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Guidance: Duty solicitors: rotas, information and guidance

Legal Aid Agency

October 31
11:10 2024

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CRM12 Application information

Duty solicitor rotas: 1 April 2025 to 30 September 2025

The CRM12 application deadline for adding duty solicitors to the rotas commencing 1 April 2025 is 23:59 Thursday 9 January 2025.

Organisations can find the 2022 CRM12 form at CRM12: duty solicitor application when moving firm to submit their application.

Completed applications should be saved as an excel file and emailed to crm12@justice.gov.uk by no later than 23:59 Thursday 9 January 2025. We are already accepting CRM12 submissions for the April 25 rota period and will continue to do so up until the deadline of 23:59 Thursday 9 January 2025. We will not accept CRM12 application submissions received after the above CRM12 application deadline for inclusion on the April 2025 rotas.

Organisations should use the new 2022 CRM12:

  • To add to the April 2025 rotas any newly qualified duty solicitors who will be engaged by you on 1 April 2025 - a copy of their Law Society CLAS certificate should be sent with the CRM12 application.
  • To add to the April 2025 rotas any duty solicitors who will move organisations and be engaged by you on 1 April 2025.
  • To change for the April 2025 rotas, the office from which any of your organisations duty solicitors on the October 24 rotas are engaged. The duty solicitor(s) will move to the duty scheme(s) listed in your organisations 2022 contract schedule against the new office.
  • For duty solicitors on London Magistrates court duty schemes, to change the court scheme choices, where eligible to do so.

When you become aware that a duty solicitor will cease to be engaged by you, you must email straight away both your contract manager and duty team at dutysolqueries@justice.gov.uk. You cannot use the CRM12 form and wait until the CRM12 deadline for the next rota period.

We do not need CRM12 applications if there are no changes to be made.

On the CRM12 form please make sure that the correct date is supplied for when the duty solicitor will be engaged by you under the column heading Date Duty Solicitor joined or is to join this Office / Scheme/s. The DSCC will use this date to move a duty solicitor from the old organisation to the new organisation and/or old office to new office with the same firm. LAA and DSCC will not be held responsible if duty calls are missed or sent to the wrong place due to an incorrect date being entered on the form.

We expect to publish new members lists (not rotas) on our website by Thursday 16 January 2025 to allow firms to check that their duty solicitors are recorded correctly. We ask that feedback is provided by email only, so that we can keep a record of any issues and amend and respond accordingly to those who raise them. The deadline for us to receive feedback relating to the members lists will be Wednesday 22 January 2025.

Duty solicitor rotas 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025

Please find below a link to the October 2024 rotas on the Google Drive. All rotas are subject to change at any time during the rota period as further adjustments may be required.

If you have any queries about the rotas, please email these to dutysolqueries@justice.gov.uk and allow us time to investigate. Queries should be sent by email only. Please be patient as we are unlikely to be able to respond immediately.

New Rotas on Google Drive

A guide to accessing rotas via Google Drive (PDF, 572 KB, 10 pages)

Duty solicitor members list 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025

The members lists will generally only show rota schemes. Courts will only be listed separately where a choice had to be made from alternative options or if there are restrictions on eligibility due to postcode. All other courts are included on the normal rota schemes.

Organisations should check that all duty solicitors are listed correctly. Organisations may contact crm12@justice.gov.uk regarding any inaccuracies with the members lists. We are unable to accept any new requests for changes to the October 2024 rotas, and we cannot accept requests from individual duty solicitors. We ask that queries are sent by email only to the above address, so that we can keep a record and respond accordingly to those who raise them. The deadline for us to receive feedback relating to the members lists is Tuesday 23 July 2024.

Organisations are reminded of their obligation to ensure that their contact details are accurate and kept up to date via the Duty Solicitor Contact Centre website in accordance with paragraph 9.22 of the 2022 Standard Crime Contract Specification.

We expect to publish the new rotas early September 2024.

Please find below the link to the scheme members list on the Google Drive, where the October 2024 scheme members list has now been added.

Scheme Members List

CRM12 Application information

Duty solicitor rotas: 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025

The CRM12 application deadline for adding duty solicitors to the rotas commencing 1 October 2024 is 23:59 Wednesday 10 July 2024.

Organisations can find the 2022 CRM12 form at CRM12: duty solicitor application when moving firm to submit their application.

Completed applications should be saved as an excel file and emailed to crm12@justice.gov.uk by no later than 23:59 Wednesday 10 July 2024. We are already accepting CRM12 submissions for the October 24 rota period and will continue to do so up until the deadline of 23:59 Wednesday 10 July 2024. We will not accept CRM12 application submissions received after the above CRM12 application deadline for inclusion on the October 24 rotas.

Organisations should use the new 2022 CRM12:

  • To add to the October 2024 rotas any newly qualified duty solicitors who will be engaged by you on 1 October 2024 - a copy of their Law Society CLAS certificate should be sent with the CRM12 application.
  • To add to the October 2024 rotas any duty solicitors who will move organisations and be engaged by you on 1 October 2024.
  • To change for the October 2024 rotas, the office from which any of your organisations duty solicitors on the April 24 rotas are engaged. The duty solicitor(s) will move to the duty scheme(s) listed in your organisations 2022 contract schedule against the new office.
  • For duty solicitors on London Magistrates court duty schemes, to change the court scheme choices, where eligible to do so.

When you become aware that a duty solicitor will cease to be engaged by you, you must email straight away both your contract manager and duty team at dutysolqueries@justice.gov.uk. You cannot use the CRM12 form and wait until the CRM12 deadline for the next rota period.

We do not need CRM12 applications if there are no changes to be made.

On the CRM12 form please make sure that the correct date is supplied for when the duty solicitor will be engaged by you under the column heading Date Duty Solicitor joined or is to join this Office / Scheme/s. The DSCC will use this date to move a duty solicitor from the old organisation to the new organisation and/or old office to new office with the same firm. LAA and DSCC will not be held responsible if duty calls are missed or sent to the wrong place due to an incorrect date being entered on the form.

We expect to publish new members lists (not rotas) on our website by Tuesday 16 July 2024 to allow firms to check that their duty solicitors are recorded correctly. We ask that feedback is provided by email only, so that we can keep a record of any issues and amend and respond accordingly to those who raise them. The deadline for us to receive feedback relating to the members lists will be Monday 22 July 2024.

Duty solicitor rotas 3 April 2024 to 30 September 2024

Please find below a link to the April 2024 rotas on the Google Drive. All rotas are subject to change at any time during the rota period as further adjustments may be requir

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