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

Additionally, since 2007 not for profit organisations have been operating under the
same contractual requirements as for profit organisations and the transitional support
arrangements that were in place for the not for profit sector at the time of the last CLS
Grants funding round, have come to an end.
3.4. The LSC’s Strategic Plans for 2008-2011 and 2009-2012, had the objective of
maximising access to quality services to meet the diverse needs of the clients we serve,
with a key action of increasing access to civil legal advice services and the number of
acts of assistance.
3.5. Our current priority, as set out in the LSC’s Business Plan 2012-13, is to commission
and procure services that provide timely access to quality legal advice for eligible
clients, within the resources available. Although corporate priorities have not been
published for 2013-14 it is likely that this will remain our focus going forward.
3.6. CLS Grants fund projects or activities that do not necessarily provide direct advice to
solely eligible clients and therefore it does not fit within the future direction of, and
priorities for, legal aid.
Financial/Political
3.7. In May 2012 the LASPO Act was given Royal Assent. The Act significantly changes the
emphasis for the delivery of legal aid, and targeting it on the most serious cases is its
priority focus. As a result, from April 2013 the scope of civil legal aid services will be
greatly reduced.
3.8. In order to support the 3 remaining grant holders through this period of significant
reform of legal aid, the LSC extended the grant funding arrangements for two
consecutive 12 month periods (with a 10% reduction in funding for each organisation in
2012/13 in line with overall changes to legal aid remuneration). The current grants
come to an end in March 2013 at the point that the legal aid reforms are implemented.
3.9. The Government has made it clear that its priority is to reduce the fiscal deficit and this
was reflected in the LSC’s reduced financial settlement. Proposals for reducing legal
aid by £350m by 2014/15 will have far reaching implications for both the administration
and provision of legal aid over the next three years. We need to reduce our
administration budget by around 23% and will be moving from being a Non
Departmental Public Body to become an Executive Agency (the Legal Aid Agency) of
the Ministry of Justice.
3.10. The Legal Aid Agency’s priorities will be based around the Ministry of Justice’s
Corporate Vision for 2011-154, which states that it will ‘reform the legal aid system to
make it work more efficiently, while ensuring that we provide necessary support for
those who need it most and for those cases that require it’. This sets the strategic
context within which the Agency must commission and administer a cost effective and
good quality legal aid system. A key priority for the Agency will therefore be to target
it’s funding on the most serious cases (in line with the LASPO Act).
3.11. It is therefore appropriate for the LSC to consider now what the priorities for funding
going forward will be in light of both government policy objectives and the LSC’s
organisational reform. It is the appropriate time for the LSC to consider the future of
CLS Grants.
4 Ministry of Justice Business Plan 2011-2015.
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