The government-owned agency that carries out forensic science tests for police forces across the UK is experimenting with a variation of no-win, no-fee charges.

The Forensic Science Service (FSS) is offering to perform some tests on samples at a variable rate. The move is an attempt to encourage greater use of the agency's services by police forces as the FSS faces increasing competition from commercial rivals.

If a positive DNA or blood or fibre match is found, the agency says, then the fee would be higher than for negative results. For example, if dozens of cigarette-ends were found at a crime scene, the police may not think it worthwhile to test them all if it cost a flat fee per cigarette. If the fee varied on result, however, it would probably be more attractive.

Similarly, the FSS is offering more services on a case-by-case basis rather than test-by-test.

Along with competition in forensic science from rivals such as LGC and Cellmark, the organisation is also suffering a loss of business as police forces take more forensic work in-house and screen pieces of evidence at crime scenes to determine which should be tested. The police are also becoming more sophisticated at procurement. Recently, 14 forces from Cumbria to Wales put three years' worth of forensic work out to tender. The FSS lost about half of the work that it had carried out with these forces.

Under such pressure, the agency is also planning what it calls a significant reduction in its business. Bill Griffiths, the executive chairman, who oversees an operation with seven laboratories and more than 2,000 staff, is clear that the organisation needs to adapt in response to its fast-changing market. His options are limited, though, because the Government has yet to decide whether the FSS should be partially privatised. The cuts he envisages - “There needs to be a significant reductions,” he said. “I wouldn't say half, but significant” - could lead to the loss of at least two laboratories, with work sent to fewer but expanded sites. The FSS operates from laboratories across the country: two in Birmingham and one each in Chepstow, Chorley, Huntingdon, London and Wetherby.

Over the past two-and-a-half years since the FSS became a government-owned company, a status that maintains state ownership but imposes financial discipline, it has cut about 500 jobs. Last year it reported an operating loss of £900,000 for a 17-month period, largely because of restructuring costs. In that period the headcount fell from 2,600 to 2,300 and it has fallen further since. The smaller number of staff are having to learn to be more commercial. They are encouraged to be “more customer-focused” and to try to become involved in police work at an earlier stage, rather than seeing their work as largely laboratory-based. They are also under more pressure to devise new techniques that would have a commercial application.

The FSS has enjoyed two significant recent successes. Its DNAboost analysis software enables a DNA reading to be separated from other DNA samples, which can occur on a cup or a table or any shared object. LCN enables a DNA reading from a much smaller sample than previously possible. However, with increased competition and with some forensic work easily accomplished with off-the-shelf kits, there are fears that the FSS will lose so much business that it will not have the resources easily to develop new products.

Detective Chief Inspector Tom Harper, who is in charge of forensic purchasing for Essex Police, said that while newer, smarter ways of charging the police for forensic work are to be welcomed, it is often important that forensic work is carried out in conjunction with police investigations. “The danger is that we forget about the relationship between the scientists and the police,” he said. “At a murder scene, it isn't just about analysing the blood on the ceiling, but about how it got there as well.”

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