The Legal Services Commission (LSC) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Justice which was responsible for the operational administration of legal aid in England and Wales between 2000 and 2013.
Over the lifetime of the LSC, the provision of legal services was extended. Regional planning and contracting were introduced, particularly increasing social welfare law provision. Telephone advice CLS Direct was introduced (akin to the NHS Direct).
Further, the organisation and management of the civil and criminal schemes changed materially. Criminal legal aid administration transferred from HM Court Service to the LSC. Controls on civil legal aid merits and means testing were increased. Processing centres were introduced.
Overview The LSC was responsible for a budget of around £2 billion annually, and helping over 2 million people with their legal problems across England and Wales each year. It was established under the Access to Justice Act 1999 and in 2000 replaced the Legal Aid Board (founded in 1988 by the Legal Aid Act 1988, its responsibility was previously held by the Law Society of England and Wales through the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949). Sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, the LSC helped to protect the fundamental rights of the individual and addressed problems that contribute to social exclusion.
The LSC was overseen by an independent board of commissioners, appointed by the Ministry. The commissioners were directly involved in developing regional plans for meeting legal need.
The Access to Justice Act significantly restricted the availability of civil legal aid. The following were excluded (listed in Schedule 2): Personal injury (excluding clinical negligence), conveyancing, boundary disputes, making of wills, matters of trust law, defamation and malicious falsehood, matter of company or partnership law or matters arising out of business.
The Access to Justice Act made material changes to the criteria for civil legal aid. A new Funding Code, developed by Colin Stutt, refined the old merits test. The criteria for granting legal aid were made clearer. This clarified the likely circumstances for applicant, and assisted caseworkers in consistent decision making.The Access to Justice Act 1999.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/22/contents
With a change in Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer set out his vision for legal aid in his report "A fairer deal for legal aid" in July 2005.Lord Chancellor's Report "A fairer deal for legal aid" July 2005.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7bfe9aed915d01ba1ca770/6591.pdf
Services The LSC was responsible for the development and administration of two service programmes:
The Civil Legal Service (CLS), which provides services under the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) banner The Criminal Defence Service (CDS)
The CLA aimed to improve access to quality information and help for civil legal problems, in fields such as family, debt and housing law. From 2004, CLA provides direct legal advice services to the public via its Community Legal Advice website and CLA Direct telephone helpline, and also provides advice centre offices for low-income individuals and families, who are referred to participating solicitors and advice agencies that are certified through the CLA's Quality Mark scheme.
The CDS provides free legal advice and representation for people facing criminal charges who are unable to pay for legal help. This is supplied through criminal solicitors’ offices and the Public Defender Service.
Civil Legal Service - Regional planning and partnership, CLACs & CLANs The LSC took on responsibility for planning and providing legal services. Work had begun under the LAB. Regional planning and partnership teams were set up in regional offices. Regional committees were formed, chaired by Commissioners. Demographic data was analysed. Regional plans were developed.
The LSC met with local authority funders to plan social welfare funding. Some local authorities set up jointly funded services with common providers. As a result, CLS funding to social welfare law was increased. Some CABx and housing advice centres received CLS funding.
Crispin Passmore was appointed Director of the CLS in 2004. DCA's Paper "A fairer deal for legal aid" (2005) acknowledged that 'problem clusters', as identified in LSC's "Causes of Action" (2004) research report, needed to be addressed. A plan was described in the LSC's paper "Making Legal Rights a Reality" (2006). Passmore set about creating more effective delivery of social welfare services through Community Legal Advice Centres (CLACs) and Community Legal Advice Networks (CLANs). CLACs were more suited to urban centres, CLANs in more distributed populations. They would be jointly funded by LSC and local authorities.
Starting in 2007, CLACs were set up in Gateshead, Leicester, Derby, Portsmouth and Hull. In 2010, a CLAN was formed in the East Riding of Yorkshire, followed by one in Barking & Dagenham.
The work on CLS planning was reviewed in the "Needs assessment and the Community Legal Service in England and Wales" report (Dec 2010) by Pascoe Pleasance, UCL and Alexy Buck, Marisol Smith, Nigel Balmer & Ashish Patel of the Legal Services Research Centre.
Criminal Defence Service The service was made up of solicitors, solicitor advocates, barrister and police station representatives. They provide representation in criminal courts and advice at police stations (as required under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, PACE).
From 2001, the service was exclusively provided through providers contracted with the LSC under the General Criminal Contract. These providers were quality assured and audited.
The AJA allowed for the LSC to create a Public Defender Service (PDS), a directly employed defence service. The first offices were set up in 2001 and 2002: Cheltenham, Birmingham, Liverpool, Merthyr Tydfill, Swansea and Pontypridd. In 2003 offices were opened in Darlington and Chester. Solicitors, solicitor advocates and police station representatives were employed. Clients chose private or publicly employed representation. The effectiveness was assessed in the report "Evaluation of the Public Defender Service" (2007).EVALUATION OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER
SERVICE IN ENGLAND AND WALES (2007)
by Lee Bridges, Ed Cape, Paul Fenn, Anona Mitchell,
Richard Moorhead and Avrom Sherr The PDS continues to operate 4 offices in 2026: Cheltenham, Darlington, Merthyr Tydfill and Pontypridd, Swansea.
