Following royal assent of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and
Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Bill, the Legal Services Commission
(LSC) has published a list of FAQs about the legal aid changes,
which will be implemented on 1 April 2013.
The FAQs cover issues such as scope changes, the telephone
gateway, tendering, new tenders, quality and matter starts. Some of
the key points:
- all categories will be exclusive, ie there will no longer be
tolerances and, you will only be able to conduct representation in
the categories in which you hold a contract
- contracts that are continuing will also be amended in line with
the previous point
- confirmation that with cross-over matters, firms with contracts
in either category will be able to do the work
- no consortia or sub-contracting will be allowed but some agency
work will be permitted in specified categories
- the LSC is still considering how to provide the residual
clinical negligence and welfare benefits services retained in scope
following the concessions in parliament
- matter starts are not being abolished (contrary to what we had
hoped)
Readthe full list of FAQs