Portsmouth Community Legal Advice Centre - one of five set up by the Legal Services Commission.

In a statement issued last week the Legal Services Commission (LSC) has set out its thinking on the joint commissioning of legal services. This is often a controversial area of policy mainly because the LSC is trying to force the pace of change in the face of reluctance from many legal aid providers.

There is a strong body of evidence from academics, not least from the LSC’s own research arm, the Legal Services Research Centre (LSRC), which supports the view that legal aid clients face problems in clusters. For example, a person unfairly dismissed by his/her boss might need advice on employment law, benefits and debt. Similarly, a couple facing divorce might need legal advice on benefits, debt and housing in addition to family law. Everyone involved in the provision of legal aid seems to agree that clients do indeed face interrelated problems. However, how to meet those needs is the difficult question to answer.

The LSC embarked on a strategy of trying to jointly commission services with local councils to cover family, benefits, housing, debt and employment law. So far only five Community Legal Advice Centres (CLACs) have got off the ground in Gateshead, Derby, Leicester, Portsmouth and Hull. Not for profit agencies like Law Centres® and Citizens Advice Bureaux have lobbied against the establishment of the services locally as they risk losing their grant funding if their local councils decide to tender for the services jointly with the LSC. Leicester Law Centre was forced to close after its funding was cut when the Leicester CLAC was established.

Next year all civil legal aid providers will be asked to tender for combinations of areas of civil law either in consortia with other providers or alone. We at LAG believe that this will prove more effective in the long run in providing a more seamless service for clients. An evaluation report on the effectiveness of the existing CLACs is expected from the LSRC early next year. If the report demonstrates that the joint tenders lead to a better service for clients this might spark further moves by the LSC to try and increase the number of CLACs.

Tags: barristers, Community Legal Advice Centres, legal services, Legal Services Commission, solicitors