Consultation paper on future of CLS grants - Legal Services ...

2005 A review of CLS Grants was undertaken with the intention to retain CLS
Grants but to bring in a new set of criteria for funding.
Following the threat of Judicial Review on the Specialist Support Service
the CLS Grants review was not concluded and the existing grant funding
arrangements were extended to March 2008.
June 2007 The LSC undertook a further review and consultation on CLS Grants 1 .
The review concluded that CLS Grants were an effective mechanism for
funding complimentary services and recommended retaining them with
the following changes:
- the level of the CLS Grants budget was raised (by c£70k) to £1
million per annum for 3 years;
- CLS Grants criteria and application process were revised to align
with LSC priorities and the Community Legal Service Strategy 2 in
particular; and
- a revised tender process was undertaken to award new grants
from April 2008.
April 2008 A total of 9 grants were awarded from April 2008. The funding awarded
was either one-off or fixed term and the length of the grants varied
between the organisations.
March/April
2011
October
2011
Of the original 9 grant funding awards:
- 6 funding agreements came to an end at this point or prior to this
date in line with their original funding terms; and
- 3 of the grant funded organisations (those that have been funded
on a long standing basis) were offered a 1 year extension to their
original 3 year grant funding arrangement.
Proposals were requested from the 3 remaining grant funded
organisations for the following 12 months and LSC set out its intention to
make savings of 10% in line with the overall changes to legal aid
remuneration.
Proposals from the 3 organisations were accepted by the LSC to see the
organisations through a period of significant change up until the point
that the legal aid reforms are implemented. The grants were further
extended for 12 months to 31 st March 2013.
1 ‘Legal Services Commission review of the Specialist Support Service and the Community Legal Service
Grants financed by the Community Legal Service Fund’ – June 2007.
2 Strategy for the Community Legal Service – Making Legal Rights a Reality, 2006.
2