DCA Unveils Legal Aid Reforms

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

29 November 2006

Fundamental changes to the UK's legal aid regime were published yesterday by Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, and Legal Aid Minister, Vera Baird QC.

"Legal Aid Reform: The Way Ahead" was published jointly by the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) and the Legal Services Commission (LSC), and sets out how reforms will be made to legal aid.

It follows on from a consultation on Lord Carter's report over the summer. Lord Carter's report provided a blueprint for moving legal aid to a market-based system involving best value tendering after a transitional phase where hourly rates are replaced by fixed and graduated fees.

Lord Falconer announced that:

"Our vision is of a legal aid system that continues to provide high quality advice while remaining financially sustainable and fit for the demands and challenges of the 21st century."

"The legal aid system is one of the pillars of the welfare state. It provides access to justice for those who otherwise could not afford it. All of us who work in legal aid recognise this. But we also recognise that it must be sustainable and fair to the taxpayer."

"We said we needed a fairer deal for legal aid which would be fair to the vulnerable, fair to taxpayers, fair to defendants and fair to practitioners. These reforms will deliver that."

Key changes to the legal aid system in the UK include the introduction of:

• Fixed fees for work in police stations from October 2007 as an interim measure, prior to the introduction of best value tendering on an area basis from October 2008;
• Revised standard fees for magistrates' court work will be introduced in major urban areas from April 2007, prior to moving to best value tendering for this work by October 2008;
• A revised graduated fees scheme for advocates in the Crown Court from April 2007;
• Litigators graduated fees for Crown Court work from October 2007;
• A single graduated fee scheme in October 2008, which will combine fees for both Crown Court litigators and advocates;
• A Care Proceedings Graduated Fee scheme from October 2007 following a further consultation early next year. Similarly, a revised scheme for family - Help Private from October 2007 following a consultation;
• The Tailored Fixed Fee Replacement scheme for solicitors and the not-for-profit sector providing civil legal help in October 2007; and
• Revised schemes for family, immigration and mental health work

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