Paragraph 4 Interim payments in cases awaiting determination
The appropriate officer shall make an interim payment in respect of a claim for costs in criminal proceedings in the Crown Court in accordance with the following provisions of this paragraph.
Entitlement to a payment arises in respect of a claim for costs:
in the case of a solicitor, where the total claim for costs is £4,000 or more (exclusive of VAT);
in the case of an advocate, where the basic fee claimed is £4,000 or more (exclusive of VAT); and
where the claim for costs is for less than the amounts mentioned in (a) or (b) but is related to any claim falling under (a) or (b).
Entitlement to a payment under sub-paragraph (1) shall not arise until three months have elapsed from the earlier of:
the date on which the bill is ready to tax; or
three months after the conclusion of the last of any related proceedings.
A bill shall be regarded as being ready to tax on the date on which it is received by the appropriate officer for determination except that where there are related claims for costs all the bills relating thereto shall be regarded as ready to tax on the date the last bill is received.
A representative may submit a claim for an interim payment under this paragraph if no payment has been made under sub-paragraph (1) and six months have elapsed from the conclusion of the proceedings against the defendant whom he represented under the representation order.
For the purposes of this paragraph, proceedings are related to each other in the circumstances set out in sub-paragraph (7) and claims for costs are related to each other in the circumstances set out in sub-paragraph (8).
Proceedings are related to each other:
where different proceedings involving the same defendant are prepared, heard or dealt with together; or
where proceedings involving more than one defendant arose out of the same incident, so that the defendants are charged, tried or disposed of together.
The following claims for costs are related to each other:
the claims of representatives acting in the same proceedings for a defendant;
the claims of any representative acting in any proceedings mentioned in sub-paragraph (7)(a); and
the claims of all the representatives acting for the defendants in the circumstances mentioned in sub-paragraph (7)(b).
No payment shall be made under this paragraph unless (subject to paragraph 23) the representative has submitted a claim in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs 11(1) and 14(1).