Unified Contract (Crime) July 2008

On this page:

About this application
Amendments to duty scheme rules
About the process
List of documents
For more information

About this application

We have published application packs for the new Unified Contract (Crime) July 2008 that will apply to legal aid firms across England and Wales from 14 July 2008.

Read more about what's changed following consultation on the Crime contracts>Unified contract (Crime) July 2008 page.

Who can apply?

Providers who wish to carry out publicly funded CDS work (except VHCC work and CDS Direct work) from 14 July 2008 must apply for this contract. This includes:

current GCC contract holders
those who wish to conduct Crown Court work.

New applicants are also welcome to apply for this contract.

Timings

The application period opens on 7 Apr 08. All applications received by 21 Apr 08 will be checked for completeness and acknowledged. Those sent by 28 Apr 08 will be acknowledged.

The closing date for applications is 4pm 2 May 08.

Unlike the General Criminal Contract (January 2008), the Unified Contract (Crime) July 2008 will be issued to the whole firm rather than to each office.

Accuracy checking

To date we have received a significant number of applications at all of our regional offices that have not passed validation.

We’ve compiled a list of the most common mistakes (see Documents).

Amendments

We’ve made some amendments to the Duty Solicitor Schemes that come within the West Midlands Criminal Justice area (managed by the Birmingham regional office), and York/Selby. This includes splitting out a number of individual Schemes which were previously published as amalgamated Schemes (including Stafford, Cannock & Rugeley, Tamworth & Lichfield, Burton upon Trent, Uttoxeter, Leamington, Nuneaton, Rugby, Redditch, Kidderminster, Dudley, Halesowen, Market Drayton, Oswestry and Sutton Coldfield).

We have also clarified the eligibility rules for two of the London Schemes. These are Camberwell Green and Clerkenwell/Hampstead.

The full details of each of these amendments can be found in the Corrections to Schedule of Duty Rules document.

About the process

The process is straightforward and we have made applications as simple as possible. Current contract holders need only:

complete an application form
submit this along with supporting Duty Solicitor forms
do this before the closing date shown above.

This is not a competitive process

Only one application form is required per organisation – you will need to list all offices on that form.

We intend to issue a Unified Contract (Crime) July 2008 to all applicants who meet the requirements of a straightforward application process, similar to that run in October 2007.

We are inviting applications from new providers on equivalent terms and conditions (as we are required to do by law).

How to send the application in

Completed forms and any additional documents must be received by 4pm 2 May 08. Applications should be:

hand delivered or
sent by tracked DX or registered post to your regional office.

We are unable to accept faxed or emailed forms.

What happens if I don’t apply?

Current providers who don’t apply will not be able to take on new publicly paid work from 14 July 2008.

List of documents

See Documents for

Frequently Asked Questions
Common mistakes on applications
Invitation letters
Information for Applicants
Application Form A: for holders of the current GCC
Application Form B: for new applicants
CDS 12 A Duty Solicitor Supporting Information
Unified Contract (Crime) July 2008 Standard Terms
Annex to Standard Terms
Standard Terms and Annexes: tracked changes version against the Unified Contract (Civil) Standard Terms - April 2007
Office Schedule and Specification
Guide to the Unified Contract (Crime) July 2008 including summary of changes and consultation response
Duty Solicitor Arrangements (July 2008)
Correction to Duty Solicitor Scheme rules for Birmingham and York / Selby
Schedule of Duty Solicitor Scheme Rules
Standard monthly payments: reconciliation protocol.

The Specification in the related document section, is now the final version (replacing the working draft posted on this site on Monday 4 April 2008).

The Specification now includes Annex 3, which is a summary of the payment provisions and payment tables which are set out in full in Part B.

The only other minor amendment, from the draft version, is in relation Annex 1. Here the 'Exceptional Case threshold' for East Derbyshire (Ripley) / Ilkeston CJS has been reduced by 0.01p.

We have also published a 'GCC Spec tracker' which identifies where provisions in the General Criminal Contract (January 2008) Specification can be found in the Unified Contract (Crime) July 2008 Specification.

For Specialist Quality Mark application forms and checklists, please visit the Quality and peformance>Quality Mark pages.

For more information

Read more about the contract on the Crime contracts>Unified contract (Crime) July 2008 page.

If you need anything else, please:

speak to one of our regional office contracting teams
email us with your questions.

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Last updated: 29 April 2008