The tendering process for housing possession court duty schemes opened last month. The closing date for applications is Monday 4 December at 5 pm. The tenders have been criticised by practitioners for covering too-large areas (see September 2017 Legal Action 4). The government is also introducing price competition between organisations submitting tenders. The new contracts will commence from 1 October 2018.

The deadline for face-to-face and telephone contracts for civil legal aid is 5 pm on 10 November. Firms should have already submitted any questions on the process through the Legal Aid Agency’s eTendering portal. The contracts will commence from 1 September 2018 (see page 16).