The Legal Aid for Crown Court Proceedings (Costs) (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2025

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

These Rules amend the Legal Aid for Crown Court Proceedings (Costs) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2005 which prescribe the remuneration for solicitors and counsel assigned under Articles 29 or 36(2) of the Legal Aid, Advice and Assistance (Northern Ireland) Order 1981.

These Rules substitute increased levels of standard fees for guilty pleas, trials, applications and other additional fees. These fees are uplifted by 16%. The Rules also enhance the hourly rates for travel time and introduce a new mileage rate of 45p per mile. These Rules make provision for indictable only cases heard in the youth court to be remunerated under the provisions of the Legal Aid for Crown Court Proceedings (Costs) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2005, as amended, instead of the Magistrates Courts and County Court Appeals (Criminal Legal Aid) (Costs) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2009. Other minor and consequential amendments are made to ensure that these provisions operate effectively.

These Rules amend the provisions for the interim payment of disbursements to expand the upper and lower limits and remove the requirement that a disbursement must be discharged before an interim payment can be made.

The amendments made by these Rules apply for the determination of costs payable in respect of work done under a criminal aid certificate granted on or after 1st December 2024, subject to transitional provisions (rules 4 and 5).