News story: Civil news: face-to-face and telephone advice service tenders
Tenders open on 11 June 2019 which give organisations the opportunity to bid for work under two procurement processes:
-
specialist legal advice delivered in education, discrimination and housing and debt
-
face-to-face advice in education and discrimination
Timescales
The deadline for submitting tenders is 9am on Wednesday 10 July 2019.
You can find out details of how to bid and see a full timetable on our tender pages.
You can also view a breakdown of the contract start dates from September 2019.
Why is this happening now?
We need to award contracts to prepare for the removal of the CLA mandatory telephone gateway for civil legal services in education, discrimination and debt.
This is happening in the spring of 2020. We are ensuring continuity of service through a mixture of new specialist telephone advice and face-to-face contracts.
What does this mean for clients?
Starting in September 2019 prospective clients will still need to contact the CLA operator service or use the digital CLA service.
However, potentially eligible clients seeking help in education or discrimination will have greater freedom to access face to face advice. This will mean discussing suitable options with a CLA specialist telephone advice provider.
Once the mandatory telephone gateway has been removed from legislation in 2020 all clients will be able to contact face-to-face providers directly.
Where can I find out more?
Detailed information is available in the ‘Information for Applicants’ document on our tender pages.
Further information
Civil legal aid services from September 2019
Legal aid guidance – to download ‘Civil Legal Advice – September 2019 changes’
Civil Legal Advice Contract 2018 and the 2018 Civil Legal Advice Discrimination Contract