Civil Legal Advice Contracts 2025
Source: gov.uk (2025-01-29)

Civil Legal Advice (CLA) contract documents for providers of specialist remote legal advice through the CLA helpline from 1 September 2025.

Documents

Civil Legal Advice 2025: Standard Terms

Civil Legal Advice 2025: Annex 1 – Specification

Civil Legal Advice 2025: Annex 2 – Cases, Fixed Fee and Hourly Rates

Civil Legal Advice 2025: Annex 3 – Payments and Disbursements

Civil Legal Advice 2025: Annex 4 – IT Requirements, CMS and Business Continuity

Civil Legal Advice 2025: Annex 5 – KPIs

Civil Legal Advice 2025: Annex 6 – Complaints

Civil Legal Advice 2025: Annex 7 – Unacceptable Behaviour

Civil Legal Advice 2025: Contract for Signature

Supervisor Self-Declaration Form – Discrimination (CLA)

Supervisor Self-Declaration Form – Education (CLA)

Supervisor Self-Declaration Form – Housing and Debt (CLA)

Guidance on Supervisor Requirements for the Civil Legal Advice Contract 2025

Details

These contract documents cover remote advice in the following categories of law:
- Discrimination
- Education
- Housing and Debt
The contract consists of the following elements:
- Standard terms
- Specification
- Annexes
- Contract for Signature
- Supervisor standards and declaration forms
Standard Terms

The standard terms govern the commercial relationship between Legal Aid Agency (LAA) and the provider.

Specification

The specification sets out the rules for providing and being paid for CLA contract work. It is divided into provisions of general application (Sections 1 to 8) and category specific rules for education, discrimination, and housing and debt (Sections 9 to 11).

Cases, Fixed Fee and Hourly Rates annex

The cases, fixed fee and hourly rates annex sets out the payment structure for contract work. The specific fees and rates paid will be in accordance with the provider’s tender bid.

Payments and Disbursements annex

The payments and disbursements annex sets out the process for submitting claims and being paid for controlled work under these contracts.

Information technology (IT) requirements, Case Management System (CMS) and Business Continuity annex

The IT requirements, CMS and Business Continuity annex sets out the IT systems and other related processes the provider must have in place. These include data security and business continuity requirements.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) annex

The KPI annex sets out the KPIs we expect providers to meet and explains the consequences of breaching these requirements.

Complaints annex

The complaints annex sets out the specific complaints policy the provider must have in place for clients to use. It also provides information on the way that complaints will be handled by the provider and the LAA.

Unacceptable behaviour annex

The unacceptable behaviour annex sets out an established process for dealing with unacceptable behaviour by CLA clients. It ensures that this behaviour is handled fairly, proportionately and consistently across the CLA service.

Contract for signature

The contract for signature gives effect to the CLA 2025 contract as a whole.

Supervisor standards self-declaration forms

These documents set out the requirements that supervisors must satisfy for each category.

Legal Aid Agency data security requirements and guidance

These documents (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-aid-agency-data-security-requirements) comprise the basic requirements that providers must meet to maintain the security of data processed on behalf of or with LAA.
- Provider data security guidance - September 2023
- Provider data security requirements - September 2023