Criminal legal aid lawyers in London have demanded the procurement deadline for new 10-year crime contracts be pushed back until next year – telling the government that its approach to the process is ‘unfair and irrational’.

The Legal Aid Agency is tendering for new contracts beginning on 1 October 2025. The procurement process opened on 17 September. Firms must submit tenders by 22 October.

The Law Society was ‘surprised’ to see the Ministry of Justice ask firms to bid for contracts before the department had published its consultation response on police station and youth court fees, and its revised decision following the High Court’s ruling in a legal challenge brought by Chancery Lane on fees.

The London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association has since added its voice to concerns.

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In an open letter to the LAA, the association said: ‘It is unclear why there has been such a dramatic departure from previous tenders in that there is now an insistence that tenders be submitted within a little over a month for a contract that starts in 12 months’ time, with firms that submit tenders after the October deadline being essentially penalised by not being included on duty rotas between October 2025 and January 2026. We take the view that a little over one month is an unacceptably short amount of time for the tender process to take place.’

Noting the Bellamy review’s central call for a minimum 15% fee uplift to save the criminal legal aid sector, the LCCSA said it was ‘unfair and, indeed irrational to expect firms to tender for contracts that do not offer the certainty of increased remuneration’.

‘They are, in effect, being asked to sign up to the economic status quo, when that status quo has been found to be unsustainable (a fact that is reflected in the alarming rate at which solicitors are leaving legal aid criminal defence). At best, the current tender process insists that firms tender for a new contract in the hope of increased remuneration. We pose the question: “What rational business would do this?”,' the association said.

The practitioner group asks the agency to push back the procurement deadline ‘until well into the new year’. The government is also asked to publish ‘clear proposals’ for introducing new investment in line with the Bellamy review and Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board recommendations quickly to help firms make ‘informed, rational decisions’ on whether or not to sign up for 10-year contracts.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: 'Criminal defence lawyers play an essential role in our justice system which is why we are carefully considering the issues raised by the Law Society's judicial review. Submitting bids by 22 October 2024 ensures that successful providers can be included in the first duty solicitor rotas from 1 October 2025 but any firms that miss the deadline will be able to apply for inclusion in later duty rotas from January 2026 onwards.'

Further guidance provided by the ministry states that firms unable to meet the 22 October deadline will not be excluded from the entire 10-year contract. 

 

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