A remodelled emergency legal aid scheme for tenants facing eviction will begin four months later than planned, it has emerged – as a housing law chief stressed the need for the government to hurry up with reforms.

The existing housing possession court duty scheme, which provides on-the-day advice and advocacy at court to people facing eviction, will be remodelled to become a housing loss prevention advice service (HLPAS) that will also offer early legal advice before court.

Procurement for the new HLPAS contracts was supposed to begin over the summer, with services under the new contract beginning next April. The procurement process finally opened last week. The new contracts will begin on 1 August.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told the Gazette: ‘Our reforms to housing legal aid will ensure that anyone facing eviction or repossession has earlier access to free advice. We have extended the contract on existing services to make sure professional help remains available while a thorough tendering process is carried out.’

The procurement process was announced on the day the scheme was being discussed at the Housing Law Practitioners Association conference.

HLPA co-chair and solicitor Simon Mullings said: ‘We will have gone through a long period of the cost-of-living crisis before this happens, which is disappointing given this is an important development.’

Mullings also highlighted the need for the government to get moving on another reform: piloting grant funding for a ‘set number of’ legal aid training contracts for HLPAS providers.

‘A pilot suggests this will be done in a small area – but the cost-of-living crisis is now. If we are going to reinsert this area of law, you need to be doing this as quickly as possible,’ he said.

 

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