Litigator graduated fee scheme

On this page:

About this fee scheme
How the payments are calculated
Using the payment calculator
Claiming litigator fees
New LGFS Committal for Trial fee
For more information

About this fee scheme

The Litigator graduated fee scheme (LGFS) aims to:

give litigators an incentive to speed up cases and encourage them to deliver the right quality of service for clients by paying more for longer and more serious cases
simplify the process of claiming a bill and speed up payment
cap inflationary increases on the budget and provide savings.

See Documents for full guidance.

How the payments are calculated

Payments are based on the:

nature of the alleged offence
type of case (for example, if there is a guilty plea or if the case goes to full trial)
length of trial
number of pages of prosecution evidence
number of defendants.

Cases that meet Very High Cost Case criteria will be passed to the VHCC Panel.

Using the payment calculator

You can use this calculator to calculate your fees:

Litigators fees calculator 17.5% VAT - Jan 08(EXCEL, 428 kb)

Litigators fees calculator 15% VAT - Dec 08 (EXCEL, 448 kb)

Litigators fees calculator 15% VAT - Aug 09 (EXCEL, 454kb) - For Representation Orders dated on or after 3 August 2009

Litigators fees calculator 17.5% VAT - Jan 10 (EXCEL, 454kb)

Full guidance is on the first page of the calculator under ‘guidance’.

Please email cds.directorate@legalservices.gov.uk with ‘Litigator Graduated Fee Scheme' in the subject line with any queries.

Claiming litigator fees

The new online claim system opens on 4 Feb. Read more details on the Claiming litigator fees online page. You can still submit claims using hard copy forms. Read more details on the Claiming litigators fees by hard copy page.

New LGFS Committal for Trial fee

New funding arrangements come into force on 6 April 2010 for committals for trial. For further details on the new fee, and guidance on how to claim please see the Crown Court Litigator Fee page.

For more information

See Documents for:

full guidance on this scheme
a Q&A.

Read the details of the regulations governing this scheme on the Office for Public Sector Information website.

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Last updated: 09 March 2010