Peer Review

On this page:

What is peer review?
How does it work?
About the criteria
What is the output of peer review?
Peer review scores
How is peer review independent?
For more information
Peer review results

What is peer review?

Peer review is a quality assessment tool. It directly measures the quality of advice and legal work carried out by legal aid providers.

The independent peer review we use is developed and managed by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. This organisation is independent of the LSC.

How does it work?

Peer reviewers are experienced legal aid practitioners. They assess a stratified random sample of a provider’s case files using a standard criteria and ratings system. They determine the quality of advice and legal work provided to clients in a particular category of law.

Following this assessment the reviewer makes an overall judgement about the provider’s quality of advice and legal work.

About the criteria

The criteria highlight the quality of the:

information gained from the client and other sources
advice given based on that information
steps taken following that advice.

See Documents for the crime and civil peer review criteria.

What is the output of peer review?

Following the review of a sample of files, the peer reviewer writes a detailed report. The report contains their findings along with both positive areas and areas for improvement, and the overall quality rating.

The overall quality of advice provided is assessed using a 1–5 rating.

The ratings are as follows:
Excellence (1)
Competence Plus (2)
Threshold Competence (3)
Below Competence (4)
Failure in Performance (5)

Peer review scores

In the Documents panel on the right of this page you'll find a number of documents showing peer review scores.

'Peer review confirmed face to face results' relates to all those providers that deal with clients face-to-face that have been confirmed and are still valid. It shows the number of providers that have achieved each score in each category of law.
'Peer review initial face to face results' relates to all face-to-face peer reviews since April 2005 that have been rated as Below Competence (4) or Failure in Performance (5) in their first review and require a second review to confirm their rating. It shows the number of providers that require a second review in each category of law.
'Peer review results for CLA Year 1 contracts' and 'Peer review results for CLA Year 2 contracts' relate to peer reviews conducted on Community Legal Advice providers. They show the number of CLA providers that have achieved each score in each category of law in the specified year's contract.
The table named 'Peer review success rates at reps' relates to all face-to-face peer reviews since April 2005 that have made representations and shows their movement.

Peer review results

In the Documents panel on the right you'll find a number of documents showing the peer review results.

How is peer review independent?

The peer review framework and methodology was developed and is managed by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.

Peer reviewers are recruited and trained by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and work independently from us.

Peer reviewers decide what rating to award based on the quality of advice and legal work.

The LSC will not influence or alter the rating awarded.

For more information

Full details of the process are under Documents in the paper Independent Peer Review of Legal Advice and Legal Work.

Please email any questions/queries to the peer review team.

Visit the Improving your quality page to read and download our improving quality guides.

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Last updated: 12 July 2007