Top 100 Legal Aid Billing questions that UK providers often ask

A. General claims & eligibility (1–12)

1. How do I submit a legal aid claim (paper vs CCMS) for this case? GOV.UK

2. What supporting documents must accompany a civil/criminal claim?

3. Which claim form should I use for counsel-only fees? GOV.UK

4. How do I check whether a client is eligible to have costs paid by legal aid?

5. When should I open a case file in CCMS to avoid payment delays?

6. What is the deadline for submitting a claim after a matter concludes?

7. Can I submit bulk claims and, if so, what format is acceptable? GOV.UK

8. What happens if I miss a claim submission window?

9. Can I claim for work done before a certificate was issued?

10. How should I record and claim travel/time costs on a fixed fee or graduated fee case?

11. What documents do I need if a claim is audited?

12. Who do I contact at the LAA about claim status or payment queries? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

B. CCMS / system, outages & cyber contingency (13–22)

13. How do I submit claims while CCMS or the LAA portal is down? GOV.UK

14. Are paper claims acceptable as a contingency and, if so, what forms?

15. How do I transfer a live civil certificate into my firm when systems are offline? GOV.UK

16. If the LAA system shows incorrect payments, how do I request a correction?

17. What records do I need to hold locally if remote LAA records are unavailable?

18. Are providers protected from sanctions for late claims caused by LAA outages?

19. How will the LAA communicate interim payment arrangements during outages? GOV.UK

20. How do I prove submission dates when systems are disrupted?

21. How can I get an export of case/payment history from CCMS for my accounting?

22. What evidence should I keep to support hardship or interim claims submitted during an outage?

C. Prior Authority, triggers, amendments & PAOs (23–32)

23. When is prior authority required for expert fees / disbursements? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

24. How do I submit a prior authority amendment in CCMS? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

25. What justifies an emergency amendment and how is it evidenced?

26. How far back can I claim costs after a prior authority was granted?

27. What information must be included with a prior authority request to avoid rejection?

28. How are retrospective prior authorities treated at assessment?

29. When can I claim Profit Costs POAs and what are the triggers? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

30. How many POA claims am I allowed and what % of running costs can be claimed? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

31. Can I claim disbursement POAs before disbursement is paid? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

32. How long does prior authority approval usually take and can it be expedited?

D. Interim payments, hardship & POAs (33–40)

33. How do I claim an interim payment for running costs? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

34. What is the test and documentation for a hardship claim? GOV.UK

35. Can I claim interim counsel fees before finalisation of the certificate?

36. How are interim payments offset against final bills?

37. What happens if an interim payment is overpaid?

38. Are interim payments taxable or treated differently for VAT?

39. Can a firm take a POA for an expert invoice when an expert has not been paid yet? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

40. How do I reconcile multiple POAs on one matter at final billing?

E. Disbursements & experts (41–52)

41. What experts’ fees are payable under the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations? Legislation.gov.uk

42. How do I claim interpreter/translation costs and what rates apply? Legislation.gov.uk

43. Can I claim 100% of an expert invoice as a disbursement? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

44. What evidence of payment or invoices does LAA require for expert disbursements?

45. Are VAT-registered experts’ invoices treated differently?

46. How to claim counsel’s brief fees for multi-day hearings and refreshers?

47. What is the process for claiming medical records requests and associated fees? Legislation.gov.uk

48. Can I pass on courier costs and PPI/credit-card fees for disbursements?

49. How are interpreter travel/time costs calculated and claimed? Legislation.gov.uk

50. Are expert fees subject to costs assessment and possible reductions? GOV.UK

51. How to claim VAT on disbursements where supplier has charged VAT?

52. What happens to disbursement claims when a case is discontinued?

F. Counsel billing & leader/led/seniority issues (53–60)

53. How do I record counsel grades/seniority on claims to ensure correct rates? GOV.UK

54. When should counsel submit fee notes and what supporting detail is required? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

55. How to claim counsel’s travel and waiting time? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

56. Can a solicitor claim for instructing counsel’s time (e.g., conferences)?

57. What counts as preparation time for counsel and how is that recorded?

58. How do I check what counsel has already been paid through CCMS? legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk

59. When should a counsel-only claim be submitted to avoid duplication?

60. How are third-party payments to counsel (e.g., security / undertakings) recorded?

G. Criminal legal aid billing specifics (61–68)

61. How do I claim police station attendance/time on a crime certificate?

62. What are the rules for claiming for duty solicitor sessions and court attendance?

63. How do I claim for Crown Court advocacy and AGFS-style (advocates’ graduated) fees?

64. What documentation is needed to support a crime hardship or exceptional case claim? GOV.UK

65. How are retrials or appeals billed where work spans separate certificates?

66. Can I claim for conferences and briefings with counsel on criminal matters?

67. How to claim for legal aid funded expert reports in criminal cases?

68. What rules apply when the defendant is acquitted and costs may be recoverable?

H. Civil legal aid billing specifics (family, immigration, JR) (69–76)

69. How do I bill for family hearings with multiple fixed-fee stages?

70. What triggers a graduated fee in civil cases and how is it calculated?

71. How to claim in public law/JR cases for prolonged disclosure and paperwork?

72. Where settlement occurs, how should final fees and disbursements be recorded?

73. How do I claim Counsel and solicitor costs in immigration/asylum matters?

74. What is the LAA approach to long-running community care and housing cases?

75. Can I claim for advocates’ fees for preliminary hearings and case management?

76. How to claim when the case settles but full work has been undertaken?

I. Payments, BACS, remittances & reconciliation (77–84)

77. When are LAA payment runs made and how do I know which run my claim is included in? GOV.UK

78. How do I interpret the LAA remittance advice and journal codes? GOV.UK

79. How do I raise a query for a missing or delayed payment?

80. How are overpayments recovered and can they be appealed?

81. How can I change my firm’s bank details for LAA payments?

82. What is the process to switch to variable monthly payments and how does that affect cashflow? GOV.UK

83. How do I reconcile multiple payment runs against claims in my ledger?

84. Can the LAA make direct payments to counsel rather than via solicitors?

J. Costs assessment, disputes & quality checks (85–90)

85. How are bills assessed by the LAA or a costs officer at court? GOV.UK

86. What are common reasons for a bill to be referred for assessment? GOV.UK

87. How do I respond to an LAA query or request for further information during assessment?

88. What rights of appeal exist after an LAA costs assessment?

89. How are provisional reductions in assessed costs calculated?

90. What records and time entries best withstand scrutiny at assessment?

K. Compliance, VAT, tax, AML & firm governance (91–96)

91. Do I claim VAT on my fees where the firm is VAT registered and how to show this?

92. How does anti-money-laundering (AML) compliance interact with disbursement payments? The Law Society

93. What are the record-keeping retention periods for legal aid claims and invoices?

94. What happens if a provider is found non-compliant with contract/payment rules? LAPG

95. How should partner withdrawals/dividends be treated when assessing running cost POAs?

96. What internal controls should firms have to reduce rejected claims?

L. Transfers, firm closure, contract & contingency (97–100)

97. How do I transfer files and certificates when a provider closes or stops doing legal aid? LAPG

98. How are outstanding disbursements and POAs handled on firm closure?

99. How can a new provider claim on an existing matter transferred in under contingency? GOV.UK

100. What contractual obligations remain during prolonged LAA system outages and who pays for unavoidable costs?

If you have further questions, please contact our legal aid billing experts or book a demo to see how Lawsyst makes the LAA billing easy.