Crime news: Crown Court additional prep fee guidance update
Our guidance now has information on claiming the new additional preparation fee for Crown Court cases with representation orders dated on or after 17 April.
Lady Justice statue on top of London's Old Bailey with sword and the scales of justice .
Advocates now have new guidance to help submit claims for the £62 additional preparation work fee where the matter is a trial or cracked trial.
This £62 single fixed fee applies to cases with a representation order dated on or after 17 April 2023. Our guidance has now been updated to help you understand what to do when making a claim.
What is the £62 fee for?
The new single fee is for additional preparation work beyond what would normally be expected.
It is designed to recognise both the:
- work on preparation for ineffective trials
- increase of the scope and volume of written and audio-visual material work requirements
How do I claim the fixed fee?
You can claim the fixed fee using the Claim for Crown Court Defence (CCCD) online billing tool by:
- navigating to the ‘miscellaneous fees’ or ‘misc fees’ page in CCCD
- opening up the dropdown fee list
- selecting the ‘additional preparation fee’
- completing the claim submission
CCCD will be updated with signposting to remind providers that this fee is available.
Advocates using software vendor supplied case management systems should contact them directly about how to request this fee during submissions.
We have already shared details of the changes to our applications with them. This is so that they can roll out any relevant updates to their case management systems.
Why is this happening now?
The new fixed fee:
- is part of the overall response to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR)
- responds to representations about additional case preparation work made by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) and Bar Council in 2022
An additional £3m of funding has been made available during the current Spending Review period to make this possible.
Further information
LAA training website – for Crown court billing guidance
Crown Court fee guidance – updated guidance on GOV.UK, see page 39, new section 2.17A (first attachment)
Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2023 – for details of the new fixed fee