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14.37Most magistrates’ court work is covered by the standard fee regime. There are three categories of fee – 1A, 1B and 2 – and in each category a lower and a higher standard fee.
14.38There are two types of fee:
•If your office is in an area designated by the contract, or if it is not but the court named in the representation order is, you should claim the designated area standard fee.
1Specification para 10.77. •If not, you should claim the undesignated area standard fee.
2Specification para 10.77. 14.39The designated areas
3Specification para 1.2. are the criminal justice areas of:
•Greater Manchester,
•London,
•West Midlands and
•Merseyside;
•and the local authority areas of:
•Brighton and Hove;
•Bristol;
•Cardiff;
•Derby and Erewash;
•Kingston upon Hull;
•Leeds and Bradford;
•Leicester;
•Nottingham;
•Portsmouth;
•Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sunderland (including Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside);
•Sheffield; and
•Southampton.
The difference between the two is that in a designated area, the fees are slightly higher but you cannot claim for any travel and waiting time,
4Specification paras 10.80 and 10.85. whereas in an undesignated area you can claim travel and waiting
5Specification para 10.83. but the standard fees are lower. Even if you cannot claim travel and waiting, you are still required to record the waiting time (though need not record travel).
6Specification para 10.87.14.40In either case, the structure of the fees is the same. Whatever the category of your case, you calculate your core costs (all profit costs except travel and waiting time).
7Specification para 10.79. If the core costs are below the lower limit for the category of case, you claim the lower standard fee. If core costs are between the lower and higher limits, you claim the higher standard fee. If core costs are above the higher limit, you claim a non-standard fee – that is, you claim your costs in full as incurred.
8Specification para 10.88.14.41You should decide which category of fee to claim based on the nature and outcome of the case:
•Category 1A
9Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 Sch 4 para 5. is:
•either way guilty pleas (including thefts from a shop of goods valued at under £200);
•indictable only cases heard in the Youth Court;
•proceedings relating to either way offences which are discontinued or withdrawn or where the prosecution offer no evidence; and
•proceedings relating to either way offences which result in a bind over.
•Category 1B
10Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 Sch 4 para 5. is:
•summary only guilty pleas;
•uncontested proceedings arising out of a breach of an order of a magistrates’ court;
•proceedings relating to summary offences which are discontinued or withdrawn or where the prosecution offer no evidence;
•proceedings relating to summary offences which result in a bind over;
•proceedings arising out of a deferment of sentence (including any subsequent sentence hearing) under section 1 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000;
•proceedings prescribed under regulation 9 of the Criminal Legal Aid (General) Regulations 2013 (see para 12.69), except where the case was listed and fully prepared for a contested hearing to decide whether an order should be made; and
•proceedings relating to either way offences which must be tried in a magistrates’ court in accordance with section 22 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980.
•Category 2
11Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 Sch 4 para 5. is:
•contested trials;
•proceedings which were listed and fully prepared for trial in a magistrates’ court but are disposed of by a guilty plea on the day of trial before the opening of the prosecution case;
•proceedings which were listed and fully prepared for trial in a magistrates’ court but are discontinued or withdrawn or where the prosecution offers no evidence or which result in a bind over on the day of trial before the opening of the prosecution case;
•contested proceedings relating to a breach of an order of a magistrates’ court (including proceedings relating to a breach of a Crown Court community rehabilitation order, community punishment order or suspended sentence);
•proceedings where mixed pleas are entered; and
•proceedings prescribed under regulation 9 of the Criminal Legal Aid (General) Regulations 2013 where the case was listed and fully prepared for a contested hearing to decide whether an order should be made. (see para 12.69).
14.42Note that cases sent to the Crown Court under Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s51 are treated as being Crown Court cases from charge – all work should be claimed on the Crown Court bill and no magistrates’ court claim can be made (except in the event of a remittal back).
12Specification para 10.76.14.43Where proceedings have not concluded but a warrant of arrest has been issued, the proceedings will be treated as category 1 proceedings.
13Specification para 10.94.14.44Bail applications (including to the Crown Court) and appeals against bail are included in the standard fee of the substantive case.
14Specification para 10.73.14.45Where more than one category is possible, you should select the one that will pay the highest fee.
15Specification para 10.91.14.46On a change of solicitor, the old firm should claim a category 1 fee, and the new firm should claim in the usual way. The exception to this is where the conducting solicitor moves firms and takes the case – if this happens, only the new firm can claim, but should claim for both firms’ work. The firms should seek to agree in advance how payments will be distributed between them
16Specification paras 10.92 and 10.93.14.47Where you have claimed a fee and then a further claim is required – for example, claimed a category 1 fee when a client absconds and a warrant is issued, and then continued to represent the client following arrest on the warrant – you should calculate the total costs due for the whole of the case, deduct the amount previously claimed, and claim the balance.
