POLICE STATION: Defence Solicitor Call Centre failing to cope with weight of calls; panel boycott threatened by bar


More legal aid chaos was reported this week as criminal practitioners claimed police station advice was in 'meltdown' following the extension of the Defence Solicitor Call Centre (DSCC).



Meanwhile, speculation mounts that barristers will boycott the new very high-cost case (VHCC) panel due to low fees.



Monday saw the expansion of the DSCC, through which all requests for publicly funded police station work will now be routed, including own-solicitor requests. Criminal practitioners told the Gazette that the operation of the extended scheme has so far been dogged by problems of delay, inaccurate solicitor contact details being used and inadequate advice being given to detained people by the police.



Joy Merriam, chairwoman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said: 'The picture across the country is one of chaos and meltdown. We have heard good evidence that the ACPO [Association of Chief Police Officers] script, which police officers are supposed to use to inform detainees of their right to legal advice, is not being followed, resulting in people either going unrepresented or being denied the opportunity to be represented by their own solicitor.'



In addition, she said the police themselves were having problems getting through the DSCC and have in some instances resorted to calling solicitors directly.



Franklin Sinclair, senior partner at national firm Tuckers, said: 'The whole thing's a farce. It's been done in a deliberate attempt by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to take control of our client base.'



Richard Miller, director of legal aid policy at the Law Society, added: 'These are problems that we constantly raised with the LSC in the run up to the expansion; it gives us no pleasure to have been proved right.'



However, John Sirodcar, the LSC's head of direct services, said that overall he was pleased with the DSCC's start. 'As with all new systems, we have experienced some minor teething problems, which we are resolving. On the first day, the volume of own-client cases received in the evening by the DSCC was much higher than was forecast. Given this, the DSCC was not able to handle calls as quickly as we would like. We have actions in hand to ensure this doesn't happen again.'



Monday was also the deadline for law firms which had successfully tendered for the VHCC panel to accept the LSC's offer. Panel contracts were offered to 330 law firms and more than 2,300 barristers. The LSC said it had received contracts from the vast majority of law firms which were offered them.



Barristers have until 21 January to decide whether to accept the contracts, but the fee rates, set as low as £55 an hour, have resulted in speculation that many barristers will refuse to sign them. The Gazette spoke to several leading criminal chambers in London, which indicated that their members would not be signing.



Bar Council chairman Tim Dutton QC said: 'The Bar Council is alive to the concerns being expressed by members of the profession, and has long-standing and well-documented concerns of its own about the proposed scheme for long and complex cases which have been clearly stated in our papers to the LSC.



'However, it is for each barrister to decide, on the basis of his or her individual circumstances, the terms of the contract, the rates being offered, professional commitments etc, whether or not to sign.'



David Keegan, director of high-cost case contracting at the LSC, said it was concerned and surprised by the developments within the bar.



Catherine Baksi