The Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013

PART 5 Fixed Fees

General provisions

14.—(1) All work undertaken by a litigator in a case to which Part 3 applies is included within the fee set out in paragraph 11 except for a defendant uplift as provided for in paragraph 22.

(2) Except as provided under this Part, remuneration for all work undertaken by a litigator in a case to which Part 2 applies is included within the fee set out in Part 2 of this Schedule as appropriate to—

(a) the offence for which the assisted person is charged or tried;

(b) whether the case is a cracked trial, guilty plea or trial; and

(c) the number of pages of prosecution evidence.

Fees for appeals and committals for sentence hearings

15.  The fee payable to a litigator instructed in—

(a) an appeal against conviction from a magistrates’ court;

(b) an appeal against sentence from a magistrates’ court; or

(c) a sentencing hearing following a committal for sentence to the Crown Court,

is that set out in the table following paragraph 19.

Fees for hearing subsequent to sentence

16.—(1) The fee payable to a litigator instructed in relation to a hearing under an enactment listed in sub-paragraph (2) is that set out in the table following paragraph 19.

(2) The enactments are—

(a) section 1CA of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998(1) (variation and discharge of orders under section 1C);

(b) section 155 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000(2) (alteration of Crown Court sentence);

(c) section 74 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005(3) (assistance by defendant: review of sentence).

Fees for contempt proceedings

17.—(1) This paragraph applies to proceedings referred to in section 14(g) of the Act in the Crown Court.

(2) Where, in proceedings to which this paragraph applies, the contempt is alleged to have been committed by a person other than a defendant in a case to which this Schedule applies, remuneration for litigators must be at the rate set out in the table following paragraph 19.

(3) Where, in proceedings to which this paragraph applies, the contempt is alleged to have been committed by the defendant in a case to which this Schedule applies, all work undertaken by the litigator is included within—

(a) the fee payable under Part 2 of this Schedule, or

(b) in proceedings under paragraph 15 or paragraph 18, the fixed fee set out in the table following paragraph 19.

Fees for alleged breaches of a Crown Court order

18.—(1) This paragraph applies to proceedings in the Crown Court against one assisted person arising out of a single alleged breach of an order of the Crown Court.

(2) The fee payable to the litigator in respect of the proceedings to which this paragraph applies is that set out in the table following paragraph 19.

Fixed Fees

19.  The table following this paragraph sets out the fixed fees payable in relation to the category of work specified in the first column of the table.

Fixed Fees

Types of proceedings	Paragraph providing for fee	Fee payable – (£ per proceedings)
Appeal against sentence from a magistrates’ court	15	170.21
Appeal against conviction from a magistrates’ court	15	382.98
Committal for sentence	15	255.32
Hearing subsequent to sentence	16	170.21
Contempt proceedings (where contempt is alleged to have been committed by a person other than the defendant)	17(2)	127.66
Alleged breach of a Crown Court Order	18(2)	85.11

Fees for special preparation

20.—(1) This paragraph applies in any case on indictment in the Crown Court—

(a) where a documentary or pictorial exhibit is served by the prosecution in electronic form and—

(i) the exhibit has never existed in paper form; and

(ii) the appropriate officer does not consider it appropriate to include the exhibit in the pages of prosecution evidence; or

(b) in respect of which a fee is payable under Part 2 (other than paragraph 7), where the number of pages of prosecution evidence, as so defined, exceeds 10,000,

and the appropriate officer considers it reasonable to make a payment in excess of the fee payable under Part 2.

(2) Where this paragraph applies, a special preparation fee may be paid, in addition to the fee payable under Part 2.

(3) The amount of the special preparation fee must be calculated from the number of hours which the appropriate officer considers reasonable—

(a) where sub-paragraph (1)(a) applies, to view the prosecution evidence; and

(b) where sub-paragraph (1)(b) applies, to read the excess pages,

and in each case using the rates specified in the table following paragraph 27.

(4) A litigator claiming a special preparation fee must supply such information and documents as may be required by the appropriate officer in support of the claim.

(5) In determining a claim under this paragraph, the appropriate officer must take into account all the relevant circumstances of the case.

Discontinuance or dismissal of sent or transferred proceedings

21.—(1) This paragraph applies to proceedings which are—

(a) sent for trial to the Crown Court; or

(b) transferred to the Crown Court under—

(i) section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 (transfer of serious fraud cases); or

(ii) section 53 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (transfer of certain cases involving children).

(2) Where proceedings to which this paragraph applies are discontinued by a notice served under section 23A of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (discontinuance of proceedings after accused has been sent for trial) at any time before the prosecution serves its evidence in accordance with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (Service of Prosecution Evidence) Regulations 2005(4) the litigator must be paid 50% of the basic fee for a guilty plea, as specified in the table following paragraph 6, as appropriate to the offence for which the assisted person is charged.

