Shailesh Vara, Minister for the Courts and Legal Aid has made a written ministerial statement to Parliament about changes to crime litigators’ fees, next steps for advocacy fees and the tender for duty provider contracts.
Crime fees
Details of changes to crime litigators’ fees from 1 July 2015 are available on the Provider Training website. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has decided not to proceed with the reform of the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS) at this stage.
Crime contract extension
In April 2015, existing contract holders were invited to accept our offer to extend contracts to 10 January 2016. The duty provider and own client contracts are both due to commence on 11 January 2016. Following this process, sufficient criminal legal aid provision throughout England and Wales has been secured.
Duty provider crime tender
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) received sufficient bids to undertake a viable competition. 1,099 bids for duty work contracts have been received, from over 500 individual organisations.