The Legal Services Commission (LSC) opened its tender process for the first two Community Legal Advice Centres (CLACs) last week - as solicitors warned that the scheme may exclude many existing providers.

Bids will be accepted for CLACs in Gateshead and Leicester, in a tender that will run until mid-August.


CLACs will be designed to provide the full range of civil legal aid and social welfare services within a single structure. Tenders will be awarded to providers, or groups of providers, that can supply 'integrated general and specialist legal advice and representation in a wide range of legal disciplines'.


Suppliers will be offered three-year contracts, signed with the LSC and local authority. They will contain performance standards and obligations.


Law Society President Kevin Martin backed the concept of end-to-end advice for clients, but said he was concerned that there has been 'no proper consultation on the detailed specification for CLACs and their subsequent evaluation'. He said the Society prefers the Community Legal Advice Network model also proposed in the Community Legal Service strategy consultation, which enables a virtual one-stop shop of legal advice.


Steve Hynes, director of the Law Centres Federation, said: 'We are concerned that existing organisations might not be able to continue to be suppliers if they are not part of a consortium come 1 April next year.


'I am sceptical whether they are going to get a lot of local councils on board. There is no benefit to it for local authorities - there is no extra money on the table.'


He added: 'CLACs are a good concept, but we can't understand why they are trialing them in two areas where there are already existing services, rather than in an advice desert.'


Richard Miller, Legal Aid Practitioners Group director, said the benefits of CLACs may not justify their expense, and that it would be better to try networks of providers first.


He added: 'We find it hard to believe that many organisations currently involved in advising in these fields will consider themselves able to deliver against the specification.'