Mrs Justice Andrews has today handed down judgment in the Law Centres Network’s challenge to the Lord Chancellor’s decision to re-tender for legal aid contracts to deliver Housing Possession Court Duty Schemes (HPCDS). Quashing the decision, Andrews J found it to have been taken on a flawed and irrational basis and in breach of the public sector equality duty. The HPCDS procurement exercise – the outcome of which was announced in May 2018, and which involved a reduction in the number of legal aid contracts from over 100 to 47 – will therefore have to be re-run on a lawful basis.
The judgment can be found here.
Further detail can be found here: http://www.publiclawproject.org.uk/news/104/
Jason Coppel KC and Edward Capewell acted for the Law Centres Network instructed by Polly Brendon of the Public Law Project
