What's new

We are changing the way we gain assurance about the quality of legal aid providers.

What we're going to do

From April 2010, we will:

• adopt a more proportionate, tailored approach to quality assurance
• ensure our requirements reflect the different factors that drive quality and provide assurance in each category of law.

Our new approach will continue to provide assurance for clients that legal aid services are well run and capable of delivering high quality. The changes are due to take full effect by April 2013.

Acquiring assurance in a different way

The changes do not affect the quality standard that we require of providers, but mean that we will get the assurance we need in a different way.

We will work closely with regulators and representative bodies to ensure that professional standards provide a good baseline of quality, which clients can rely on.

The LSC - a commissioning organisation

• We're transforming ourselves into a commissioning organisation and as a major purchaser of legal services, intends to rely on independent quality standards to ensure our basic requirements are met.
• Quality of advice can best be assured, accredited and regulated from within the profession.
• We believe that regulators should play the leading role in setting standards covering both systems and legal competence.
• Making quality an issue of general professional and regulatory standards improves assurance for all users of legal services.
• We will maintain the standards required of providers, and where possible improve the quality of work - principally through the requirements of legal aid contracts, which we will continue to audit.

Peer review

As part of the tailored approach to quality, peer review will in future be used on a risk based and random sampling basis, rather than being incorporated into process of bidding for work.

• Since 2005, the vast majority of completed peer reviews have resulted in a score of 3 or above - although some providers that received an initial 4 or 5 choose not to complete the process.
• Whilst this is reassuring and shows that the provider base is operating at an appropriate level of quality, it is clear that continuing to review all contracts would represent an unjustified burden on providers as well as poor value for money.

Where we are developing new approaches to contracting, or contracting for highly specialised services, we may continue to focus peer review resource on these areas.

Two quality management systems available...

From April 2010 Legal aid providers will be able to choose which quality management system to adopt, either:

• our Specialist Quality Mark (SQM)
• Lexcel.

The SQM is being updated, and will no longer have specific requirements about each area of law – these will instead form part of the LSC contract.

• We also plan to outsource auditing of the SQM to external providers in the autumn of 2010.
• We will continue to audit contracts awarded in 2010, but all providers must possess an up to date quality management standard that they have paid for in time to be awarded contracts in April 2013. 
• Legal aid providers will pay for subsequent quality audits, but we will seek to keep costs down.

Continuing to promote accreditation

• We recognise the benefits that accreditation has for legal professionals and organisations.
• It enables them to demonstrate their ability to carry out work in their chosen areas of law.
• As such we will promote the development of accreditation, to provide upfront assurance of quality of advice in procurement exercises. 
• We will work with accreditation bodies to develop schemes that fulfil our requirements and those of service providers, whilst keeping the overall costs of compliance low.
• Where robust accreditation is in place, which includes a clear, regular reaccreditation process, this may act as a partial alternative to peer review as a measure of the legal expertise of providers.

Further information

For further information please visit:

• CLS > Quality and Performance > Quality Mark > Specialist Help
• CDS > Quality and Performance > Quality Mark > Specialist Help