FamilyGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:controlled workFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled workFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:licensed workFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:public law standard fee scheme: escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:private law standard fee scheme: escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:standard fee schemes: enhancements of hourly ratesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:standard fee schemes: enhancements of hourly ratesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:standard fee schemes: enhancements of hourly ratesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:standard fee schemes: client transfersFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:standard fee schemes: client transfersFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:public law standard fee scheme: advocacyFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:very high cost casesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:very high cost casesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:very high cost casesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:very high cost casesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid forGetting paid for civil and family workFamily work, getting paid for:very high cost casesFamily work, getting paid for:controlled work:escape fee casesFamily work, getting paid for
Controlled work
13.53Claims for Legal Help and Family Help (Lower) in both private and public family schemes, and Help with Family Mediation claims are paid and claimed as other civil categories, described above.
Family – controlled work escape fee cases
13.54The escape threshold for Legal Help and Family Help (Lower) in both private and public Family schemes is that profit costs calculated on an hourly rate basis must exceed three times the fixed fee.
Licensed work
13.55The general rules and procedures for claiming licensed work costs are described above. Standard fee claims are submitted to the LAA as above. In cases where proceedings have not been issued, the LAA assesses the costs.
13.56Where proceedings have been issued the LAA assesses bills where profit costs are up to £2,500 (excluding VAT). The £2,500 refers to assessable costs – that is, as costs that are claimed under legal aid other than by way of any standard or graduated fee, ie disbursements, solicitor advocacy, escape fee claims and costs otherwise falling outside the higher standard fee scheme.
13.57Bills in excess of £2,500 are assessed by the court. The exception to this is where there is an element of costs between the parties, where the bill is assessed by the court regardless of the size of the claim.
13.58Claims for advocacy under the FAS must be made on an appropriately completed Advocates Attendance Form (EX506). If such form(s) are not submitted the claim(s) will only be paid at the unit 1 rate.
13.59Claims covered by family standard fees are made via CCMS or, if paper cases, on CIV CLAIM1A.
Family – public law standard fee scheme: escape fee cases
13.60The escape threshold for Family Help (Higher) in the public family scheme is that profit costs calculated on an hourly rate basis must exceed twice the fixed fee. Don’t forget that advocacy is claimed separately and in addition to the fixed fee, so advocacy costs do not count towards reaching the escape threshold.
Family – private law standard fee scheme: escape fee cases
13.61The escape threshold for Family Help (Higher) in the private family scheme is that profit costs calculated on an hourly rate basis must exceed three times the fixed fee. As above, advocacy is excluded when calculating the escape threshold.
Family – public and private law standard fee schemes: enhancement of hourly rates
13.62At level 3 – Family Help (Higher), you cannot take any enhancement of hourly rates into account in deciding whether a case escapes from the standard fee, including the 15 per cent uplift that would otherwise be available for panel membership.
1Standard Civil Contract Specification 2013 para 7.21.13.63If the case escapes when calculated at the normal hourly rate, you can apply for an enhancement where justified. An enhancement may be justified where the work was done with exceptional competence, skill or expertise; the work was done with exceptional speed; or the case involved exceptional circumstances or complexity.
2Section 12 of the LAA’s Costs Assessment Guidance. However, an enhancement may never exceed 100 per cent for cases in the High Court or above (or in the Family Court in front of a High Court judge) – in all other cases the maximum is 50 per cent.
13.64In escape cases, you can claim an enhancement of 15 per cent for membership of the following panels:
•the Resolution Accredited Specialist Panel;
•for work done under a Certificate which includes proceedings relating to children, the Law Society’s Children Panel; or
•the Law Society’s Family Law Panel Advanced.
Family – public and private law standard fee schemes: client transfers
13.65If your fees on an hourly rates basis are equal to or greater than the standard fee, you claim the standard fee.
3Standard Civil Contract 2012 Specification para 7.17; Standard Civil Contract 2013 Specification para 7.18. If your fees on an hourly rates basis are less than the standard fee, you claim half the standard fee.
13.66If you are instructed for less than 24 hours, where you are instructed at the same time as another solicitor, or where your client’s application to be joined to proceedings is refused, you will be paid by way of hourly rates.
4Standard Civil Contract 2012 Specification para 7.18; Standard Civil Contract 2013 Specification para 7.19.Family – public law standard fee scheme: advocacy
13.67The standard fees for care proceedings under Children Act 1989 s31 do not include advocacy. The LAA defines ‘advocacy’ to include not only appearances as advocate before the court, but also any associated travel and waiting time and attendance as advocate at advocates meetings in public law children matters, as well as preparation for advocacy.
13.68See chapter 16 for information on the Family Advocacy Scheme.
Family – very high cost cases
13.69A VHCC is a case where total costs and disbursements are expected to be over £25,000 (not including VAT). If you represent more than one party and the combined costs limitations are more than £25,000 then the LAA will restrict payment to £25,000 unless the case has been notified as a VHCC. However, you need to be aware of the financial limitation when you apply for a case contract (whichever type) as the LAA will not increase it pending approval of the case as exceptional and/or agreement of the case plan/CCFS Form.
13.70From 1 October 2015 all single advocate care cases have been paid under the Care Case Fee Scheme (CCFS, previously known as the events model) unless you can show you would be paid at least 30 per cent more by claiming hourly rates with a case plan. The CCFS model is used in family cases to avoid multiple revisions to detailed case plans. It is a form of graduated/fixed fee, dependent on the number of hearing days and other events. The fee applied to each event is based on detailed analysis of the average costs and hours in these types of expensive/complex cases.
13.71A series of fixed amounts are applied to each event based on the predicted timetable. At the end of the case, the final costs are adjusted to reflect the actual timetable.
13.72The benefit of the CCFS is that it avoids multiple revisions to detailed case plans, which is popular with practitioners and is often (but not always) considered preferable to an individually agreed case plan. If you are acting for more than one party, the £25,000 relates to all parties you represent, not applied per certificate. You only have to produce one CCFS Form or full case plan for the whole case. The LAA recommends that you consider registration when your costs reach £12,500; but practitioners tend to recommend registering early. The process is straightforward and you can de-register if that would be more advantageous financially.