The Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (Costs) (Amendment) Regulations 1999

These Regulations may be cited as the Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (Costs) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force on 1st April 1999.

In these Regulations a reference to any regulation or Schedule by number alone means the regulation or Schedule so numbered in the Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (Costs) Regulations 1989^f1.

These Regulations apply to all proceedings in the Crown Court initiated by committal or otherwise on or after 1st April 1999, and the Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (General) Regulations 1989 shall apply to all other proceedings as if these Regulations had not come into force.

In regulation 6 the following paragraphs shall be inserted after paragraph (4):–

“(5)

In relation to hearings specified in paragraph (5A), work of the class specified in paragraph (1)(c) shall only be allowed in the following circumstances:–

(a)

if the legally assisted person is charged with an offence included in Class 1 or Class 2 as determined pursuant to section 75(2) of the Supreme Court Act 1981^f1;

(b)

if the proceedings have been instituted or taken over by the Serious Fraud Office, or are before the Crown Court by reason of a notice of transfer given under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987^f2;

(c)

if the legally assisted person was a child or a young person within the meaning of section 107 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933^f3 at the time when the Crown Court acquired jurisdiction in the case (by committal, notice of transfer or otherwise);

(d)

if the legally assisted person was unable to understand the proceedings or give adequate instructions to his advocate because of his inadequate knowledge of English, mental illness or other mental or physical disability;

(e)

if the legally assisted person was likely if convicted to receive a custodial sentence, or

(f)

if the case has been certified as requiring attendance for the whole or any part of the hearing pursuant to regulation 54B of the Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (General) Regulations 1989^f4 .

(5A)

The following hearings in the Crown Court are specified for the purposes of paragraph (5): trials, hearings of cases listed for pleas of guilty following a pleas and directions hearing, sentencing hearings following committals for sentence and the hearing of appeals against conviction or sentence.

(5B)

The circumstance referred to in paragraph (5)(e) shall only justify the allowing of attendance on

(a)

a day of a trial on which it was reasonably expected that the legally assisted person would be sentenced if convicted, and

(b)

if different, the day on which the legally assisted person was in fact sentenced;

and where a doubt arises whether attendance should be allowed by reason of that circumstance, the doubt shall be resolved in the assisted person’s favour.

(5C)

The circumstance referred to in paragraph (5)(f) shall only justify the allowing of attendance to the extent specified in the certificate.”.

The following sub-paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph 1A of Part I of Schedule 1:–

“(1B)

In relation to any hearing specified in regulation 6(5A), the fee specified in paragraph 1(1)(b) for attendance at court where counsel assigned shall only be payable in the circumstances and to the extent provided by regulation 6(5) to (5C).”.

The following sub-paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph 4(4) of Part II of Schedule 1:–

“(4A)

In relation to any hearing specified in regulation 6(5A), the fee specified in the Table for attendance at court where counsel assigned shall only be payable in the circumstances and to the extent provided by regulation 6(5) to (5C).”.

In paragraph 4(10) of Part II of Schedule 1, the following shall be substituted for the words from “£30.00” to the end:–

“(a)

£60.00 in a case which is prepared for trial, whether or not a trial takes place (£64.00 for a solicitor whose office is situated within legal aid area 1);

(b)

£30.00 in every other case (£32.00 for a solicitor whose office is situated within legal aid area 1).”.

The following paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph 19 of Schedule 3:–

“19A

The additional fee set out in the Table following paragraph 21 shall be payable in respect of each day of the main hearing in any case mentioned in paragraph 2 on which the advocate appears unattended by an authorised litigator or representative.”.

The Table following paragraph 21 of Schedule 3 shall be amended as follows:–

(This note is not part of the Regulations)