Access Legal OneOffice: 16.2.4.1 (02 January 2026)

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The system has been updated to reflect the latest Criminal Legal Aid fee and rate changes effective from 22nd December 2025. All rate changes are applied automatically by the system based on the relevant case dates (UFN date, Representation Order date, or attendance date). You do not need to manually adjust any rates - the system will select the correct fee schedule based on when the work was undertaken or when the case was opened.

The system now applies a single universal fixed fee of £320 for all police station attendance work, regardless of which police station is involved. Previously, different police stations had different fixed fee amounts. The escape fee threshold has also been harmonised to £650 across all stations. This simplifies billing as you no longer need to worry about location-specific rates for police station work. The applicable rate is determined by the UFN date of the case.

All fees for magistrates' court work have received a 10% uplift. This includes standard fees, hourly rates for preparation, advocacy, attendance, travel and waiting time, as well as letters and telephone calls. The uplift applies to all Proceedings sub-classes (RC-1 through RC-7, RC-9, RC-10), including Youth Court work (RC-4). Standard fee thresholds and limits have also been increased by 10%. The applicable rate is determined by the Representation Order date if available, otherwise the UFN date is used.

In addition to the 10% uplift on hourly rates, the Youth Court additional fee has been updated with new values effective from December 2025. This fee is determined by the Representation Order date.

Prison law fees have received a significant 24% uplift. This applies to both hourly rates for PC-1 (Advice and Assistance) and PC-2 (Advocacy Assistance) work, as well as the standard fees for different stages of prison law cases. All Prison Law rates are determined by the UFN date.

Solicitor fees for advice and assistance on appeals have received a 10% uplift. This covers preparation, travel, waiting, letters and calls. The limits for appeals work have also been increased by 10%. Appeals rates are determined by the UFN date.

Court duty attendance rates and unsocial hours court duty rates have been uplifted by 10%, applying to both London and National rates. Unlike other Proceedings work, Court Duty Standby billing is independent of any matter, so the applicable rate is determined by the attendance date (the date the court duty was actually performed), not by UFN or Representation Order date. This means that court duty work performed on or after 22 December 2025 will automatically use the uplifted rates.

Several fixed fees have been updated with 10% uplifts, including the Sending Hearing Fixed Fee (now £229.47), Early Cover Amount (now £86.58), and Refused Means Test Amount (now £28.85). These fixed fees are determined by the Representation Order date.

This update should be downloaded here by your trained DPS Supervisor\Developer who can apply it to your system.

This update should be downloaded by your trained DPS Supervisor\Developer who can apply it to your system. The update will be made available on our Customer Portal.