Not for Profit

On this page:

Contract objectives
Contract documents
Contract guidance

Contract objectives

This section is for providers holding a General Civil Contract, Not-for-Profit. It contains current contract documents and additional guidance.

The contract is under Related Documents.

We want to encourage committed, high quality providers of legal services to become contracted providers.

We want to establish and develop long-term relationships with these providers to ensure that those eligible to receive publicly funded legal assistance have access to competent, appropriate, quality assured and value for money services that meet their needs.

The objective of this contract, therefore, is to secure the provision of competent, quality assured, best value contract work in specified categories of work and from specified offices. So far as Controlled Work is concerned the objective is to secure it within a controlled budget.

Contract documents

The contract for signature is only one page long and specifies the duration of the contract and incorporates by reference the documents that set out the terms of the contract.

The full contract documentation consists of :

One-Year or Three- Year Contract – this is the contract for signature;The Schedule – this is key as it contains provisions specific to your individual contract e.g. categories of law and numbers of hours authorised and the amount of your Standard Quarterly Payment
Contract Standard Terms – these are general terms common to all contracts
NfP Specification – the requirements apply to all contractors and are concerned with how you perform contract work and with what work you may perform
Specialist Quality Mark
your bid documents (if any).

Contract guidance

Reporting contract work and disbursement expenditure

We have updated the reporting forms to be used by NfP suppliers to report hours worked and disbursements expended under the contract. You are required to submit this form on a monthly or quarterly basis, as specified by your regional office.

The following documents are available from this page:

NfP Report Form
guidance on completing the report form.

For further guidance on the reporting requirements and our approach should you be unable to meet your contract hours, please refer to the Contract Specification, Annex C, section C.7.

Applications to extend the Upper Casework Limit

The Not-for-Profit General Civil Contract Specification Rule 5.8, effective from 1st April 2003, enables a Regional Director to impose an Upper Casework Limit on a supplier's Controlled Work. This is a limit to the amount of time which can be claimed on a case without obtaining prior authority from the regional office.

The Regional Director will set an Upper Casework Limit where he or she has reasonable concerns (whether through audit or other management information) about the reasonableness of the lengths of time being claimed and/or quality of work being carried out. The limit will be set in order to monitor high cost matters and may be amended or removed depending on performance. Separate limits may be set for Legal Help and Controlled Legal Representation.

Where a limit has been imposed, the supplier may not exceed this without prior authority, or additional work cannot be claimed. Applications for prior authority must be made on the specified form.

Where the Regional Director has imposed a limit, the supplier will be notified directly and will be sent a copy of the application form above and given the relevant contact details at the regional office. The form does not appear in the forms master-pack, as it is not applicable to all suppliers.

Please see the Contract Specification, Rule 5.8 for detailed guidance on the Upper Casework Limit and applying for an extension.

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Last updated: 07 December 2007