The LSC Consultation

The following Executive Summary is extracted from the Legal Services Commission’s Consultation Paper ‘The Use of Experts: quality, price and procedures in publicly-funded cases’.

After reading this, you can:

• Read the specific questions set by the Consultation Paper, and our comments on them take me there...
• Read our initial, detailed response to the Consultation Paper take me there...
• Read the Consultation Paper in its entirety take me there...
• Respond to the Consultation paper tell me how...

Executive Summary

Proposals

1. The Commission has addressed and continues to address the quality and cost of lawyers’ services in Commission-funded cases. The proposals in this paper are to address those issues in relation to the use of experts.
2. We believe that solicitors should be encouraged to use accredited (quality assured) experts, i.e. experts and interpreters who are:
   • On the register maintained by the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners (CRFP);
   • On the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI); or
   • On the register of the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People (CACDP).
3. The Commission’s long-term aim is to arrive at a position where all experts, who are regularly instructed in Commission-funded cases, are accredited.
4. To encourage accreditation, and to facilitate the instruction of accredited experts, the Commission will endorse accredited experts who agree to work as part of the Community Legal Service (CLS) and Criminal Defence Service (CDS).
5. Experts’ fees in Commission-funded cases, like lawyers’ fees, must be subject to control. The pressures on the legal aid budget are such that no element of legal aid expenditure can go without scrutiny.
6. The Commission will publish guideline rates for experts working as part of the CLS and CDS.
7. The guideline rates for experts in criminal cases, published in Appendix 2 to the Costs in Criminal Cases (General) Regulations 1986 (as amended), will continue to be the Commission’s guideline rates for crime, with additional guidance.
8. The guideline rates for experts in civil cases will relate to those for crime, with higher maximum, and lower minimum, rates and guidance.
9. The guideline rates for family will be similar to those for civil, with guidance.
10. Commission-granted prior authorities (guaranteeing payment of the sum they specify) will be abolished. Rates, within the guideline rates and in accordance with the published guidance, will be accepted as reasonable on assessment. Provided such rates are charged, fees should be disallowed on assessment only if excessive time was spent or unnecessary work was carried out.
11. Prior authorities will no longer be needed to obtain payments on account of disbursements in Crown Court proceedings.
12. Terms of business between solicitors and experts will include Commission-specified terms, which will cover the timing of payment and the allocation of risk in the event that fees are reduced on assessment.
13. Task-specific block fees e.g. for specific reports, will be introduced where practicable.
14. There will be provision for prior approval of work by an expert, by a designated Commission Unit, in exceptional cases.
15. The Commission will replace case-by-case, individual payments on account of disbursements under civil certificates with a contract-by-contract, annual (or biannual) payment on account of disbursements.
16. Firms of solicitors that have been approved by the Commission as “Preferred Suppliers” will be able to self-grant authorities for expenditure on experts’ fees up to specified limits, thus providing a guarantee of payment to them for the fee incurred.
17. Direct contracting for experts’ services will be considered where practicable if this offers the possibility of better value for money.

Benefits

• Raising the standard of forensic expert services by encouraging the use of accredited (quality assured) experts;
• Clear terms of appointment (with faster payment and clear allocation of risk), avoiding delays, misunderstandings and consequent disputes;
• Simpler administration and procedures, reducing bureaucracy and saving costs;
• Greater clarity - particularly when guideline rates are followed - over when fees may be reduced on assessment; and
• Greater control over rising experts’ fees.

What next?

You can now:

• Read the specific questions set by the Consultation Paper, and our comments on them take me there...
• Read our initial, detailed response to the Consultation Paper take me there...
• Read the Consultation Paper in its entirety take me there...
• Respond to the Consultation paper tell me how...