Today the Legal Aid Agency has announced details of the tenders for duty work in criminal cases. They confirmed that 1,099 bids had been received and that they were short of bids in only three areas Devon and Cornwall, Dyfed Powys and, the Isle of Wight. Firms will be told in September whether their bids for tenders have been successful or not. Contracts for the successful bidders will commence in January next year.   Bill Waddington, Chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association (CLSA), said that they were “beside themselves with grief” and that the government had “not listened to the arguments of the last two-three years at all.”  CLSA is also furious that ministers have confirmed that they will go ahead with a second 8.75% fee cut from next month. The Association argues that the previous Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, had agreed that the fee cut could not happen until the criminal legal aid market had consolidated. The government has undertaken to review the impact of the latest fee cut and tenders next year, but Waddington believes that this “will not be so much a review but a body count.”   Plans for fee cuts in crown and higher courts cases were shelved by the government last week. LAG believes this was done to prevent another organised boycott by the Bar who successfully won concessions over fees last year by using the tactic. The CLSA and the Criminal Courts Solicitors Association are asking criminal practitioners to take part in a ballot to support action against the proposals. LAG understands that an organised strike or boycott action is being contemplated by criminal legal aid solicitors. There is also much speculation that the firms which loose out in the tender process will challenge the LAA’s decisions.   The next six months is likely to see continued controversy as many criminal legal aid solicitors face pay cuts and uncertainty over their jobs. An unprecedented case boycott or, similar action, could be on the cards as many have nothing else to loose.   Pic: Barristers and solicitors take part in a demonstration in March last year.