The government needs to slow down and re-engage with the profession if it wants to satisfy consumers, says Richard Miller
With unexpectedly strong language—“breathtakingly risky”; “short-sighted transitional arrangements”; “catastrophic deterioration in the relationship between suppliers, their representative organisations, and the Legal Services Commission (LSC)”—the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee (CASC), in its report Implementation of the Carter Review of Legal Aid, called on the government last week to abandon plans to introduce fixed and graduated fees in October 2007, to review its long-term proposals for best value tendering and to pilot any reforms it decides to bring in.
October 2007 is due to see the introduction of fixed fees for social welfare law advice and assistance, and “graduated” fees, which are merely a series of fixed fees, for family and immigration work. New proposals have been introduced for police station contracts. A graduated fee scheme for solicitors for crown court work is expected, but formal consultation on the scheme has still not started. We are also still awaiting details of the new mental health fee scheme. Later this month, the LSC will start to accept
