Press Release
Implementing Lord Carter’s Review of Legal Aid Procurement
13 July 2006
The Legal Services Commission (LSC) Chair, Sir Michael Bichard, has welcomed the publication today of Lord Carter of Coles’ Review of Legal Aid Procurement, Legal Aid: A market-based approach to reform, saying it:
“offered an important opportunity to ensure that legal aid has a sustainable future – one that continues to safeguard people’s fundamental legal rights while providing value for the taxpayer and opportunities for good quality, efficient service providers to grow and prosper.”
Following publication of Lord Carter’s Review, the LSC and Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) have published a joint consultation paper, Legal Aid: a sustainable future, setting out their proposals for how Lord Carter’s recommendations will be implemented.
Legal Aid: a sustainable future includes proposals to introduce, from April 2007, fixed and graduated fees for a wide variety of civil and family work; the introduction of a new fixed fee scheme in police stations; changes to standard fees for Magistrates’ Court cases; an extension of the Graduated Fee Scheme to litigators in the Crown Court and a unified LSC contract for solicitor and not-for-profit providers.
The LSC recognises that these reforms will present challenges to providers and is committed to engaging actively with them during the consultation and then working constructively and closely with them to deliver the new scheme.
The LSC is pleased that Lord Carter’s recommendations build on its Community Legal Service Strategy and the proposed Preferred Supplier Scheme, both of which will ensure access to quality services for legal aid clients.
ENDS
Media information
Richard Shand Tel: 020 7759 0491
Gary Spink Tel: 020 7759 0493
Notes to editors
1. Copies of Legal Aid: a sustainable future are available from the related documents panel on this page, as well as the consultation pages of the LSC website.
2. The Final Report of the Independent Review into Legal Aid Procurement by Lord Carter of Coles is available from the official Legal Aid Procurement Review website.
3. The independent Carter Review was commissioned by the Lord Chancellor in the DCA document ‘A Fairer Deal for Legal Aid’ which was published in July 2005 and can be found on the DCA's website.
Last updated: 28 December 2006