On 8 September 2020, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) announced three separate tender processes for telephone advice.

The LAA expects the tender process for Civil Legal Advice specialist telephone advice in discrimination and/or education law to commence before the end of September, with a start date for the successful bidder(s) from 1 April 2021. It has previously had difficulties attracting bidders for these contracts.

Tender processes for Criminal Defence Direct and Immigration Telephone Advice services are expected to commence in October with a start date of 1 June 2021 for the successful bidders.

The LAA said tenders will be assessed on ‘quality and price’, and that more details will be available on GOV.UK in due course.