Explanatory note

This Order amends the Criminal Defence Service (Funding) Order 2007. It clarifies the fact that disbursements incurred by litigators in a magistrates’ court in a case subsequently committed or sent to the Crown Court are payable in accordance with the terms of the Order. It includes a preliminary hearing and a hearing relating to breach of bail, failure to surrender to bail or execution of a bench warrant within the definition of standard appearance.

The Order clarifies the proportion of the graduated fee that is payable to a litigator in retrials and on transfer to or from another litigator in certain circumstances. It also sets out in detail the cases included in the various categories referred to in the Higher and Lower Fees Table in Schedule 5 (Magistrates’ Courts Rates).

The Order provides that evidence served by the prosecution in electronic form forms part of the pages of prosecution evidence except as specified in the Order.

The Order provides for the payment of a fixed fee to an advocate following the grant of representation after conviction for the purposes of mitigation only.

The Order corrects minor errors in paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 and the table following paragraph 25 of Schedule 1.