CLS news

The Legal Services Commission (LSC) recently tendered for Family and Family & Housing contracts to cover the time between the end of the extended Unified Contract and the new contracts, which will be introduced as a consequence of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, currently being debated in Parliament.

The LSC intended the tender process to be as simple and straightforward as possible, and in general it was a success. Well over 90% of applicants completed the tender successfully, and the vast majority of existing family contracted providers have been offered the new contract which takes effect on 1 February 2012.

However, a number of providers were unsuccessful, due to mistakes with their bid forms. The LSC had previously communicated that, to ensure equality of treatment for all applicants, they would be unable to intervene in the tender process, to point out to providers, or correct, any errors they may have made.

Nevertheless, there have been constructive discussions between the Law Society, the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group (LAPG), Resolution, formerly the Solicitors’ Family Law Association, and the LSC, in an effort to come up with a pragmatic solution for those firms who were qualified to provide Family and Family & Housing services, but were not successful due to having made mistakes when completing their tenders.

All parties to the discussions agree that entering protracted and costly litigation would be an unwelcome distraction at the present time for all concerned.

The LSC has therefore agreed that they will open a further tender for licence-only Family and Family & Housing work; with contracts awarded through that tender to take effect from 1st April 2012.  This will represent a final opportunity for providers who were unsuccessful due to bid form mistakes in the first tender to obtain a contract to carry out licensed work.

Given the high success rate in the recent family tender exercise, sufficient matter starts have already been awarded but a license only contract will ensure that those providers who would otherwise be unable to undertake new publicly funded family work can continue to do so.

Those that were successful in the recent family tender exercise need not apply, only those who were previously unsuccessful or who seek a licence-only Family contract.  It should be emphasised to all of those planning to apply that there will be no further opportunities to obtain a legal aid contract until tenders for the reduced scope of legal aid open in the summer for commencement in April 2013.

Providers applying in this tender round must make sure that they thoroughly check their tender documents properly before they submit them, as the LSC will not be able to correct any errors.

The LSC, The Law Society, LAPG and Resolution believe that this approach represents a sensible way forward. It allows those providers who would otherwise have been facing an uncertain future the chance to continue providing publicly funded work for the benefit of families and children, while considering their longer term plans in light of the reforms to legal aid.

All parties are pleased that the process of reaching this agreement has been a constructive one, with all sides showing a strong commitment to seek a mutually acceptable solution.

Full details of the tender will be published on the LSC website soon.