In October 2005, the LSC began a pilot of CDS Direct. It provided telephone advice to suspects at police stations for those who had requested a duty solicitor (as opposed to 'own solicitor'). Where a duty solicitor was required, the call would be transferred to the Duty Solicitor Call Centre to arrange. Three solicitors firms were contracted to provide telephone advice, usually using para-legals.
Following the Carter Review (2006), the LSC decided to proceed with the centralising the control of duty solicitor advice and representation.
In January 2008, the LSC created the Defence Solicitor Call Centre (DSCC). The DSCC call centre exclusively handled requests for legal representation at police stations to duty solicitors or own solicitors. It decided whether a solicitor should attend, or advice should be limited to telephone advice. John Sirodcar, Head of Direct Services, developed the scheme and led the tender process. The first DSCC contract was placed with First Assist.
In February 2008, the LSC began a pilot of the CDS Direct telephone service (akin to NHS Direct). Using paralegals, the call centre provided direct legal advice on suitable criminal cases.
As of 2026, the DSCC continues to control duty solicitor call outs, delivered by a contracted specialist call centre company. Telephone advice is provided by Criminal Defence Direct, delivered by a contract solicitor firm.
CDS transfer of powers In 2006, under the Criminal Defence Service Act, the power to issue criminal legal aid was transferred from HM Court Service to the LSC.Criminal Defence Services Act (2006)
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/9/notes/division/5
Very High Cost Civil Cases The Funding Code Procedures gave powers to increased controls for civil cases costing more than £25,000 and multi-party actions. David Keegan developed the arrangements for the new scheme. Solicitors were required to provide a case plan, which fixed the costs stage by stage. 'Risk rate' funding was introduced to civil damages based cases, akin to success fees in conditional fees introduced under the AJA for private client work. Typical case plans were produced. Expert fees were standardised.
A new Special Cases Unit was set up in 2000 with Peter Monaghan as the Operations Manager. Solicitors from around the LSC were combined into the Special Cases Unit. Additional junior and senior solicitors and barristers were recruited. Civil cases were transferred to SCU when they were identified as potentially VHCC cases, or when the VHCC cost limit was reached. Solicitors submitted case plans were negotiated and agreed with the SCU caseworkers and case managers.
Multi-party actions (MPAs) were centralised into the Special Cases Unit, managed by nominated senior case managers. Existing MPAs were reviewed and brought under stricter scope and cost controls.
New MPAs were subject to new Funding Code controls. A new 'significant wider public interest' criterion was introduced, with the level being evaluated by the Public Interest Advisory Panel (PIAP). A new 'affordability' criterion was introduced and an annual budget for MPAs set. The funding of new MPA applications had to affordable within the budget. So individual MPA stage-by-stage budgets were set, giving financial certainty to solicitors and LSC.
Very High Cost Criminal Cases A new scheme was introduced to control the costs of criminal cases with trials of 25 days or more. Richard Collins developed the arrangements for the new scheme. Solicitors were required to provide a case plan, which fixed the costs stage by stage. Cases were grouped into levels of complexity and specialism, with associated hourly rates of payment.
A Complex Crime Unit (CCU) was set up in 2001 with Nigel Field (transferred from HMCTS) as its Head, in London, Liverpool and Nottingham. A team of caseworkers was recruited. Experienced Crown Court bill assessor was seconded from HMCTS. Case Manager and caseworkers reviewed case plans and negotiated costs stage by stage. New cases were taken on as they arose.
The Carter Review "Legal Aid: A market-based approach to reform." (Report 2006) proposed that VHCCC should be undertaken by an exclusive panel of specialist solicitors and barristers, with best value tendering for implementation in October 2007 (Recommendations 14.7 & 14.8)."Legal Aid: A market-based approach to reform"
Report by Lord Carter, 23th July 2006.
https://www.criminalbar.com/wp-content/uploads/documents/130408090833-CarterFinal.pdf New reduced hourly rates were set for the tender.The Criminal Defence Service (Funding) (Amendment) Order 2008.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/957/made/data.htm
The tender process was complete with contracts including lower hourly rates of pay to be signed in January 2008. 326 solicitor's firms entered into contracts. Of roughly 2,300 barristers offered contracts, only 100 signed them. The barristers boycotted new VHCC cases. This led to a stand-off as new cases were identified and progressed during 2008. An interim VHCCC scheme was introduced in October 2008. The VHCCC scheme was limited to cases with trials of 40 days or more, with the 25-40 day cases transferred to the graduated fee schemes. Contract hourly rates were increased through contract amendments (13/11/2008, 15/12/2008, 05/05/2009). The scheme continued in this form until 2013.
Replacement by Legal Aid Agency