Crime news: updating the police station representatives register

We are updating our police station representatives register and need the support of supervising solicitors of accredited representatives to help with this work.

What do we need to do?

Emails from the Defence Solicitor Call Centre (DSCC) will be going out soon to supervising solicitors of accredited representatives with data validation forms.

These will be sent in the week beginning 19 July 2021. These need to be completed and returned as soon as possible to the originating is this information held?

The data can be found on our 2017 crime contract web pages and is a record of probationary and accredited representatives

What exactly are you checking?

The register contains a nominated supervising solicitor against each representative. But the information needs to be updated for accuracy.

Representatives who are no longer supervised or active need to have their practising PIN giving DSCC access suspended.

Impact of COVID-19

We are conscious the Covid lockdown impact may mean representatives have not been able complete the usual requisite 25 cases over the last 12 months. If that is the case you should make this clear within the ‘comments”’ section of the form.

We will not be validating probationary records as these applications are current and progressing through the usual accreditation process. We will also not be checking records of those representatives recorded as suspended.

Why are you doing this?

It is a contractual requirement for police station representatives to be supervised by a solicitor. Payments are made under the 2017 standard crime contract on that basis. So, it is important that we have accurate data to show that this is happening.

How long does the update take?

We expect the exercise to be completed by the end of August 2021. Failure to return a data validation form may result in representatives having their PIN cancelled.

How can I check for accuracy?

An updated register is published monthly and can be viewed along with other documents on the 2017 crime contract page.

Further – mailbox to return data validation form

Standard Crime Contract 2017 – to view police station representatives register

DSCC online portal