Legal Action understands that Citizens Advice and Victim Support were the only two bidders for the service, funded by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), after the ministry decided earlier this year to put the service out to tender.

Victim Support had provided the service for the last 25 years, using a grant from the MoJ. The contract is worth £12m a year for two years from April 2015, but the MoJ could extend this for a further year to March 2018.

According to Victim Support, 320 criminal courts are covered by the service, which comprises a paid co-ordinator and other staff in each court, as well as voluntary staff. Legal Action understands from Citizens Advice that, unlike its pensions advice service, which was announced in October (see November 2014 Legal Action 4) and will be provided by local bureaux, the witness service will be run nationally. Discussions are on-going between the MoJ, Citizens Advice and Victim Support about the transition arrangements, including whether the paid staff currently working for Victim Support in the courts will be transferred to Citizens Advice. Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy (pictured) said that the organisation had a ‘strong history of supporting staff and volunteers to deliver high quality, independent and impartial advice’, and that it would bring this ‘expertise and experience to the witness service’.