Policy
19 June, 2007
Future of Specialist Support Service and CLS Grants
LSC launches consultation paper
The Legal Service Commission (LSC) has published a consultation paper on the future of the Specialist Support Service and CLS Grants.
Whilst the vast majority of the £197 million that the LSC spends on Legal Help goes directly into funding frontline services, a small proportion of the Legal Help budget, currently around £3.5 million, is used to fund services - Specialist Support and services funded from the CLS Grants budget - that complement those frontline services.
However, in her foreword to the consultation paper, Caroline Regan, Chief Executive of the LSC says -
'In funding these services, the Commission is acutely aware that every pound spent is money that could otherwise be spent on providing frontline advice to people who need it. It is therefore essential that we ensure that the money we spend on these services is used both effectively and efficiently.'
Whilst the LSC had said last year that it was concerned about the Specialist Support Services' ability to provide value for money and announced its intention to stop funding it, Ms Regan says that, following discussions with service providers and other stakeholders, it had been decided to carry out a review which has shown that -
'... these services have made a valuable contribution to improving access to justice ...'
As a result, and whilst the LSC says that services need to be updated to align more clearly to the Community Legal Service Strategy and the Commission's strategic objectives, and deliver improved value for money, the LSC is proposing that it should continue to provide at least another three years' funding.
The consultation is therefore designed to shape the future of the service and will inform the tender process that the LSC will carry out in the autumn, to award new contracts and grants from April 2008.
Responses to the consultation are invited by 10 September 2007.
Source: Review of Specialist Support Service and CLS Grants - Legal Services Commission
The consultation paper Specialist Support Services and the Community Legal Service Grants is available here
See also the related rightsnet policy new stories -
- Specialist Support Services consultation put on hold: Delay to allow more time for 'analysis and consideration' (15 November, 2006)
- LSC consults on future of specialist support services : Front-line advice organisations urged to respond by 15 September (12 September, 2006)
- Specialist Support review begins: Legal Services Commission looking at supplier support projects (13 July, 2006)
- LSC revokes termination of funding for specialist support services : Decision follows support from MPs and threat of Judical Review proceedings (23 March, 2006)
- 'Major flaws' in LSC approach to policy making: Constitutional Affairs Committee recommends reconsideration of decision to end Specialist Support (14 March, 2006)
- Specialist Support evidence published: Constitutional Affairs Committee transcript (22 February, 2006)
- Constitutional Affairs Select Committee to scrutinise end of funding for specialist support services: Evidence session to be held tomorrow (13 February, 2006)
