Preparation and submission of your account

You should, wherever possible, use our Legal Aid online systems to prepare and submit your account.

This will ensure that your account is always being charged in chronological date order at the correct legal aid rates and should prevent charges being made prior to the grant of advice and assistance or legal aid.

It also will significantly simplify the payment and negotiation process.

Information on how to submit and prepare your accounts is available in our Legal Aid Online Accounts guidance.

When you are submitting an account you should always ensure:

• that the correct Table of Fees has been charged relative to the type of account that you are submitting
• the correct fee rates have been charged relative to the date that the work has been done
• only charge for work activities that have been properly incurred and fall within the scope of legal aid or advice and assistance which has been made available; and
• that you have the necessary prior approval for work items where appropriate.

Your account should:

• be in chronological date order;
• show any travel, waiting, meetings and attendances at court (where appropriate) separately;
• specify details of the actual times engaged where the charge is time based (eg 10am to 10.50am)
• specify the number of pages or sheets where a framing charge is claimed; and
• provide the name and status, qualified or unqualified, of the person carrying out the work.

The entries should also record:

• the name of the solicitor or unqualified person undertaking the work
• the name of any client or witness
• details of any identifier (if appropriate) to link to the relevant case file
• a sufficiently detailed narrative of the nature of the work done (eg you should not simply state “perusal” or “preparation” you must include a description of the document(s) considered and their length); and
• sub-total (for a paper account only) each page of the account.

To ensure we deal with accounts promptly, it is essential that you upload all outlays vouchers (including counsel’s fees, where appropriate) to the individual work item.

You are not entitled to make any charge for preparing, submitting or negotiating a legal aid account.

As the third party paying, we are entitled to free accounting.

You must submit your account

• within four months of the conclusion of the proceedings for criminal legal aid accounts; or
• within one year of the date when the giving of advice and assistance was completed for advice and assistance accounts;

The relevant date is the last entry which can properly be construed as being relevant to the grant of advice and assistance, ABWOR or legal aid.

For example, the relevant date, is the last entry which can properly be construed as being the provision of advice or step in proceedings relative to the account which is being submitted.

The last entry does not include:

• a reminder letter;
• a letter asking your client if they want further advice following a file review; or
• a letter closing the file (although the letter is chargeable, it does not constitute work in connection with the conduct of the proceedings).

The relevant fees regulations provide us with a discretion to accept late accounts but only where you are able to provide us with a special reason.

Examples of a possible “special reason” are:

• the lengthy incapacity or death of the nominated solicitor;
• fire or other accidental damage to your office;
• significant disruption of your administration as a result of circumstances that could not reasonably have been avoided; or
• the circumstances were within your control, and ought to have been foreseen, but the oversight was nonetheless justifiable given the particular circumstances of the case.

We are unlikely to accept forgetfulness, ignorance of the regulations, lack of staff or a law accountant’s delay as special reasons.

Where you are aware that your account may be late you are encouraged to contact us in advance of the expiry of the relevant time period to seek an extension of time to submit your account.

Where work done by a solicitor constitutes a supply of services in respect of which value-added tax is chargeable, we will add to the amount of fees allowable an amount equal to the amount of value-added tax chargeable.

Although this is not expressly implied in regulation for accounts chargeable under advice and assistance and ABWOR, our policy is to apply the same approach.

Accordingly, we will add to the amount of fees allowable an amount equal to the amount of value-added tax chargeable and that will not form part of the authorised expenditure.

You should refer to our separate policy and guidance in relation to the application of VAT on solicitor’s fees and outlays.

That guidance is of particular importance to solicitors who provide legal services to clients who have not been granted a right or permission to remain in the UK.