https://www.slab.org.uk/guidance/key-points-about-approval/
https://www.slab.org.uk/guidance/key-points-about-approval/
A grant of legal aid provides funding for you to carry out the day to day work in a case. However you will need our prior approval if you want to involve counsel or another professional acting as an expert or do work which is unusual or involves unusually large expenditure. This approval process is also known as sanction.
It is important that you get approval before you instruct any work. This is the best way to help avoid problems when you seek payment.
We can sometimes consider granting approval retrospectively for counsel, an expert or unusual work. However you need to have a good explanation for the failure to get our prior approval before instructing the work. For example this could be when urgent work had to be carried out over a weekend when our offices were closed. You should always then seek approval at the first available opportunity if a situation such as this arises.
Please remember that we do not have the power to grant retrospective approval for unusually large expenditure in any circumstances. You always need to get approval for this in advance.
It is worth remembering that you also need to be aware of your case cost limit when you are seeking approvals.
An approval will use up some of your case costs and you may need an increase as a result.
By granting approval we give an indication to you that we will make payment in the event that you instruct the work anticipated (subject to certain important provisos).
These provisos include that:
These are all things that you will need to satisfy us about when we assess the account and its component parts (e.g any report charges from a professional acting as expert) for payment. We will then make payment of the relevant charges if satisfied.
It is important to understand that the expenditure limit intimated with a grant of sanction is not an agreed price or will be the amount paid. The expenditure limit is simply that – a maximum figure beyond which we cannot make payment.
What is actually paid is the amount determined as reasonable with reference to the estimate given and a breakdown of the work undertaken upon completion. The only exception to this is in circumstances where the work has proceeded throughout on a “fixed price” basis.
After a grant, and prior approval needed
This page includes information on arrangements for the employment of counsel under civil legal aid. It includes information on: the tests applied in our assessment of requests for counsel (whether case-related, or linked to your circumstances); timing of requests; limited use of counsel for opinions etc.; and retrospective grants for the employment of counsel.
After a grant, and prior approval needed
This page includes information on the employment of expert witnesses in civil legal aid. The guidance includes information on when prior approval is required; the application procedure (including use of templates); how to distinguish an expert witness and the status of certain common types of witnesses; timing of applications; how we will assess experts’ costs; and cost limit information.