Practitioner groups have slammed the Legal Services Commission’s ‘ill-formed’ and ‘illogical’ plans to create a more integrated service for civil legal aid, which they claim will restrict choice.

The LSC received 350 responses to its consultation on the new procurement model to replace the current civil contract, which expires on 31 March 2010. The model seeks to increase the proportion of providers offering a full range of civil legal aid services to combat the problem of ‘referral fatigue’ faced by clients with inter-linked legal problems.

The Legal Aid Practitioners Group said the proposals would potentially drive some of the best firms out of the legal aid system, which would lead to a ‘massive reduction in client choice’. LAPG director Carol Storer said: ‘There is no need for such a drastic reorganisation. Investing in a better referral system would be a more cost-effective and proportionate way of addressing referral fatigue.’

Richard Miller, head of the Law Society’s legal aid team said: ‘While we can agree in principle with the LSC’s stated aim... the reality is that the proposals are likely to do more harm than good by pushing a number of smaller firms out of legal aid.’

The LSC said the responses would be carefully considered. It will respond later this year.