A full discussion of all the relevant issues is contained in Criminal Costs: legal aid costs in the criminal courts, LAG 2016.

This is a summary based on the LAA’s Costs Assessment Guidance for criminal defence work, in respect of the most common queries raised by caseworkers. Appropriate comments have been added. Paragraph numbers are from the Criminal Bills Assessment Manual, January 2016edition.The manual is occasionally not wholly accurate or up to date but it explains the training received by LAA staff

Opening and setting up files, taxes, postage, stationery, typing, faxing, and telephone bills are not chargeable (para 3.1.1). Letters written by a non fee-earner which are not fee earner work are administrative (para 3.8.15).

Normally (and where claimable), this is time on your feet before a court, including time while the bench (or jury) has retired (para 6.8.38), as long as the solicitor has not been released from the court.

They stand in your shoes and their costs are part of your profit costs. You cannot claim their fees as a disbursement (para 3.6.3).

All claims for attendance must be justified in an attendance note. The longer the time claimed, the more detail is expected. Time spent dictating an attendance note may be allowed as long as it is reasonable (or typing it up if the fee-earner is self servicing) (3.3.3)

You may be able to justify more than one caseworker being present; but this would be exceptional, for example, in a complex case, where different aspects of it have been split between different people (para 3.5.1)or appropriate delegation or supervision (3.5.4 and 3.5.5).

This is claimable where incurred exclusively in relation to the case but not where your journey to work would have meant you incurred the charge anyway (para 3.9.30).

See Perusal.

Must be reasonably incurred and reasonable in amount (para 4.1.1). See section 4 CBAM for disbursements generally.

No extra costs can normally be claimed that arise because you are in a location that is distant from your client, where it would be reasonable for the client to instruct someone closer. Different considerations apply to travel to counsel experts witnesses or site inspections (para 3.9.7) (see also Travel time).

As a guideline, 6–12 minutes’ preparation time would be expected per page of a straightforward document, but more complex documents will take longer (para 3.3.2).You charge for the time actually taken but test reasonableness against that standard. The longer you take, the greater the explanation that is needed

See Letters.

These are treated as letters; but you cannot claim for sending a copy by post as well as the fax. See Letters for more detail (3.8.24)

Not claimable unless on a novel, developing or unusual point of law or the impact of new legislation to the particular case (para 3.4.2). However, you should be paid for the application of established law or procedural rules to individual circumstances).

You cannot normally claim for reading routine letters received (para 3.8.1) but it becomes an item of preparation when time is reasonably taken on a more detailed letter

Letters sent will not automatically allowed. It has to be reasonable to send them (para 3.8.2). Letters are either ‘routine’ and claimed at the item rate, because they are standard letters or are the equivalent of the item rate (para 3.8.1), or you can charge for non-routine items at the preparation rate (para 3.8.8). The LAA describes such letters as a preparation item because they take longer than six minutes, although confusingly the guidance suggests that timed letters should take more than 12 minutes (para 3.8.8).You should consider preparation rates at around the 12 minute point if substantive issues were considered

You cannot charge for multiple letters sent to the same recipient on the same day, unless there is a good reason that justifies it. You cannot charge for a letter correcting your own mistake (para 3.8.3).

The following are office overheads and not claimable: costs of postage, stationery, faxes, scanning, typing and the actual cost of telephone calls and most photocopying, but see below for exceptional costs (para 3.1). Supervision is an overhead unless required by the needs of a particular case.(3.5.5)

These can only be claimed in exceptional circumstances, where it would be unreasonable to travel the distance there and back and carry out whatever was required in one day (para 3.9.28).

This is also known as consideration of documents. An initial perusal of all the documents to identify which documents are relevant is reasonable. Later detailed consideration of relevant documents will be reasonable. As a very rough guide the LAA allows approximately one to two minutes per A4 page to read the mostsimple document. Time taken will depend on the quality and layout of the document eg whether handwritten or typed, single- or double-spaced, large or small font etc. The time to be claimed is the amount actually taken but the reasonableness will be tested against this time. If longer is taken an explanation should be recorded. More complex documents may take a longer time to consider (para 3.3.10).

Photocopying in-house is generally an overhead expense but if there ‘unusual circumstances’ or documents are unusually numerous (usually over 500 pages), you may claim the lowest commercial photocopying rate as a disbursement, even when carried out in-house (para 7.14.1).

Includes drafting of documents, consideration of documents and evidence provided by the client or other parties, and general consideration of strategy, evidence needed and evidence to be put forward and ‘thinking time’.

You are expected to be familiar with your own files, so you would need to justify any claim for reading a file, eg prior to seeing a client when you had not dealt with the file for some time (para 6.9.1; 6.9.2).

These are either ‘routine’ and claimed at the item rate, because they take up to six minutes, or they are attendance rate calls, because they take longer than the item charge (again, as for letters CBAM says more than 12 minutes) (para 3.8.12). Consider an item of preparation when the call progresses the case and is around 12 minutes in length. You cannot claim for an unsuccessful call, ie where it is not answered and no message is left. You can claim a routine call for leaving a message on an answering machine (para 3.8.19).

These are treated as telephone calls. See Telephone calls for more detail.

See Reviewing files but the LAA will not pay for duplicated work caused by changes at the firm

A useful rule of thumb is that if the round trip travel time is more than two hours, it would not be reasonable and you should instruct a local agent or the client should instruct someone more local to them. In some circumstances you may be able to justify greater travelling times (para 3.9.7), eg

The reason for making the journey must be recorded on the file.

Usually, the client should come to you; but if the client is housebound, in hospital or detention, it may be reasonable for you to travel to the client if for instance a telephone call or video link will not enable you to take proper instructions(para 3.9.13).

Caseworkers’ travelling expenses can be claimed where the journey was reasonable and the most appropriate form of transport used (see para 3.9 generally). The LAA takes as a starting point that public transport should normally be used; but you should consider the time saved as well as travel fares or mileage. The Standard Crime Contract 2017 sets a contractual mileage rate of £0.45 (standard crime contract specification para 5.48) for cases other then in the Crown Court. Travel expenses will not normally accepted if the Court is within walking distance, although issues such as the need to transport bulky files or sensitivity of documentation may be taken into consideration. Taxis may be justified, eg for an out-of-hours attendance at a police station. Documentary evidence must support claims, eg ticket or print out from the internet (except mileage) over £20.00 (para 3.9.19).

You can in exceptional circumstances pay clients’ expenses to attend court and claim them back from the LAA as a disbursement using eform CRM4 submitted electronically (documentary evidence is required as for caseworkers) (para 7.3.). Prior authority can be sought for a client’s travelling expenses to an expert where the client cannot afford them and a report is essential for the proper conduct of proceedings (7.3.2).

If at court, you cannot claim waiting time whilst taking lunch Para 3.9.24 overstates the case as a solicitor may work through much of the lunch break