LEGAL AID: scheme did little to hone best practice but revealed need for joined-up services


A £4 million Legal Services Commission (LSC) pilot project intended to encourage a more holistic response to resolving legally aided private family cases had little effect on lawyers' practice, research has revealed.



The final report into the Family Advice and Information Service (FAInS) project, which ran from 2003 until March 2007, concluded that it did little more than tweak best practice. It suggested this may have been because most of the lawyers who participated were already committed to following the client-focused approach which FAInS sought to spread.



In addition, the report said the initiative did little to encourage multi-agency integration or networking in the local areas.



FAInS was intended to develop a seamless service through which family law clients received tailored information, help and advice and were encouraged to use other services whenever required.



The independent report, prepared by a team at the University of Newcastle, also raised concerns that many experienced practitioners may opt out of publicly funded work if they are not adequately remunerated.



Crispin Passmore, Community Legal Service director at the LSC, said: 'It was an awful lot of money to spend on something that wasn't going to be rolled out, but it has been highly valuable for seeing the way we need to go - and that is the provision of joined-up services.'



He said the LSC's reform programme had progressed during the FAInS piloting, and the research that came out of the project had fed into the LSC's strategy for civil advice and the implementation of community legal advice centres and networks.



Catherine Baksi