Litigator graduated fee scheme

On this page:

• About this fee scheme
• How the payments are calculated
• LGFS Post Implementation Review
• New LGFS Committal for Trial Fee
• Using the payment calculator
• How to deal with changes to VAT
• Claiming litigator fees
• For more information

About this fee scheme

The Litigator graduated fee scheme (LGFS) is the funding scheme for litigators in the Crown Court for cases with representation orders dated on or after 14 January 2008. 

The 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.

LGFS Post Implementation Review

It was agreed during the LGFS consultation process that the LSC would review the scheme at an early stage. A review group was established to review the elements that make up the scheme and consisted of representatives from various Representative Bodies and our Criminal Justice System partners.

The LSC also separately reviewed financial stewardship, IT and operational processes.

The findings of the full review can be found in the LGFS Post Implementation Review - August 2010 in the Documents list. The group's findings (which form Chapter 2 of the full report) can also be found in the Documents list.

LGFS committal for trial fee

New funding arrangements came into force on 6 April 2010 for committal for trial.

For cases with a representation order dated on or after 6 April 2010, committals for trials will be remunerated under the Litigator Graduated Fee Scheme. Under the new arrangements, a fixed fee of £318 (excluding VAT) will be payable for committal proceedings.

For cases with a representation order dated before 6 April 2010, or where the case is discharged prior to any Crown Court appearance, the current magistrates' court standard fee arrangements will apply.

Please note the LGFS Committal for Trial Guidance has been incorporated into the LGFS Guidance April 2010 which can be found under documents.

Using the payment calculator

You can use this calculator to calculate your fees:

Litigators fees calculator 20% VAT – Oct 11 (EXCEL, 445 kb)

Litigators fees calculator 20% VAT – Jan 11 (EXCEL, 445 kb)

Litigators fees calculator 17.5% VAT - Apr 10 (EXCEL, 444 kb) - For Representation Orders dated on or after 6 April 2010

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

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

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

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

To determine which calculator to use please refer to the table below:

Further guidance can be found under documents.

How to deal with changes to VAT

For more information on how deal with changes to VAT go to the Guidance on VAT change page. 

Claiming litigator fees

The online claim system opened 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.

Guidance is available in 3 PDF files on the documents panel of this 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.

For information on the pages of prosecution evidence (PPE) process please refer to the Crown Court page.

Please refer to the Crime Consultation page for more information on the past Litigator Graduated Fee Scheme consultation.

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Last updated: 19 January 2012