High cost civil cases

On this page:

What is a high cost case?
Managing high cost cases
High cost family cases
Case plans
For more information

What is a high cost case?

The LSC's Special Cases Unit (SCU) is responsible for managing funding for complex or high cost civil cases which fall into four types:

individual very high cost cases: where costs are expected to to exceed £25,000, such as The Children Act 1989, Clinical Negligence and Judicial Review cases
Multi-Party Actions: these range from 1,000 claimant actions to 10 claimant actions
Exceptional funding cases: when funding is approved outside of the Funding Code Criteria
Exceptional 'One Off' contracts with firms without franchises: eg where clients run out of money during a case and the firm has no franchise.

The Funding Code: Criteria - Section 6 sets out the extra requirements and the referral criteria for these cases.

Managing high cost cases

All high cost civil cases must be referred to the Special Cases Unit. Referral criterial are in section 6 of the Funding Code: Criteria. Additional information is in:

Vol 1 Part C of the LSC Manual: arrangements for multi-party actions
Section 6(8)b of the Access to Justice Act: referral criteria for exceptional funding cases.

Each case will have an individual contract based on an agreed Case Plan and the price for each fully costed proposed stage.

The Case Plan will change as the case develops as future events are difficult to predict in the early stages. Further guidance is in Section 15 of the Funding Code: Decision Making Guidance.

The LSC consulted with The Law Society and Bar Council on how to manage these cases and has produced:

a Solicitors Information Pack
a Barristers Information Pack
Investigative Help Case Plan
Public Law Children Act Case Plan
Non-matrimonial case Plan (all other cases such as Judicial Review, Appeals, Clinical Negligence, Personal Injury and other cases pursued through the Woolf multi-track procedures).

All are in the Documents panel.

High cost family cases

A new information pack and example case plan for high cost family cases is under Documents.

It provides information and assistance on our procedures for individual very high cost family cases.

It sets out what actions should be taken when you take on a new case which is going to be very expensive, or when an existing case increases in cost to become very expensive and contains information on:

the background
use of a case plan
the claiming process.

Case plans

The five standard Case Plans set out:

a description of the case
an assessment of its prospects
the legal and factual issues to be investigated and resolved
details of costs to date
the selection of counsel and experts to be used on the case.

They include a Fully Costed Stage Plan for the next stage of work.

A full Case Plan is required in all Litigation Support cases to assess effectiveness and to track progress of the case.

If disbursements only are being funded detailed cost information on these only will be needed.

The stages must reflect the:

type of case
usual case management requirements of the courts
opportunities for continuation of funding to be considered.

Typically these will be in line with the judge's directions in Children Act cases or the court stages in Woolf multi-track clinical negligence cases.

For more information

The LSC's Annual Report sets out an analysis of applications for and grants of exceptional funding.

To contact the Special Cases Unit write to:

SCU
Legal Services Commission
3rd/4th Floor, Invicta House
Trafalgar House
Brighton
BN1 4FR

Tel: 01273 878870

Criminal high cost cases are managed by the LSC's Complex Crime Unit. More information is on the High cost criminal cases page.

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Last updated: 28 August 2008