Plans for the new tender process for civil and family legal aid contracts have been announced by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). For most legal aid firms and not-for-profit (NFP) organisations, the contracts, which are due to commence in April 2018, will stay much the same.1See: https://legalaidhandbook.com/. However, plans to introduce price competition for the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme (HPCDS) have attracted widespread criticism.

Vicky Ling, co-editor of LAG’s Legal Aid Handbook 2015/16, said she ‘cannot understand where the LAA is coming from with this’. She believes there is ‘simply no money’ in undertaking the duty work in the county court as the rate of pay is so low. The president of the Law Society, Robert Bourns, said he fears a price war that ‘will not improve services and could negatively impact on clients’.

Simon Marciniak, chair of the Housing Law Practitioners Association (HLPA), believes that ‘even under the current contracts, firms appear to run them as a loss leader to generate certificated work and they are not viable or profitable on their own’. According to Ling, if a HPCDS case is transferred to legal aid, the duty scheme fee is lost and this reduces the profitability of the work. Marciniak, who is a partner and head of the housing department at London firm Miles & Partners, told Legal Action it is ‘unrealistic when the rates are already so low’ for firms to be expected to compete on price for the tenders.

Legal Action understands that many of the HPCDSs are run by NFP organisations such as law centres. Ling fears that ‘income from a housing duty scheme can make a real difference to an NFP and some might risk going under if they lose it’.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is running a consultation on the proposals for the HPCDS until 17 March. In addition to price competition, it suggests that the current schemes should be consolidated by ‘joining courts allowing for larger and more sustainable contracts for providers’. According to the MoJ, the results of the consultation are expected on 28 April.