Online help and Tiers of Justice

The deadline to submit bids for the Online Support and Guidance (OSAG) project closed yesterday at 17:00.? The award of the contract is scheduled for 18 March with a “Service start date” of 1 April 2024.?

The project falls within the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ’s) Outcomes Delivery Plan of September 2023 specifically the aim: “strengthen the justice system and deliver swift access to justice for all who seek it”.? The very programme that saw ￡28.8m lopped off the MoJ’s budget just two months later, in HM Treasury’s November 2023 Autumn Statement.? Regular readers will recall that this hard pruning was, in part, to free up funds so the Government can build more prisons.? Its an election year in the UK!? No votes in civil justice but plenty of votes for prisons.

Consequently, OSAG has to be funded via s. 70 of the Charities Act, 2006:

“70 Power of relevant Minister to give financial assistance to charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institutions

(1)??? A relevant Minister may give financial assistance to any charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institution in respect of any of the institution's activities which directly or indirectly benefit the whole or any part of England…” ??

As a result the Tender invitation stipulated:

“Organisations (including all members of a consortium) must be a charity or institution (other than a charity) which is established for charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes.”

Consequently, software developers (an essential member of a consortium bidder) cannot apply in their own right, nor (it was made clear) as part of a consortium of charities etc.?

There are other ways of funding OSAG (Tier 1) which we have proposed and shared with Ministry of Justice, the Justice Committee of the House of Commons, the Law Society of England & Wales and others.? Those ideas may yet produce a sustainable and quality Tier 1.? But, for the moment, we have to see how OSAG, and a possible change of Government affects all of this.

The contract is for 12 months from 1 April 2024 with a three month “mobilisation” period allowed and the possibility of a six month extension to 30 September 2025.

In case anyone wanted a reminder about the OSAG project what follows is an extensive quote from the Tender documents in the interests of enabling informed debate.

“…To provide accessible digital/online support and advice that can help with the resolution of legal issues in civil, family and tribunal related matters. This will enable individuals, and those supporting them, to access the support and advice they need to navigate the justice system; resolve their legal problems earlier and independently where possible; and help individuals/litigants in person to prepare for court proceedings where these ensue.

4.1.2 To collect data through the evaluation and monitoring of the grant to build on our evidence about the impact this type of online support has within the wider justice system.

…

4.2.1 Provide a digital/online service/tool that allows i) litigants in person, ii) people supporting litigants in person, iii) HMCTS/the judiciary and iv) not-for-profit organisations to access and signpost to advice and support (relating to a minimum of nine key areas…”

Those are: ? Civil money claims ? Civil mediation ? County court decisions ? Civil enforcement ? Divorce ? Financial remedy ? Child Arrangements ? Social Security Child Support appeals and ? Employment tribunals appeals

Remember the elephant in this room is the late Tier 1.? Whether OSAG has been set up to fail is, I believe, an open question.? Let us see who rises to the challenge of Go Live for this service by 1 July (the Ministry’s requirement) and who, if anyone, takes up the challenge.

If no-one takes up the challenge, or some brave soul does, the question that will arise in July 2025 will be whether the project is deemed to have failed - judged against any of its many criteria for success.?

If a failure, we will be back to Tier 1.? There again, if it succeeds perhaps work could be undertaken to develop the OSAG further so that it begins to look something more like Tier 1.? The current funding basis does not encourage me to believe OSAG has a reliable and sustainable future.

Absent the full Tier 1, the dispute resolution tier (Tier 2) will be a (much) busier place for dispute resolution service providers.

In 2018 the CJC judged Tier 1 to be a “huge opportunity” which the Master of the Rolls described, in 2021, as “cheap and easy to establish and maintain” - speech to GEMME in October 2021, the “Claims R Us” speech.

I say give OSAG a chance, it might work – good luck to the Bidders!