Unrealistic deadlines threaten to undermine government plans for restructuring family legal aid, warns Karen Mackay
Last July, the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) published a joint consultation paper, Legal Aid Reform: The Way Ahead, on new fee structures for legal aid work. This was published at the same time as Lord Carter’s report, Legal Aid: A Market-Based Approach to Reform, on the procurement of legal aid services.
Lord Carter’s review, which was initiated in July 2005, had focused on criminal legal aid work until the final months when various representative bodies, such as Resolution, were invited to meetings to discuss civil and family legal aid. However, discussions had been very broad and it was a complete surprise when the DCA/LSC consultation paper published detailed fee schemes.
Ministers touring the country were left in no doubt that family lawyers did not think that the fee levels proposed were workable. Nor was the timetable, which envisaged a three-month consultation period and implementation within six months of the close of consultation. Family
