Possibly in response to my raising concerns in relation to wasted professional indeminity premiums in an email dated 1st February 2023, the Legal Aid Agency has amended the IFA to make it easier to meet the criteria AFTER this tender closed. This may have resulted in rendering the tender invalid.  As I don’t think an amendment is lawful, because it is a competition, the Legal Aid Agency would need to re-run the tender, being open about the new criteria from the outset.  This leaves the Legal Aid Agency potentially facing challenges from unsucessful bidders, either those that submitted a tender and are unsuccessful or indeed those that were put off by the original onerous professional indemnity insurance requirements.

This may be academic, as the Legal Aid Market is so broken, see my first blog, that it does not appear there are sufficient interested Providers left after almost 6 years of the running of the 2018 Standard Civil Contract.

The above Notice of Amendment appeared on the LAA website after I raised concerns in an email dated 1st Feb 2023 about the position in relation to professional indemnity insurance. It can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-loss-prevention-advice-services-hlpas-and-housing-and-debt-services-from-august-2023 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1135750/HLPAS_from_August_2023__Amendment_Notice_February_2023.pdf