Criminal contracting put on hold

Criminal legal aid contracting is to be put back by six months because the implementation timetable has proved too tight.Richard Collins, head of Criminal Defence Services (CDS), said the Legal Services Commission's pilot study revealed that current methods of claiming legal aid in criminal cases were more complex than thought.

The commission needs more time to think about implementation of criminal contracting and to prepare the draft contract.

'We were looking at the timetable for implementation and it was a bit tight,' he explained.Although criminal contracting is to be put back, the CDS will press ahead with the first stage of reform in October.

At that point, only franchised firms or those that have passed a preliminary franchise audit will be eligible to do publicly funded criminal work.David Lock, parliamentary secretary at the Lord Chancellor's Department, said the government had listened to the 'legitimate concerns' of the profession and taken its decision to delay so as to promote a 'co-operative relationship' with it.Mr Lock added: 'It is better to accept a small delay than rush through reform on a timetable that both the Commission and the profession felt was too tight.'Malcolm Fowler, chairman of the Law Society's criminal law committee, said it was 'very encouraging' that the commission had learned from the 'patchy' introduction of civil contracting.Rodney Warren, vice-chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said he was pleased the CDS was approaching the 'complex process' with care.

Sue Allen