The Law Society has urged the Legal Services Commission to stop its plans to roll out best value tendering for police station work and urged firms in the pilot areas to think carefully before taking part.

In an outspoken address to a conference, ‘Sixty years of legal aid – a cause for celebration?’ organised by the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, Law Society chief executive Des Hudson said: ‘I say now to the LSC – stop, listen, take stock. Think again, before it’s too late.’

While stopping short of calling for a boycott, he said: ‘I see little benefit in any firm taking part in the pilot scheme, but that’s a matter for individual solicitors to consider.’

He questioned whether tendering was suitable for the provision of legal services, saying so far it had been used in fields like rubbish collection and building projects, where a monopoly contract was to be let and where the size of the market was known.

Hudson also said that the LSC’s stated intention to test the tendering regime in Greater Manchester and Avon and Somerset was disingenuous in light of the timetable for national implementation. ‘This pilot scheme is clearly not a pilot scheme. It is barely a testing ground of any kind, but instead the first part of a four-stage, phased implementation process.’

He also queried whether the LSC had taken into account obligations under transfer of undertakings legislation, as the consultation was ‘strangely quiet’ on it.

Legal aid minister Lord Bach said the legal aid budget was fixed and the government had to choose how to spend it to provide a quality service to help as many people as possible. He warned that in future the government may need to ‘bear down on our priorities’ to make services more efficient, which could include greater use of telephone advice.

Bill Callaghan, the LSC chairman, said: ‘BVT proposals offer the best opportunity for a sustainable future. There are no comfortable ways of moving forward. But… the status quo is not an option.’