17Specification para 10.97.Case study
My office is in Manchester. My client was charged with theft, indicated a not guilty plea and elected summary trial. He was convicted following trial, and sentencing was deferred for six months. What should I claim?
Manchester is in a designated area, so you should be claiming the designated area standard fee. Your client took the case to a trial, so the case is in category 2. You should calculate your core costs (all time excluding travel and waiting) to see whether a lower, higher or non-standard fee is claimable.
When your client comes back to be sentenced in six months’ time, you can claim a further category 1B standard fee.
Counsel
14.48Unassigned counsel are treated as if they were employed by you, and you should include their times on your bill as if they were your profit costs.
14.49Where counsel is assigned, their costs are separate from yours. Rates for assigned counsel are set out in the Remuneration Regulations, and counsel should prepare a bill at those rates.
18Specification para 10.44. They will be paid direct by the LAA, but you should submit their bill alongside yours.
19Specification para 10.45.Separate matters
14.50One standard fee is payable per case. A case consists of all work for all clients in respect of:
•one offence; or
•more than one offence, where:
•they are charged at the same time; or
•they are founded on the same facts; or
•they form part of a series of offences.
20Specification para 10.69. 14.51Offences ‘charged at the same time’ is a straightforward test. ‘Founded on the same facts’ is intended to cover situations where two charges are brought as alternatives, or where one charge is substituted for another – common examples include theft and handling stolen goods, or ABH and common assault.
14.52A ‘series of offences’ refers to offences which have similarities or form a pattern of offending, that could be tried together. Each potential series of offences has to be considered on its own facts and definitive guidance cannot be given. However, there is a discussion at section 6.6 of the LAA’s Criminal Bills Assessment Manual (2016). The key principle is that the offences are sufficiently related to have been tried on the same indictment had they been indictable offences. For example, offences that are based on a system of conduct, are similar in nature, or where evidence of one is admissible at the trial of another, may all form part of a series. Even though some hearings may be held at different times, or in different courts, that would not prevent a series being established. However cases linked only for sentence do not thereby become a series.
Enhanced rates
14.53In certain circumstances, you can apply for payment at an enhanced rate. The LAA will consider whether enhancement is justified, and if so will increase the hourly rates for some or all of the work done on the case. It would be very unusual for enhanced rates to be allowed on routine items such as travel and waiting (where payable) or letters and telephone calls.
14.54The test for enhancement is that:
•the work was done with exceptional competence, skill or expertise; or
•the work was done with exceptional dispatch; or
•the case involved exceptional circumstances or complexity,
compared with the generality of proceedings.
21Specification para 10.99.14.55Where the test is met, the LAA will allow a percentage increase to the relevant hourly rate not exceeding 100 per cent,
22Specification para 10.102. except in the case of serious or complex fraud (which are today very unlikely to result in a magistrates’ court claim). The amount of the percentage increase will be determined by having regard to:
•the degree of responsibility accepted;
•the care, speed and economy with which the case was prepared;
•the novelty, weight and complexity of the case.
23Specification para 10.101. 14.56Enhancement of the hourly rates takes the case out of the standard fee regime, so you should submit an individual bill to the LAA, accompanied by a note setting out why you believe the criteria for enhancement are met and justifying the percentage sought. It is important to remember that what seems obvious to you may not be so to an assessor. So, for example, you should not assume that because the court granted a certificate for counsel that you will automatically obtain an uplift, if you have decided to do the advocacy yourself. You will need to address the criteria explicitly and show how your advocacy was exceptional.
Other contract work
14.57Advice and assistance in the appeals and prison law classes is claimed under the contract in the same way as free-standing advice and assistance in the investigations class (see above, and see also sections 11 and 12 of the contract), as is advocacy assistance in the prison law class (see section 12 of the contract). The Remuneration Regulations provide details of the fixed fees and standard fees applicable to prison law cases.
14.58Representation in judicial review or habeas corpus proceedings, or civil proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, is claimed as all other civil legal aid; see chapter 13 and section 13 of the Standard Contract.
14.59Representation in other civil proceedings associated with criminal proceedings (eg where papers from a civil case are relevant to a criminal case) is funded by representation order and requires prior authority. However, it is claimed under the same remuneration provisions as apply to Civil Legal Representation. See sections 10.151–10.162 of the Standard Contract.
14.60Representation on an appeal by way of case stated is funded by representation order (issued by the High Court) and claimed in the same way as in the proceedings class, except that there are no standard fees. See section 11 of the Standard Contract.
14.61Special provision is made by the Standard Contract
24Specification 10.168–10.178. for representation in proceedings for breach of injunctions under Part 1 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 in whatever court those proceedings take place. Remuneration levels are set out in the Remuneration Regulations. The proceedings at which those injunctions are obtained (including in the youth court) are civil and require civil legal aid.