CLS news

The revised Specialist and Mediation Quality Marks (SQM and MQM) for 2010 contracts have been published.

Introduced in 2002 the Quality Marks have played a vital part in assuring the quality of legal aid services.

The revamp, which will take effect from the start of the 2010 contracts, will enable them to continue to do so long into the future.

Why are they changing?

The SQM and MQM were last updated in 2005 and 2007 respectively. But from 2010 we will be letting new contracts with providers. So the time was right to make changes.

One key change is the transfer of the supervisor legal competence standards to the contract.

This reflects the importance of supervision to the delivery of a quality service to the client.

What are the changes?

Although much of the revised standards will look familiar, we have brought both up-to-date by:

Making these changes to the standards:

• aligns them with the LSC contract from 2010
• allows us to accept Lexcel as an alternative to the SQM for 2010 onwards 
• is a first step towards outsourcing the SQM from late 2010

You can see the new standards and a summary of the changes under Specialist Help on the LSC website.

How will this affect providers?

Providers should familiarise themselves with the updated documents to understand:

• the changes made
• where requirements have been transferred to the contract

The changes do not raise or lower the standards set by the Quality Mark so should not create problems for providers.

We are confident that the level at which the standards are pitched is appropriate, provides effective quality assurance and will continue to do so.

When will it take effect?

The revised versions will take effect for the 2010 contracts

For more information

LSC website: Specialist Help

LSC website: Mediation Quality Mark

Quality Team: qualitymark@legalservices.gov.uk