The Legal Services Commission has begun allocating new matter starts for family legal aid work to firms on the basis of the amount they received last year, it said last week.

Since the High Court ruling that quashed the outcome of the LSC’s family tender in October, the LSC has allocated providers with new matter starts on a monthly basis.

But for January to November 2011, it said it will allocate work based on historic usage, and allow providers to undertake the same level of family work that they had done in the previous year. This means that overall the LSC will allocate the same number of new matter starts as were used by providers in 2010; 269,000 in total.

An LSC spokesman said: ‘The 100% award was made after careful consultation with representative bodies. The decision gives family legal aid providers certainty regarding their workflow for the months ahead.’

The LSC said it was ‘highly likely’ that a re-tendering exercise will be done within the next year to cover work from November onwards.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said using historic workloads was the ‘least worst option’ but would not suit firms that had wanted to expand.