LSC has launched a consultation on the future of Specialist Support Services and CLS Grants ..

'We are consulting on the future of the Supplier Support Service. This represents around £3.5m in funding from the CLS Fund and is used to maintain services that cannot be funded through the Unified Contract.

The service comprises two key areas:

* Specialist Support Service - provides second-tier support to eligible advice organisations
* CLS Grants Budget - provides funding to advice related projects and activities.

These services have made a valuable contribution to improving access to justice. However, we believe they need to be updated to align more closely to the CLS Strategy and the LSC’s corporate objectives, and to deliver better value for money.

The consultation paper outlines proposals as to the continued funding of these areas and on what terms. We hope that the Supplier Support Services will, in future, be structured towards helping as many people as possible with civil legal problems, and will target those groups who otherwise might not have ready access justice.

Your response to this consultation will help us shape the future of the service and will inform the tender processes that we will carry out this autumn to award new contracts and grants from April 2008.'