Legal aid reform

Summary of changes to be implemented on 3 Oct 2011

The summary tables below cover the changes to crime remuneration for legal aid as detailed in the Ministry of Justice’s response to the consultation paper, Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales.

These tables are also available to download as a PDF from the documents panel.

For information on civil changes go to the legal aid reform civil page.

Regarding the remaining proposals, the LSC is in the process of assessing the MoJ’s consultation response and determining what the impacts will be on the LSC and legal aid providers.

We are therefore still investigating when we will implement the other elements of the Legal Aid Reforms including family fees, scope and eligibility changes.

Crime fee changes

The new rates apply to claims with Representation Order dates on or after 3 Oct 2011 and can be found in the Criminal Defence Service (Funding) (Amendment) Order 2011.

The changes to crime fees will see the introduction of new forms for providers to make claims under the Advocate Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS) and Litigator Graduated Fee Scheme (LGFS).

For solicitors, there is a revised LF1 and for Counsel a revised AF1 form. There is also a new LAC1 form. This is filled in by the solicitor and signed by the legal adviser / court official at the Committal hearing, the Mode of trial hearing or any other hearing where the venue is known.

A copy is then passed to the advocate and submitted with the LF1 or AF1 form.

Where the defendant is unrepresented, the provider is able to obtain a memorandum of conviction from the court. This costs £5 and the LSC will pay this as a disbursement. It will allow us to validate the information that would otherwise have been provided on the LAC1 form. Previews of these forms are on the October forms preview page.

Experts' fee changes

There are now specified rates applicable to all work undertaken by experts in crime.

Please see Schedule 6 of the Criminal Defence Service (Funding) (Amendment) Order 2011 for the new expert rates payable for crime.

Provider training

Online training is available for providers at http://training.legalservices.gov.uk.

Providers who have not previously registered with the LSC Provider training website will need to register their details first. They will need their account number, organisation name and postcode.

All providers and advocates affected by the implementation of the reforms are encouraged to make use of this training tool, to ensure the accuracy of their claims and minimise any delays as a result.

Further information

Please see our FAQ or contact your contract manager for further information.

If you do not have a contract manager, please send your query to LegalAidReforms@legalservices.gsi.gov.uk.

If your query relates to the policy driving the reforms, please refer to http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/legal-aid-reform.htm

Fees for guilty pleas and cracked trials
For indictable only and either way cases committed for trial in the Crown Court by the bench, we propose to: Reduce fees for a cracked trial by 25% Harmonise PPE Uplifts for 2nd and final third cracks and cut basic fees for these by 11%

Fees for guilty pleas and cracked trials

For indictable only and either way cases committed for trial in the Crown Court by the bench, we propose to:

Reduce fees for a cracked trial by 25%
Harmonise PPE Uplifts for 2nd and final third cracks and cut basic fees for these by 11%

Fees in either way cases suitable for summary trial
We propose to pay a fixed fee of £362 to litigators and £203 to advocates for either way cases in the Crown Court which: The bench determined were suitable for summary trial; but The defendant elected for trial by jury; and Subsequently changed the plea to guilty At the same time, we propose to: Remove the separate committal fee; and Enhance the Lower Standard fee paid for guilty pleas in the magistrates courts by 23% and the Higher Standard fee by 8.3%

Fees in either way cases suitable for summary trial

We propose to pay a fixed fee of £362 to litigators and £203 to advocates for either way cases in the Crown Court which:

The bench determined were suitable for summary trial; but
The defendant elected for trial by jury; and
Subsequently changed the plea to guilty

At the same time, we propose to:

Remove the separate committal fee; and
Enhance the Lower Standard fee paid for guilty pleas in the magistrates courts by 23% and the Higher Standard fee by 8.3%

Fees for murder and manslaughter
Harmonise fees for Crown Court cases paid under category A (murder and manslaughter) so that they are paid the same as cases paid under category J (serious violence)

Ancillary payments to advocates
Remove ancillary payments for sentencing hearings, which would be treated as one of the 5 appearances covered within the standard graduated fee An additional appearance fee would be payable separately for sentencing if that hearing was a sixth or subsequent standard appearance Payments for committals for sentence and appeals from the magistrates' court would remain as these are fixed fees for stand-alone pieces of work rather than 'bolt-ons' to the overall graduated fee

Ancillary payments to advocates

Remove ancillary payments for sentencing hearings, which would be treated as one of the 5 appearances covered within the standard graduated fee
An additional appearance fee would be payable separately for sentencing if that hearing was a sixth or subsequent standard appearance
Payments for committals for sentence and appeals from the magistrates' court would remain as these are fixed fees for stand-alone pieces of work rather than 'bolt-ons' to the overall graduated fee

Fees for offences of dishonesty
In the Crown Court, remove the distinction in fee payments for cases involving offences of dishonesty worth less than £30k, and those worth between £30k and £100k, so that they attract the same (category F) fee Offences of dishonesty worth more than £100k will continue to be paid at a higher fee (category K)

Fees in magistrates’ courts cases in London
Remove the premium paid to litigators for magistrates’ courts cases in London, so that they are paid the same rates as in other urban areas

Fees for Very High Cost Criminal Cases
Continue to issue individual VHCC contracts to firms taking on 41-60 day cases in the short term, but that these contracts will specify that payment is to be made in accordance with the LGFS, rather than the existing VHCC hourly rates.

Codify expert rates
Codify the benchmark rates for experts, and reduce by 10%, with provision for exceptional cases; continue to develop a longer term framework towards a fixed and graduated fee scheme.

Last updated: 20 December 2011