LAW SOCIETY TALKS WITH GOVERNMENT SECURE MAJOR LEGAL AID BENEFITS

04/04/08

The Law Society had begun judicial review proceedings against the LSC in light of its inaction in response to the earlier Court of Appeal judgment.

Today's agreement ending that litigation will give many legal aid firms a much needed period of stability and certainty in which to plan their futures.

The Law Society negotiations have secured the following:

• an increase of 2% on all legal help fixed fees and underlying hourly rates from 01/07/08
• care level 2 fee increases from £347 to £405
• a 5% increase in CLR (controlled legal representation) fees and rates for mental health
• a 5% increase in CLR fees and rates for immigration
• a delay in implementing private law family litigators' graduated fees
• a closed list of all CLACS and CLANS (Community Legal Advice Centres and Networks) planned for the period ending April 2010
• the LSC will, with effect from today, not seek to recoup historic unrecouped payments on account over six years old and where the amount outstanding is less than £20,000 – restrictions apply (details to appear on the Law Society website)
• a new process on standard monthly payments, designed to prevent changes happening so often, so unpredictably and with such large variations

Other key features of the agreement include the LSC's commitment to publish a route map setting out the outline of its proposals for the next five years, including a commitment that there will be no price competitive tendering for civil or family work before 2013.

Best value tendering (BVT) in criminal legal aid will be delayed by six months to a date not before July 2009.

There will also be reviews of the contract compliance audit process and the operation of peer review and other quality assurance mechanisms.

Des Hudson, Law Society chief executive, says:
'Our talks with the LSC and the Ministry of Justice have not only helped ensure legal aid will receive vital financial support, they have also shown that we can work together in an effort to establish a more balanced system that is workable and accessible.'

'However, we still have serious concerns about the future of legal aid and welcome the LSC's commitment to a more open approach of better engagement with legal aid practitioners and the Society.'

'Legal aid is there to provide access to justice for those who cannot afford it, but the current round of reforms is causing significant damage to that principle. The more consultative approach embraced by the LSC will hopefully allow us to work with them to address some of the most pressing issues.'

'BVT is one area of legal aid we continue to have concerns about, so we look forward to working with the LSC and the Ministry on these matters in this new spirit of consultation. The Society will be announcing tomorrow plans for research into immigration and asylum, childcare and mental health services to inform work on the future of legal aid in those areas.'

Bill Montague, managing partner of Dexter Montague & Partners Solicitors, who jointly brought claims against the LSC with the Law Society last year, says:

'Today's settlement brokered by the Law Society marks a watershed in the relationship between legal aid practitioners and the LSC. The Society has achieved a deal which will benefit all CLS suppliers, at least in the short term.'

2 April 2008

From the President of The Law Society

Dear colleagues

Please find below an important announcement from our Chief Executive, Des Hudson, about the settlement that has been reached today with the Ministry of Justice and Legal Services Commission in relation to legal aid.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Holroyd


Dear Colleagues

Litigation between the Law Society and the Legal Services Commission/Ministry of Justice

A short while ago a Ministerial Statement was laid before Parliament.

I am therefore pleased to confirm that after a period of intense negotiations, the litigation between the Society and the LSC/MoJ has been settled.

The terms of settlement deliver to the profession financial benefits, a degree of certainty and stability, and mechanisms for reviewing some of the main issues of concern to the profession.

The terms of the settlement are in line with the mandate granted by Council at its last meeting.

Whilst we are pleased at the benefits achieved by the litigation, we do not consider this settlement to be the answer to all the problems facing legal aid providers. We know that many aspects of the Standard Fee Schemes continue to give serious cause for concern. Even with the increases in rates delivered under this settlement, legal aid fees remain worryingly low compared with the cost of delivering the service. You will be aware from our response to the best value tendering consultation that we doubt that a viable tendering scheme is achievable. We will continue to represent the profession robustly on all of these issues. The Society will be announcing tomorrow plans for research into immigration and asylum, childcare and mental health services to inform work on the future of legal aid in those areas.

Nonetheless, we believe that this represents a good deal for the profession. In addition to financial benefits the new arrangements provide a range of opportunities to make the arguments on behalf of the profession. The settlement offers the prospect of a period of more constructive engagement with the Commission. The settlement will establish a series of working parties to address key topics and to publish the outcome of these reviews. There will be much work to undertake from hereon in. Our Legal Aid and Legal teams who have worked on this have made a real contribution that I hope will be valued by every legal aid practitioner.

Kind regards.

Yours sincerely

Desmond Hudson
Chief Executive

Summary of settlement (PDF, 64kb)
Joint statement by the Law Society, the LSC and the MoJ (PDF, 37kb)
Law Society press release