Legal Services Commission and fixed fees for advice

I’m driven to start my first blog by the headlines about the impact of the new Legal Services Commission contract on industrial relations at Shelter. They’re not alone – the new contracts are wreaking havoc in voluntary advice agencies throughout the country. I think it’s time we fought our own corner a little harder.

 

Way back in 2006 we told the LSC that replacing hourly payments with fixed fees was going to be a recipe for disaster. The new fixed fee for a welfare benefit case is a princely £164 – equivalent to three hours of our casework and just twenty minutes of that of a corporate lawyer. Our average time to complete a case is six and half hours. I would say ‘you do the maths’ but the maths doesn’t add up.

 

The most desperate clients will inevitably suffer as hard-pressed agencies are forced to take on easier, quicker cases just in order to survive. And, as everyone involved in providing voluntary legal advice knows, there a precious few safety nets left for those clients we can’t take.

 

Times are hard; for government, funders, the LSC and public alike. I know that choices have to be made. I accept that ‘value for money’ is more of a mantra than ever before. So fine, let’s talk about value for money. Last year lasa’s success rate at tribunal was 85% – as opposed to a 40% success rate for clients who aren’t represented. And we know how economically devastating the fall-out from failure at tribunal can be.

 

I don’t think advice centres can wait until things get even worse than they are. I think we owe ourselves and, most importantly, our clients a bit better than that. It’s time to get proactive about telling the media exactly what the impact of these new contracts really is.