21 January 2016
Mounting speculation on social media that the government may be about to abandon two-tier contracting for criminal legal aid lawyers led the Criminal Law Solicitors Association to issue a statement this week. Posting on the CLSA website, Zoe Gascoyne, CLSA president, said the Ministry of Justice have confirmed to her that they have not made a decision to stop two-tier and expect to roll it out in areas not subject to litigation in April. A judicial review brought by the Fair Crime Contracts Alliance is due to begin on 7 April, and a separate hearing into more than 100 procurement challenges is due to begin on 3 May.
