 13 November, with according 1/12th NMS allocation. However, the only public announcement of this remains that from The Law Society.
• Meanwhile, there are 4 active judicial reviews in progress, with 38 pending. As announced on Wednesday 8 September, the JR brought by Community Law Partnership in Birmingham has been withdrawn after verification made NMS available for allocation. Expect more of this as speculative bidders are unable to deliver. The Law Society and LSC are trying to reach agreement to avoid JR continuing to judgement on 24 September.
• LSC has received 1000+ appeals against decisions and 500 complaints about the process.
• Legal Aid Policy Assessment: consultation paper will now not be published until October and therefore not before the comprehensive spending review, which it was meant to inform. In absence of this, LSC and MoJ will probably make decisions behind the scenes about future legal aid spending. They have to make £500m savings over 4 years. Scope likely to be reduced. There is speculation that they could remove Welfare Benefits and Debt and possibly Housing too. The Government may argue that WB and debt are ‘not really legal advice anyway’ and such advice is given by non-legal aid advice agencies and in the case of debt should be funded by financial services industry levy. They could not reduce scope in the short-term: new civil contracts are likely to be for 2 years, they have said. After that, reduced scope could come in. We will need to build strong arguments against reduced scope.
• LSC abolition: word is that this has been set aside while the cuts are being made. Certainly no primary legislation has been timetabled to facilitate it.
July 2010
Following meetings with the Legal Services Commission and Ministry of Justice, we can bring you this news:
- Legal aid review - The Ministry of Justice is carrying out a 'policy assessment' - click here for more information
- SWL legal aid tender decisions will be notified between 9 and 19 July - but those who have failed to fulfil PQQ/essential criteria will be told (privately) in week commencing 14 June
- Housing Possession Court Duty Schemes: tender period will run from 16 June – 16 July.
- CLAC and CLAN Evaluation: Research by the Legal Services Research Centre has been released - click here for more information.
London Franchise Forum
AdviceUK runs a forum in London open to any organisation that has a franchise or contract from the Legal Services Commission.
The forum provides participants with information updates, specialist seminars and support on legal aid contract issues, undertakes policy work and provides other resources and support. Four meetings per annum are held in partnership with the Law Centres Federation and Advice Services Alliance (ASA), open to all London NfP franchise contract holders to support their sustainability. Members with Legal Aid contracts outside London are also welcome.
The London Franchise Forum held its last meeting on Tuesday 24 November, an update and notes from this meeting will follow shortly. The previous meeting was held on Thursday 9 July where Melena Ward, Policy Manager, from the Legal Services Commission gave an important and timely presentation on LSC's response to the consultation proposals, timescales and bidding process for the new 2010 civil contracts.
Download the notes from this meeting below. For further information about the Franchise Forum, contact:
Artie Singh, Development Assistant, Tel: 020 7469 5700 email: artie.singh@adviceuk.org.uk
LSC Current Procurement Plans
Attached documents
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