Transforming Legal Aid – Not quite the end to PCT

The Lord Chancellor has given his long expected U-Turn on PCT but whilst PCT as a whole is now longer to happen the revised proposals are far from ending the idea of competition for contracts .

There will now be 2 contracts . An own Client contract to preserve expertise and specialism together with a Duty Solicitor Contract which will still lead to competition and a drastic market reduction .

Other draconian measures such as reduction in Prison Law Advice , Judicial Review Changes and Funding Cuts remain although some of the cuts are to be tapered up to 2015 .

Unquestionably there has been some movement and the intervention of the Law Society has been important along with the strength of the Campaign which has been so far run . We are probably far away yet from a system in which we can all still economically operate .

We recommend you visit this page at Crimeline to access details of the response and uptodate analysis . http://www.crimeline.info/news/pct-consultation-response-1

The main consultation document is here transforming-legal-aid-next-steps-web .