This article looks at legal aid claims made for overheads and administrative work and how these are dealt with by the Legal Aid Agency.
The Issue
Over the last couple of years there has been a noticeable increase in the amount of time being disallowed by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) for “administration”. But what is “administration” and what is being discounted as administrative work?
Back to Basics
The Costs Assessment Guidance defines administrative work under chargeable work as:
Over heads and administrative work
2.1 Subject to any express exceptions, payment will not be made for time spent on purely administrative matters. This will include the costs of opening and setting up files, maintaining time costing records and other time spent in complying with the requirements of the Contract other than the direct provision of legal services to a client.
2.2 Expenses which may be classed as overheads of the contracting provider are generally not payable under the Contract. Photocopying in-house is generally an overhead expense as are the costs of postage, stationery, faxes, scanning, typing and the actual cost of telephone calls. However, see section 3.37 in relation to photocopying charges. Whilst courier fees are listed in Paragraph 6.60 of the Specification (6.59 2015 Specification) as overheads, in some circumstances these will be claimable as disbursements, where they are incurred in relation to a particular case or matter and it was reasonable to do so.
2.3 Other examples of overheads include staffing expenses (including training), the cost of maintaining premises, taxes (other than VAT properly charged in relation to an individual case or matter) and administrative expenses.
A Matter of Interpretation.
Clearly, there is no definitive list of administrative work which becomes instead a matter of interpretation and room for manoeuvre by the LAA and we continue to see some good examples of interpretation being stretched too far upon assessment!
If in Doubt, Ask
Even if your bill has been assessed by the Court, the LAA may still seek to reject a claim based on administrative time. But always seek advice and consider the matter carefully as the LAA can only refuse to pay for an item if it is clearly outside of the scope of the certificate or outside of work allowable under the contract. It must be clearly demonstrated to be administrative matters – anything that is subjective should be for the court to decide at assessment.
CCMS and administrative work
For CCMS cases, the LAA is currently taking the view that as long as the task has an equivalent paper task then it should be payable however items that are unique to CCMS such as allocating Counsel would be considered purely administrative. The Costs Assessment Guidance will be updated in due course to take account of CCMS processes.
For further advice on this or any other legal aid issue, please call us today on 0370 300 3780 or contact your local regional office