Following the recent statement by the Ministry of Justice that there will be a delay to competitive tendering in crime until the end of 2014 (see the Law Society
press release) the Legal Services Commission (LSC) has confirmed that it has no current plans to retender the standard crime contracts before 2015. This date fits with the current contracts and the power of the LSC to extend these by up to two years. The LSC has however said that it will need to 'see what else is happening in the Criminal Justice System and generally to keep those plans under review'.