Unused material

Material which is unused cannot form part of the PPE. However, it is important to remember that the SVS case confirmed that the fact that the CPS say it is unused, does not mean it is unused. The key issue is relevance and a good rule of thumb is – did the...

Police Station attendances

For years, I have billed abortive police stations the same as any other police station attendances. There was a point of principle which said as follows: Where a solicitor responds to a request for advice but, for circumstances out of the solicitor’s control, no...

New fees for sending and unused material

The provisions for claiming Unused Material can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/crime-news-updated-crown-court-fee-guidance-and-new-claim-forms It applies to cases where the Representation Order is dated 17th September 2020 or after. The provisions...

Travel disbursements

Payment of travel disbursements is an issue that can cause great annoyance for practitioners – particularly the LAA view that public transport should be used where possible. How should this issue be approached and what can you claim? It is worth saying at the outset...

New provisions for payment

The Ministry of Justice has issued its response to the consultation regarding “accelerated areas” of the Criminal Legal Aid review. The government will be laying a Statutory Instrument in Parliament to bring these proposals into effect – they indicate that is...

Interim billing

As all criminal practitioners will know, the “lockdown” measures have resulted in trials being adjourned en masse. This can have a disastrous impact on cashflow as most firms do not bill until the case has concluded. However, some years ago, solicitors were given the...