CDS News

Changes to the Litigator Graduated Fee Scheme (LGFS) are due to come into force on 3 August 2009.

A summary of the changes include:

• an increase to the fixed fee for appeals against sentence, appeals against conviction and committals for sentence
• all firms will be able to claim for breach of crown court orders
• additional fee for certain hearings post sentence
• a cap on 10,000 Pages of Prosecution Evidence (PPE) and introduction of special preparation for PPE over 10,000
• improved reference information on BACS statements
• revised transfer provisions
• miscellaneous drafting changes and amendments to definitions.

These changes have no impact on the legal aid fund and will apply to cases with a representation order dated post 3 August 2009. 

There are also changes to Very High Cost Cases and provisional representation orders so the LSC have produced detailed guidance on all of these changes.

Guidance on the changes

• CDS > Criminal areas of work > Crown court > Litigator fee

Other relevant guidance manuals will be updated and communicated in due course. 

An additional post 3 August LGFS calculator will be uploaded to the LSC website on 31 July 2009.

Background to the review

The LGFS was introduced in January 2008.

It was agreed during the consultation process that the LSC would review the payment levels of the scheme at an early stage.

• A review of the LGFS commenced in August 2008 with a meeting of representatives from the LSC, Ministry of Justice (MoJ), The Law Society and Her Majesty’s Court Service (HMCS).
• The Terms of Reference of this group were to examine fixed fees and to address any anomalies or omissions within the Criminal Defence Service (Funding) Order 2007 (Funding Order). 
• The above changes were recommended and included in a Funding Order consultation with the representative bodies. 
• The group also recommended that a full review of the graduated element of the scheme be undertaken in 2009.

Update of the review

The full review group consists of representatives from the:

• LSC
• MoJ
• HMCS
• The Law Society
• the Bar Council
• London Criminal Courts Solicitors' Association and
• Solicitors Association for Higher Court Advocates. 

The group has met on a regular basis since February 2009. 

• The data is showing that the LSC is spending more on shorter cases, which was expected in accordance with the profiling of the scheme. 
• Savings are therefore expected to come from longer cases, but we are still awaiting a larger sample of longer cases before drawing any final conclusions. 
• The group has therefore agreed that the data should be revisited in March 2010.
• The group will continue to look at other issues including PPE, travel and regional disparities and will feedback any results in due course.

Further information

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the LSC on 0207 783 7459.