The Law Society has called on members to respond to the government’s consultation on the introduction of best value tendering (BVT).

Chancery Lane has warned that the Legal Services Commission’s plans, which will require firms to bid against each other to win contracts for legal aid work at police stations, will have serious repercussions for criminal practitioners.

Richard Miller, Law Society legal aid manager, said: ‘At best this tendering scheme will threaten the quality of criminal defence services; at worst it will put thousands of firms out of business and undermine the entire criminal justice system.’

Police station work will only be the first phase of the programme, Miller warned. ‘The government has already made it clear that it intends to pilot tendering to civil legal services before the new contracts end in 2013,’ he said.

He urged all solicitors, whatever their practice area, to respond to the consultation, which closes on 19 June.

To respond go to: https://consult.legalservices.gov.uk/inovem/consult.ti/BVT2010/respond.

The Law Society will provide a full briefing on BVT in due course, Miller said.