Visit provides insight into assessment of Crown Court and fixed fee claims

A fact-finding visit to help barristers? clerks gain a better understanding of how Crown Court and fixed fee claims are handled won praise from those taking part.

The six-strong delegation from the Institute of Barristers? Clerks (IBC) spent a day at the crime case management centre in Nottingham.

Learning points

Examples of specific learning points included:

• how lots of telephone calls cause processing delays
• reasons for applications being rejected

One delegate said: ?It was very helpful to hear about the LSC?s progress on targets and performance and to discuss issues with LSC staff and other barristers? clerks.?

Presentation

The day-long visit began with a presentation from team manager Paul Davison from the Advocates? Graduated Fee Scheme.

Delegates heard that:

• there are 50 staff working across Nottingham and Liverpool offices
• we receive around 155,000 claims a year (worth £246m)
• over the last six months the volumes have averaged 2,200 graduated fees and 700 fixed fees every week
• Since the start of the financial year, 93.3% of claims were processed within 30 days

The Bar Council and IBC have now asked for a similar session to be arranged at a civil processing centre.

Further information

If you want to know more about the visit contact Paul Davison or Ellis Pinnell