CLS news

The legal help budget for 2009/10 is £200m which is a significant increase on previous years (£176M 2008/9 and £174M 2007/8).

We have also increased the number of acts of assistance from 595,000 in 2004/5 to over a million last year.

Demand for legal help is rising and we are forecasting that the number of acts of assistance could be over 1.1m this year.

It is against this context that we are undertaking normal contract management to make sure that we live within our allocated budget. This includes:

-  The position remains that each request for an increase in NMS is considered on its individual merits but we are looking at whether, in order to ensure that we stay within budget, we want to ensure that the NMS that we have already allocated to other providers in the procurement area are used before awarding additional new matter starts.

As we have different priorities for funding, we need to conduct this exercise on a category-by-category basis and we cannot simply transfer an under-use from one category to a different category in the same office. Equally, we cannot transfer, for a provider with more than one office, under-use in one procurement area to a different procurement area

-  If any request to increase is refused, there remains a right to request a formal review.

-  Some providers are clearly not using the volume of NMS allocated to them and we have written to all such firms seeking to reduce their allocation to their current run rate.

For example, if a firm has been allocated 100 NMS and has only used 20 in the first six months of the year, we would be looking to reduce their allocation to 40. Firms have the right to make representations (and then request a formal review) against this decision.

-  By removing under-used NMS in this way, we hope to have capacity to increase allocations in those procurement areas that otherwise may reach capacity.

This risk would be minimised if firms only used the representation/review process in instances where there are good reasons not to remove NMS.

If the volume of representations/reviews is significant, we may not be able to complete this process until the end of February. We are hopeful that the volumes will be manageable and we can complete by the end of December.

Early signs are positive:

• Only 2% of family contracts have used 95% of their allocation.
• 7% of family contracts have used more than 75% of their allocation (in other words, 93% of family contracts are below 75% usage of their allocated NMS).
• Out of 3,627 potential reductions, we have received and considered 320 requests for review. Of these, we have accepted 44%, refused 22% and part-accepted 26%, i.e. granted some but not all NMS back.

This contract management activity does not affect provider’s ability to tender for contracts.

It is also important to point out that a provider may at any time (before, during or after this exercise has been completed) contact their relationship manager with a request to increase their NMS. Again all requests are considered on their own merits.

Finally there has been coverage in the press suggesting that firms are having to turn away legal aid clients with problems such as domestic violence.

We are very concerned that such remarks will be taken as meaning that vulnerable women and men at immediate risk of domestic violence will not be able to get help and, indeed, that domestic abuse victims will, as a result, not seek help when they are at immediate risk.

As you know, no new matter starts are needed to offer a client emergency legal aid to deal with, for instance, an injunction.  Providers are still able to use their devolved powers in these situations regardless of the number of new matter starts they have left.