North West council to offer £2.25m contract for provision of childcare barrister advocacy services

The local authority said: “This initiative is [to] appoint Counsel Chambers to provide advocacy in court for Liverpool City Council Children’s Services in childcare cases.

“The contract will be for 12 months with unlimited options to extend by a further 24 months to a maximum of 3 years.”

The contract is worth an estimated £2.25m.

In July this year the London Boroughs Legal Alliance started the re-procurement of its barristers framework, which is worth an estimated £55m over four years. Some £23.6m was attributable to the children's services lot.

In May a group of local authorities in Yorkshire - the WYLAW authorities and City of York Council - kicked off the procurement of a £9m framework of barristers for the provision of childcare legal services.