Immigration contract notifications are to be "before Thursday 4th June". Anyone betting on this being the case?

UPDATE

And Mental Health by the 7th.

First Friday song for ages. We have put them up here before but their excellent new album, Beachcombers Windowsill, (despite some concern about the production compared to the live experience) is now out.

Appeal deadlines today and a completely unexpected emergency tomorrow have once again had an unexpected impact on this place (I have not even looked at the VHCC thing Steve mentioned in the comments below and promised to blog on - that is low priority and can wait).

I will now not be at my desk, as anticipated, until after the Bank Holiday. My early and unplanned start tomorrow will certainly provide some content for next months webinar programme. (More when time and client confidentiality permits).

I am now utterly convinced that the world of Legal Aid is facing an immediate and sudden shift.

Cuts seem to be the order of the day. Here however is one we can all support the reduction of the LSC Manual by one volume down from 4 to 3.

Got a bit tied up in work again at the end of last so posting here slipped a bit once more. I am also likely to be tied up in a bit of a rash of Peer Review appeals this week.

Another victim of the procurement round was the weekly running of the Webinar -which we simply did not have the time to do. We are now beginning the regular Friday Lunchtime sessions again hopefully without further significant interruption.

In June we focus on issues related to the flurry of audit and assessment activity being undertaken by the Legal Services Commission.

All sessions start at 1pm, run for an hour with 1 CPD point for all participants and cost £60 each or all 4 for £180.

4th June Where next for Legal Aid?

As we await contract decisions and pronouncements from the new Government the LSC have embarked upon a new and varied range of audits and assessments.

This session aims to summarise the current situation and provide some insight into the audit activity currently under way plus - more importantly how to survive it. This is an "introductory" session for the theme of the month - managing SQM (franchise) compliance.

11th June Effective File review

Always the LSC's favourite "non-compliance" file review is the central SQM quality control procedure. It is also one of those recurring activities which comes under most pressure when faced with the day-to-day pressures of running a profitable practice.

Properly undertaken it is however arguably the most effective mechanism for ensuring audit and assessment success and even to help protect profitability. This session will refresh understanding of the basic requirements and take you through the JRS standard procedural checklist.

18th June The SQM Business Plan

The preparation and review of business plans is always a touchy subject in times of uncertainty such as those faced by LA practitioners right now. "How can we write a long term plan when we are not sure yet if we will even have a contract in the Autumn?" is an often heard question. That said these plans are necessary and are once again falling subject to audit scrutiny.

Simply this course identifies what you need to include and has some ideas of how to go about it.

25th June Audit Update

By the end of June we will have experienced a wide number of these new assessment/audit tools and be better able to provide risk management advice.

To round off the month we hope to bring a live summary of all the audits we have witnessed and identify what and how the LSC are going about their current tasks.

Does anybody know anything about the new Legal Aid minister?. Or anyone else from the new MoJ team?.

Had a conversation with a firm last night currently facing 3 or 4 separate forms of assessment from the LSC - all seemingly uncoordinated, from different parts of the UK and despite them all having significant areas of overlap.

The "financial stewardship" stuff seems to be central to their concerns and as Andrew K suggests in the comments on a post below, recoupment issues seem a real possibility. Certainly we are encountering a mounting number of file samples, on site visits/audits and a curious rash of failed Peer Reviews (so much so that I wonder if this is more than coincidence).

There may be trouble ahead...

Back at my desk clearing post etc more later. It does however seem that things have been far from quiet in the last week or so beginning to wish I had become a VAV!

The central audit team from Nottingham is clearly working hard. We are receiving continuous calls from firms either about to have or have just had audits from this central team. The distance in the areas covered is quite amazing so I hope this certain auditor whose name keeps cropping up is on good travel expenses.
This capped with visits from relationship managers (yes they are still visiting firms but leaving the auditing to these centralised teams) is making it a very nervous time for some suppliers.
Therefore it's time to dust off copies of your SQM and begin to focus on those long forgotten things like experts registers !!!
If anyone has any problems please call on the usual numbers.

Where did the time go .....!

As Mr P enjoys a well earned rest (although with a six hour delay I am sure he will be thinking someone has got it in for him) I am left in charge!!!

Time does fly when you are having fun so they say, so much so that we are starting to hear from a few firms who were having so much fun they missed the CDS12 deadline. This could have been more based on my hectic Friday with more than a couple of late submissions for firms, (all NON retainer clients I might add!).

As usual the LSC have been little help with conflicting advice from different account managers sorry relationship managers.

If anyone from the LSC knows a definitive answer of what to do please let us know.

Andy Bean

Have you sent your CDS 12?

Have your received confirmation of receipt from the LSC/Bravo solutions?

Have you checked that your message has been received and “read by the recipient”?

You have until 4pm tomorrow!

Forget election countdown I am doing the same for my much needed holiday at the weekend. Consequently I am frantically clearing my desk before 2-days in the field this week, training and auditing (yes I know that's a blast from the past) before, hopefully, volcanic ash free skies on Sunday.

It might be quiet here for a while.

2 quick points.

Procurement appeals have be upheld on the narrowest of points possible - as to be expected.

There is a sudden rash of Peer Review appeals (and a new request whilst I have been typing this) - they seem to be taking a very harsh line at the moment.