Government roll out of BVT reckless: says Law Society
Date Published: 31-03-2009
Government roll out of BVT reckless: says Law Society
"Reckless", said the Law Society today, when commenting on the Government's planned roll-out, which will see the entire country subject to best value tendering by July 2011, only one year after the first contracts start.
Richard Miller, Legal Aid Manager for the Law Society says "this is a massively increased speed of roll-out compared with what we understood, and I would go so far as to describe it as reckless. It also means it will be impossible to conduct a proper equalities impact assessment. However the LSC is no longer asking firms to bid on price or volume for Magistrates Court work, which is something the Law Society lobbied hard for, so we have won that battle on the profession's behalf."
Where the BVT contract is introduced, all magistrates court work will switch to the non-London urban rates. "The LSC is now talking about roll-out everywhere within a year, so this is a huge issue" says Richard Miller, "The proposal will see fees for magistrates court work set at the non-London urban rate. This will involve a massive cut for London firms; and the removal of travel and waiting payments in rural areas will impact on the viability of services outside the large towns. Criminal defence firms are not in a position to absorb more cuts in their rates. We fear that this change will drive significant numbers into insolvency, and we are far from convinced that enough will remain to provide comprehensive coverage.
"Over the past four years, we have seen many proposals for BVT, none of which has addressed our fundamental concerns. We will consider these latest proposals very carefully, but will take some convincing that they can address our deeply-held concerns about the damage price tendering may do to the interests of clients, the efficiency of the Court process, and to the public interest in having a vibrant and effective defence profession.
"It is essential that the pilot is evaluated properly, and that means more than just evaluating the tender process. It means evaluating the impact on the delivery of the service over time. The proposal to roll out BVT to the whole country within one year of the first contract starting is reckless. It completely ignores the risk to clients, to the efficiency of the Courts and to the public interest if the resultant contracts are not economically viable, or if quality is compromised. This is a core responsibility of the LSC under the Access to Justice Act 1999."
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