Domestic violence victims and families hit by fall-out from tendering scheme
Date Published: 26-07-2010
Domestic violence victims and families hit by fall-out from tendering scheme
Thousands of people, including at-risk domestic violence victims and families, could have to find a new solicitor or go without access to legal advice after the legal aid tender process has unexpectedly resulted in scores of law firms being forced out of the legal aid scheme.
The fall-out from the tender process has occurred despite assurances from Carolyn Regan, the then chief executive of the Legal Services Commission (LSC), in a letter to the Law Society in January, that “it is not our intention that the tender round should significantly reduce the provider base.”
One of the victims of the legal aid tendering process is a Hull firm called Stamps Family Solicitors, who not only provide family legal aid services, but also a free 24/7 domestic violence helpline and free confidential crisis counseling to people in distress due to domestic violence and other family issues.
Stamps are appealing to the LSC to allow them to retain their contract, otherwise these valuable services will be stripped from the multitude of victims who walk through their doors and use their free hotline every day.
In Poole, Dorset, the 138,299 population has been left with one family law solicitor providing legal aid.
The Law Society is urging the Ministry of Justice to urgently review the tender process, which was put in place by the previous Government, and avoid thousands of clients being left without access to a solicitor.
“Clients are going to find their solicitor is no longer able to undertake legal aid work, and may be forced to find another lawyer. This outcome is deeply damaging to the ability of clients to get the services they need. ”
Law Society President Linda Lee says:
"From reports we are getting from around the country, it is clear that the outcome of the tender process has been to throw possibly hundreds of good firms out of the legal aid scheme.
“Clients are going to find their solicitor is no longer able to undertake legal aid work, and may be forced to find another lawyer. This outcome is deeply damaging to the ability of clients to get the services they need.
“We would urge the Ministry of Justice to look at this as a matter of urgency and to take action to avoid the damage to the legal aid network and the clients, which this approach will cause."
Oliver Hudson, Chief Executive of Stamps Family Solicitors, which runs the free domestic violence helpline and counseling service, and which has been hit by the tendering process, says:
“The helpline and counseling service are absolutely vital to local people, particularly the victims of domestic violence, as it offers them immediate legal advice together with compassion and support all at the same time.
“Those who use the helpline are in effect being left high and dry. Even those who have never used the helpline but are aware it is there will now be left without the option of using it. Where else can they now go for legal advice about domestic violence at 3am on a Sunday morning?
“Sadly, there are many people in Hull who through no fault of their own have a serious and often sudden need for legal advice about domestic violence, and yet these decisions by LSC now threaten to destroy some of the long-established and successful services on whom these victims so greatly rely.”
The Law Society has written to the Ministry of Justice urging them to act on this matter and put right a tendering process put in place by the previous government.
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Journalists can contact the Law Society of England & Wales Press Office on +44 (0)20 7320 5764.
