Hundreds of legal aid solicitors are currently awaiting the outcome of the Legal Services Commission’s appeals process for family legal aid contracts.

The deadline for submitting appeals was 6 August, and the LSC has 28 days to process the appeals.

The LSC refused to disclose to the Gazette how many firms have appealed. However, it is expected that the great majority of the 1,100 firms that lost contracts in the tender outcome will have appealed. One Gazette source suggested that 90% will have appealed.

An LSC spokesman said that firms that win their appeals will be allocated work from a central reserve of cases which the LSC already has in place. He said firms that won contracts in the bid round will not have their caseload transferred to other firms, unless they fail the LSC’s verification process.

The spokesman said he could not provide information on the amount of work available in this central reserve.

He said: ‘We are still in the midst of the [appeals] process. Once we are through that we will be able to release more information.’

The outcome of the LSC’s tender process announced last month saw the number of firms with contracts for family legal aid slashed by 46%, from 2,400 to 1,300.

  • The Law Society is conducting a survey to build an accurate picture of the impact of the civil legal aid tender round