CDS News

The Legal Services Commission's (LSC) response to the consultation on Prison Law Funding was published on Wednesday 15 July.

The response document, impact assessment and Q&A can be found on the Prison Law Funding consultation pages.

Prison law - a summary

The scheme provides advice on issues affecting prisoners' progress through the prison system, such as sentence and parole, and other matters such as treatment and discipline.

These changes are expected to cap the cost of prison law cases at £22 million per annum. Left unchecked, the LSC estimates that the cost could rise to £44 million by 2011/12.

How it will work

Following our consultation and engagement with the Law Society and the Association of Prison Lawyers, the LSC will be making the following changes to the prison law scheme:

• Introduction of a new fee scheme of fixed and standard fees. However, the LSC recognises that exceptional cases do occur, therefore provision has been made, when cases reach a predetermined threshold, for payment to revert to hourly rates. 
• Revision of the criteria that determine the cases we fund (the sufficient benefit test) for prison law. This will be coupled with more clarity in the new Criminal Defence Service Contract 2010 about the type of cases that we expect to fund.
• To ensure quality, the introduction of a supervisor standard for prison law, based on a portfolio of cases and 350 hours of prison law work per year.

Next steps

The changes to prison law will be introduced in the new Criminal Defence Service contract in July 2010.

The impact of the new scheme will be evaluated by summer 2011 and the LSC will then determine if further reforms are needed, such as setting limits on the amount of cases that could be started each year.

Further information

Visit the:

• Prison Law Funding consultation pages
• Press release on the Prison Law Funding consultation response
• CDS > Criminal areas of work > Prisons
• CDS > Criminal areas of work > Prison law funding