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Civil news: further changes to increase payments on account applications

Further changes are being made to increase the limit for payments on account claims.

Pen in hand with graphs and charts in the background.

Temporary amendments are being made to the 2018 civil contract to increase the limit for Payments On Account (POA) claims.

Providers can now claim maximum of 80% of profit cost incurred for certificated work instead of 75%. Where claims are submitted under the Family Advocacy Scheme (FAS) the limit will be increased to 100%.

These changes came into force on 4 August 2020 and are due to end on 31 January 2021.

We have made changes to the Client and Cost Management System (CCMS) and relevant guidance to support this amendment. When a draft payment on account has been set up on the system it is important to make sure that you do not click back through it before submitting the application, you will be applying for 75%, but will actually be paid 80%.

The updated versions of the specification (general provisions 1-6) for the 2018 civil contract, 2018 civil contract (education and discrimination) and the 2018 Civil Contract Specification: Category Specific Rule (Family), the Cost Assessment Guidance (2018) are now available on GOV.UK.

We have published an update to the ‘Payments On Account – Profit costs’ guide and a new guide, ‘Payment on account – 100% Family Advocacy Scheme’ on how to create and submit a claim for a 100% POA for costs under the FAS.

Further information

Standard Civil Contract 2018 – for updated versions of the 2018 civil contract specification (general provisions 1-6) and the 2018 Civil Contract (education and discrimination specification (general provisions 1-6)

Cost Assessment Guidance 2018 (August 2020) – for an updated version of the Cost Assessment Guidance 2018

Payments on account guides can be found here:

Published 4 August 2020