Clarification on VAT, fees and travel and subsistence
Providers have been raising many questions about the proposed fee changes and model of procurement set out in the consultation document ?Transforming Legal Aid: Next Steps?.
?Transforming Legal Aid: Next Steps? contains decisions on some civil and criminal policy reforms but also includes:
- a revised model of procurement for criminal legal aid
- options for reform of Crown Court advocacy fees
In response to the questions raised, the following information is provided for the purposes of clarifying the figures in the consultation document and impact assessments.
VAT
The fees set out in the following paragraphs of the consultation document include VAT:
- Police station work fixed fee ? see paragraph 3.61
- Magistrates Court work fixed fee ? see paragraph 3.65
- Crown Court fixed fees or cases up to 500 Pages of Prosecution Evidence ? see table 3 of annex G of the consultation
Travel and subsistence
The proposed fixed fees referred to above also include the average claim cost of travel and subsistence disbursements.
However, as proposed at paragraph 3.73 of the consultation document, the cost of any travel and subsistence disbursements would be remunerated separately.
Please use the web page link below to see details of fixed fees excluding travel and subsistence disbursements. There is also a general overview.
Impact assessment
Revisions have been made to the impact assessment on the ?Procurement of Criminal Legal Aid Services?.
This now includes a revised table 2 showing the impact on individual procurement areas of moving to a national fixed fee for police station work excluding travel and subsistence disbursement costs.
Deadline for responses
The deadline for responses to Transforming Legal Aid: Next Steps is 18 October 2013.
