Citation and commencement

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 2) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020.

(2) These Regulations come into force on 7th October 2020.

Amendment of the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013

2. —(1)The Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013( 2 ) are amended as follows.

(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation)—

(a) in the definition of “advocacy services”, after “those services”, insert “but does not include anything done that falls under the definition of “online procedure advocacy services””;

(b) after the definition of “legally aided person”, insert—

“ " online procedure advocacy services " means advocacy in relation to online procedure cases, and fees and rates for online procedure advocacy services include remuneration for travelling and waiting in relation to those services; ” .

(3) In regulation 11 (payments on account direct to barristers in independent practice)—

(a) in paragraph (1)—

(i) for “(5) and (6)” substitute “(6) and (7)”;

(ii) after “may apply” insert “from time to time”;

(iii) omit “where any of the conditions in paragraphs (2) to (4) apply”;

(b) omit paragraphs (2) to (5);

(c) after paragraph (6), insert—

“ (7) In addition, an application under paragraph (1) may not be made—

(a) before the end of the period of three months beginning with the date on which the Director determined under section 9 of the Act that the legally aided person qualified for civil legal services;

(b) if it is the second or subsequent application under that paragraph in connection with services provided to the person mentioned in sub-paragraph (a), less than three months after the date on which the previous application was made.

(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7)—

(a) it does not matter whether the Director makes the determination under section 9 of the Act before, on or after 7th October 2020;

(b) where the barrister has made one or more applications under paragraph (1) before 7th October 2020 in connection with services provided to a particular legally aided person, that application or, as the case may be, the last of those applications is to be treated as the first application for the purposes of determining when the barrister may make a further application under paragraph (1). ” .

(4) In regulation 12 (payments on account direct to barristers in independent practice)—

(a) in paragraph (1), for “75%” substitute “80%”;

(b) in paragraph (2)(b) for “11(2)” substitute “11(7)(a)”.

(5) In Schedule 1 (fees and rates of remuneration)—

(a) in Part 1, after Table 4(c), insert—

(b) in Part 2, after Table 8(c), insert—

Revocation of the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020

3.The Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020( 3 ) are revoked.

Transitional provision

4. —(1) In this regulation—

" the online procedure fees ” means the fees in the final column of Table 4(a) (Stage 2c–online procedure (controlled legal representation)) and, where relevant, the fees in Table 4(c) (Additional Payments for Advocacy Services) in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, as they had effect immediately before the relevant date;

“ relevant date ” means the date on which these Regulations came into force.

(2) Paragraph (3) applies to remuneration for—

(a) civil legal services provided before the relevant date and to which the online procedure fees were applicable;

(b) civil legal services—

(i) the provision of which began before, but continues on or after, the relevant date, and

(ii) to which the online procedure fees would have applied on or after that date had the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 not been revoked by these Regulations.

(3) Remuneration for civil legal services to which this paragraph applies must be paid to the provider of those services either—

(a) in accordance with the online procedure fees, or

(b) if the provider does not wish to be paid in accordance with those fees, in accordance with Table 4(ca) and Table 8(ca) in Schedule 1 to the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, as inserted by these Regulations.