The police station duty rotas issued last week by the Legal Services Commission will run for only three months due to problems with the allocation process, which lawyers claim has ‘descended into chaos’.
The Legal Services Commission has twice reissued the rotas for police station duty work for the six-month period from 14 July 2010.
Because of the number of errors, with some firms missed off or included in the wrong area, the LSC has shortened the time that the rota will apply to three months. It will then reissue amended rotas.
The LSC said it will compensate any provider that has not been allocated the slots they are entitled to in the first three months of the rota by giving extra slots in the second three months.
An LSC statement said: ‘These rotas have been produced based on random distribution of slots. We are aware that in some instances this has led to some inequitable distribution.
‘We apologise unreservedly for the confusion and disruption caused by the errors in rotas so close to the contracts commencing.’
A spokesperson added that the LSC had drawn up the rotas centrally for the first time and sent out draft lists to providers to make the process transparent. He said the commission hoped any problems would be ironed out by the time the second six-month rotas were issued.
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said the ‘chaos and disorganisation’ over the rotas was unacceptable and the level of inefficiency ‘contrasts starkly with the zero tolerance for even minor errors that practitioners suffer at the hands of the LSC.
‘Some firms have told us that they are having to contemplate staff redundancies, and the LSC suggestion that they will issue corrected rotas in 90 days is not acceptable,’ said Hudson.
He said Chancery Lane is seeking an urgent meeting with the LSC and will be alerting legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly to the problem.
Chairman of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association Paul Harris said: ‘It’s extremely disappointing that something which should be a simple process has descended into chaos.’
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