LAA Assessment Process - Further Amendment to the Guidance in respect of De Novo Assessments
Guidance on submitting a claim where a provider has sought to set aside the LAA’s original assessment
Further to our recent previous blog articles regarding the guidance on if you wished to challenge a LAA assessment and submitting a de novo assessment to the Court, the position has now changed.
Previously the LAA stated that providers would not be able to fall back on a Court Assessment, for claims submitted to the LAA on or after Friday 15 January 2021.
However, following the issue being raised with The Law Society via the Association of Cost Lawyers’ Legal Aid Group last month, the LAA have now amended their guidance and now any claim eligible for court assessment but was assessed by the LAA, providers can have a de novo court assessment pending the outcome of the new consultation.
If a de novo assessment is sought, then the provider must notify the LAA in advance of the submission of the paperwork to court. The LAA will treat the existing payment as a POA, instead of a final claim.
It is important to note that if the claim is further reduced following the court assessment, the LAA will need to be notified and they will arrange the appropriate recoupment (so you cannot choose which assessment is greater).
A provider will need to prepare a detailed Bill of Costs for submission to the court. The court will then assess the Bill of Costs and will need to provide you with an annotated Bill of Costs and EX80 A/B.
Subsequently, you will then need to create an ‘appeal bill’ in CCMS with the value of the claim being the balance between the original payment and the amount as allowed by the court. This should be done by creating a disbursement and selecting ‘Appeal % Uplift Assessment’. You can then input the ‘Net Value’ field which will be the balance between what the court have allowed and what was allowed on assessment by the LAA.
A step by step guide can be found using the LAA guidance which can be found here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/958887/Referring_an_LAA_Assessment_to_Court_v1.1.pdf
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