Re-opening: 2024 Standard Civil Contract Procurement Process

Latest Updates

5 November 2025 – Publication of an Expression of Interest for Legal Aid opportunities in Housing and Debt

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is seeking to attract additional providers in the Housing and Debt and Welfare Benefits Categories of Law under the 2024 Standard Civil Contract (“2024 Contract”) in the following areas:

• Barnsley
• Calderdale
• Cheshire
• City of Kingston upon Hull
• Doncaster
• East Riding of Yorkshire
• Hartlepool
• Knowsley
• Leicestershire & Rutland
• North East Lincolnshire & North Lincolnshire
• Northumberland
• Portsmouth & Isle of Wight
• Rochdale
• Rotherham
• Sandwell
• Trafford
• Warrington & Halton
• West Lancashire
• Wigan

This can be achieved through:

• the award of a 2024 Contract which includes a specific authorisation to conduct Housing and Debt and Welfare Benefits Contract Work; or
• the addition to existing Contracts of an authorised Schedule to deliver Outreach Services.

We are therefore inviting expressions of interest from organisations that would be interested in delivering Housing & Debt and Welfare Benefits services, including Outreach Services, until 30 June 2028. 

The LAA intends to award contracts or schedules under this process to commence as soon as possible after the verification process is complete.

Organisations do not need to be existing 2024 Standard Civil Contract holders to respond to this opportunity, but the application process will differ according to whether Applicants:

• already hold authorisation under a 2024 Housing and Debt Contract; or
• already hold authorisation under a 2024 Standard Civil Contract in another Category of Law; or
• do no hold a 2024 Standard Civil Contract

Applicants are invited to contact civil.contracts@justice.gov.uk by 5pm on Wednesday 12 November 2025 to express their interest in delivering the service, following which they will receive details of next steps.

Applicants are asked to state in their email whether they:

• already hold authorisation under a 2024 Housing and Debt Contract and wish to apply for a further Housing and Debt (and Welfare Benefits, if relevant) Schedule in one of the areas listed, or a Schedule to deliver Outreach Services
• already hold authorisation under a 2024 Standard Civil Contract in another Category of Law and wish to apply for a Housing and Debt (and Welfare Benefits, if relevant) Schedule in one of the areas listed
• do not hold a 2024 Standard Civil Contract

Previous Updates

22 July 2025 – Publication of a notice to amend the Civil 2024 Application Guide

We have today issued an amendment notice to the 2024 Standard Civil Contract – Application Guide

The notice can be found in the ‘Documents’ section at the top of this page.

Applicants are required to refer to Version 2 of the 2024 Standard Civil Contract – Application Guide.

Previous Updates

3 February 2025 – Notice of outcome: 2024 Standard Civil Contract

36 providers have been issued contracts through this procurement process, in addition to the volume already identified through earlier procurement processes. The directory of providers has been updated accordingly. A list of providers successful in this procurement process can be found in the ‘documents’ section above, see from page 82 onwards for those awarded from 1 January 2025.

Further details of those successful in earlier processes can be found at: Civil 2024 Contract Procurement Process - GOV.UK

4 December 2024 – 2024 Standard Civil Contract procurement process re-opens

The LAA has opened a further procurement exercise and inviting additional tenders from organisations that have not previously tendered or did so unsuccessfully. In addition, current 2024 Standard Civil Contract holders who wish to apply for additional offices or categories of law.

This exercise will cover the following Categories of Law:

• Family.
• Housing and Debt and Welfare Benefits.
• Immigration and Asylum (including work at Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs).
• Mental Health.
• Community Care.
• Claims Against Public Authorities.
• Clinical Negligence.
• Public Law.
• Family Mediation.
• Education; and
• Discrimination.

Current Providers do not need to submit a response to this procurement process unless they wish to apply for new offices or categories of law.

Tenders can be submitted under this procurement process only in the following circumstances:

• an applicant’s tender for a 2024 civil contract was rejected because it failed to verify its Tender by the relevant deadline ; or
• an existing contractor wishes to apply for additional Categories of Law and/or from additional offices/Procurement Areas : or
• a new organisation that has not submitted a bid before.

Tenders must be submitted using the LAA’s eTendering system and must be submitted by 11:59 on 31 December 2025.

Applicants may submit any questions they have via eTendering. Questions that the LAA considers to be of wider interest may be collated and answered centrally as part of the Frequently asked questions (FAQ) document to ensure that all potential Applicants have equal access to information. Applicants may continue to ask questions throughout the Application Period. These will be included in an updated FAQ document which will be published at regular intervals throughout the lifetime of this procurement process. Applicants are advised to consult the most current version of this document when tendering.

Applicants with Technical tender questions should complete the online support form, which can be found at https://jaggaer.my.site.com/suppliersupportrequestmessaging/s/. Alternatively, the telephone number for the helpdesk is 0800 069 8630 and lines are open from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.

Passporting:

Organisations that previously tendered for 2024 Standard Civil Contract but were unsuccessful will be given “passporting” opportunities where rejection related solely to a failure to provide compliant tender verification information by the relevant deadline. This will only be applied when the following conditions are met:

• An applicant’s contract award was withdrawn because it failed to verify its tender; and
• The Selection Questionnaire (SQ) response remains the same as the original submission(s) for the Standard Civil Contract 2024 Contract (which opened on 13 September 2023 or 18 March 2024); and
• There are no changes to the original Tender

Passported applicants only need to complete the verification process.

You can find further information on the 2024 Contract at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standard-civil-contract-2024

11 November 2024 - Headline intentions for re-opening the 2024 Standard Civil Contract procurement process published

A headline intentions document is now available from the ‘documents’ section above. It sets out our approach for the re-opening of the 2024 Standard Civil Contract procurement process.

The procurement process will open on 4 December 2024.