Schedule 1 fee (the legal aid core fixed payment)

Schedule 1, Part 1, paragraph 1 provides for payment of the “core fixed payment”.  These fixed payments is where legal aid granted or ABWOR provided on or after 1 April 2022 are:

• £347.92 for the JP court
• £572.00 for the sheriff court
• £628.79 for a Schedule 2 “rural court”.

In the JP court, the core fixed payment is chargeable in all cases where criminal legal aid is granted.

In the sheriff court, the core fixed payment is only payable where the case proceeds to trial beyond 30 minutes.  Put another way, the case has to generate the additional “first day” fee prescribed in the Schedule before the core fixed payment is chargeable. The appropriate fee where the trial does not exceed 30 minutes is the case disposal fee under Schedule 1A, below.

This fixed payment covers all work up to and including

• any diet at which a plea of guilty is made and accepted or plea in mitigation is made
• the first 30 minutes of conducting a proof in mitigation or a proof of a victim statement, other than work done in connection with a grant of legal aid under section 23(1)(b) of the 1986 Act
• the first 30 minutes of conducting any trial
• a first or second diet of deferred sentence
• advising, giving an opinion and taking final instructions on the prospects of an appeal against conviction, sentence, other disposal or acquittal.

This payment represents the total fee payable, where fixed payments apply, for all work that you undertake in connection with a summary criminal legal aid case from beginning to end, except work for which a further fixed payment is prescribed, for example a bail appeal, an extended trial or proof in mitigation, a third or subsequent deferred sentence. These further fixed payments, set out in Schedule 1, are available in the circumstances of each individual case.

If a piece of work is not covered by an “add-on” then it is included in the fixed payment.

It follows from the terms of Schedule 1, paragraph 1 of the Tables of Fees that work can be undertaken later on in the proceedings, even after the first 30 minutes of a trial, which reverts to work chargeable under the core fixed payment.  An example of such work might be warrant proceedings where the client had previously failed to appear and for which no other fixed payment is prescribed.

Work done under a court-grant of criminal legal aid under section 23(1)(b) of the Act is chargeable under Schedule 1, Part 1, paragraph 3 which prescribes a separate fixed payment for the JP court and for the sheriff court.  The core fixed payment is not chargeable in these circumstances.

The first part of paragraph 3 states that the fee is payable for “All work done…” in connection with the grant.  On the other hand, the second part is selective in what is to be included clearly indicating that it is not exhaustive of all work which might be carried out in the case.

Our approach, given the apparent contradiction, is that you are entitled to be paid the prescribed fee for all work done under a section 23(1)(b) certificate including appearance at the first diet.  In addition, all attendances at any diet of deferred sentence or in connection with a proof in mitigation or a proof of a victim statement, beyond the first 30 minutes, will attract the fees set out in the Schedule for these hearings.

Again, this fee includes all other work which does not fall within the scope of the further fixed payments prescribed in Schedule 1.

There are a number of courts (listed at Schedule 2) which, due to a number of factors including their geographical location and level of business, attract an enhanced core fixed payment.

These courts are: