The Gazette reported that the Legal Services Commission was capping the number of firms’ new matter starts (see [2009] href="http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/moj-review-separate-budgets-criminal-and-civil-legal-aid" target="_blank"Gazette, 15 October, >]. The LSC wants to make it clear to all legal aid providers that there is no new rule which says ‘no additional new matter starts’.

In fact, the present activity around new matter starts is in line with normal contract management activity, which takes place every year. The only difference this time is that some firms are approaching their allocation limit quicker than previously.

In such situations, the LSC looks at those firms that are approaching their limit and those firms that are not using up their allocation, and examines the possibility of reallocating new matter starts where demand is highest.

That means we will not be actively procuring extra new matter starts, as we have to look at the needs of the procurement area as a whole above the needs of individual providers. Access remains our number one priority. That is a common-sense approach when we have to live within a fixed budget and ensure taxpayers get value for money.

It should also be pointed out that new matter starts are allocated at the start of each financial year, so there is no question of firms having to wait until next October for their next allocation, as the Gazette reported.

The LSC has a target to deliver at least one million civil acts of assistance in the current financial year, with 700,000 of these to come from face-to-face contracts and housing possession court duty schemes.

Last year we exceeded this target by 37,000 and we are likely to deliver an increase again this year. That is almost double the 595,000 civil acts of assistance delivered in 2004-5.

Hugh Barrett, Executive director of commissioning, Legal Services Commission