On 28 July 2026 the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) published its intention to procure a new Inquests Category of Law.

Legal Aid Agency have indicated that one of the requirements for the Inquest Category of Law will be to employ a part-time equivalent supervisor in that Category. The supervisor will be required to meet a legal competence standard.

Legal Aid Agency‘s current intention is to permit two different routes to meet the legal competence standard:

• Experience in carrying out a certain number of inquest cases
• Attendance at an inquest training course that has been approved by the LAA.

To assist with this work, Legal Aid Agency are seeking views on the criteria Legal Aid Agency should use for deciding whether a training course should be approved for these purposes.

The LAA has created a draft list of criteria, which can be found on our website.

Alongside the criteria is a short survey asking for your views on the draft criteria, including the deliverability of the requirements.

Legal Aid Agency are inviting feedback from providers, course providers, representative bodies and others with an interest in criteria for training courses.

Why is it happening now?

The Government has introduced the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, known as the Hillsborough Law, into Parliament.

The Bill will introduce non-means tested legal help and legally aided advocacy at inquests where a public authority is an interested person.

The LAA are planning to procure a new Inquest category of law in response to the introduction of the Bill.

The LAA published Headline Intentions for the launch of the tender for the new inquest category of law on 28 July 2026. A copy of Headline Intentions can be found here – Introduction of Inquest Category of Law – GOV.UK

Further information

Further information and a link to the survey can be found here: Approved training course for inquests – GOV.UK

The survey will close on 12 August 2026.