(3) Where proceedings to which this paragraph applies are discontinued by a notice served under section 23A of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (discontinuance of proceedings after accused has been sent for trial) at any time after the prosecution serves its evidence in accordance with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (Service of Prosecution Evidence) Regulations 2005, the litigator must be paid a fee calculated in accordance with paragraph 6, or, where appropriate, paragraph 8, as appropriate for representing an assisted person in a guilty plea.

(4) Where an application for dismissal is made under paragraph 2 of Schedule 3 to the Crime and Disorder Act 1988, section 6 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 or paragraph 5 of Schedule 6 to the Criminal Justice Act 1991, and—

(a) the charge, or charges are dismissed and the assisted person is discharged; or

(b) the case is remitted to the magistrates’ court in accordance with paragraph 10(3)(a), 13(2) or 15(3)(a) of Schedule 3 to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998,

the litigator instructed in the proceedings must be paid a fee calculated in accordance with paragraph 6, or where appropriate, paragraph 8, as appropriate for representing an assisted person in a guilty plea.

(5) Sub-paragraph (6) applies to—

(a) a plea and case management hearing that takes place after the prosecution serves its evidence; and

(b) any other hearing that takes place before a plea and case management hearing has taken place, but after the prosecution has served its evidence.

(6) Where, at a hearing to which this paragraph applies—

(a) the prosecution offers no evidence and the assisted person is discharged; or

(b) the case is remitted to the magistrates’ court in accordance with paragraph 10(3)(a), 13(2) or 15(3)(a) of Schedule 3 to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998,

the litigator must be paid a fee calculated in accordance with paragraph 6 or where appropriate paragraph 8, as appropriate for representing an assisted person in a guilty plea.

Defendant uplifts

22.—(1) Where a litigator represents more than one assisted person in proceedings referred to in paragraph 21(2), (3), (4) or (5), a defendant uplift is payable.

(2) The defendant uplift must be calculated in accordance with the table following this paragraph.

(3) In the table following this paragraph, the total fee means—

(a) the fee specified in sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 21 where that sub-paragraph applies;

(b) the basic fee (B) specified in the table following paragraph 6, or, where appropriate, the initial fee specified in paragraph 8, where paragraph 21(3), (4) or (5) applies, as appropriate for the circumstances set out in that sub-paragraph; or

(c) where appropriate the fee set out in paragraph 11.

(4) In a case where the representation of one defendant would attract a fixed fee under Part 3 and the representation of one or more of the other defendants would attract a graduated fee under Part 2, the total fee in the table following this paragraph means the fee falling within sub-paragraph (3)(b).

Defendant uplifts

Total number of defendants represented by litigator	Percentage uplift to total fee
2-4	20%
5+	30%

Warrant for arrest

23.—(1) This paragraph applies where—

(a) the assisted person fails to attend a hearing;

(b) at that hearing the court issues a warrant for the arrest of the assisted person, pursuant to section 7(1) of the Bail Act 1976(5) (“the warrant”); and

(c) the case does not proceed in the absence of the assisted person.

(2) Where in a case on indictment the warrant is not executed within three months of the date on which it was issued, the fee payable to the litigator is—

(a) where the warrant is issued at or before the plea and case management hearing, the fee payable for a guilty plea in accordance with paragraph 6 or where appropriate paragraph 8;

(b) where the warrant is issued after the plea and case management hearing but before the trial, the fee payable for a cracked trial in accordance with paragraph 6 or where appropriate paragraph 8, as appropriate to the Class of Offence with which the assisted person is charged; and

(c) where the warrant is issued during the trial, and the trial is aborted as a result, the fee payable for a trial as if the trial had ended on the day the warrant was issued.

(3) Where the warrant is issued during the course of proceedings referred to in paragraph 15 or 18 the fee payable to the litigator is the fee set out in the table following paragraph 19, as appropriate to the type of proceedings.

(4) Sub-paragraph (5) applies where—

(a) a fee has been paid, or is payable, to the litigator in accordance with sub-paragraph (2);

(b) the warrant is executed within 15 months of the date on which it was issued;

(c) the case proceeds after the warrant has been executed; and

(d) the litigator submits a claim for fees for the determination of the litigator’s overall remuneration in the case, in accordance with regulation 5.

(5) Where this sub-paragraph applies—

(a) the appropriate officer must deduct the amount paid or payable in accordance with sub-paragraph (2) from the amount payable to the litigator on the final determination of fees in the case; and

(b) if the fee paid or payable in accordance with sub-paragraph (2) is greater than the amount payable to the litigator on the final determination of fees in the case, the appropriate officer may recover the amount of the difference by way of repayment by the litigator.

(1)

1998 c. 37. Section 1CA was inserted by section 140 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (c. 15).

(2)

2000 c. 6.

(3)

2005 c. 15.

(4)

S.I. 2005/902 as amended by S.I. 2012/1345.

(5)

1976 c. 63.