Civil news: faster payments and new fees for immigration work
Changes to fee arrangements for immigration and asylum work are being rolled out on 7 October 2020.
New interim fees for immigration and asylum work are being rolled out to providers to replace the ‘stage 2c’ fees introduced in June 2020.
What are the new fees?
Details of the new rates which will apply from 7 October 2020 are set out in the amended regulations.
There are also changes to speed up payments to providers.
The new hourly rates apply to controlled legal representation (CLR) work under the 2018 civil contract, which has now been amended.
The range of immigration and asylum work covered by the new hourly rates is set out in the contract specification under section 8.71.
Also included in the regulations are details of fixed fees for advocacy services.
Faster payments
Changes are also being made immediately which will allow faster payments to be made to providers:
In asylum cases, providers will now be able to bill for legal help matters after the case has been fully prepared.
Billing is also now simpler where controlled work is referred from the upper tribunal back to the first-tier tribunal. Providers will be able to bill after receiving the upper tribunal decision that the first tier is being asked to reconsider the case.
Further information
Standard Civil Contract 2018 – see especially 8.71 of the revised immigration specification
Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 2) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 – online hourly rates are in table 8(ca) and fixed fees for online advocacy services are in table 4(ca).