{"id":59783,"date":"2015-07-30T09:05:40","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T09:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=24bbfe3cdef4d441f9e067a52c2b5b77"},"modified":"2015-07-30T09:05:40","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T09:05:40","slug":"news-story-civil-news-accurate-counsel-payment-lists-help-reduce-rejects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=59783","title":{"rendered":"News story: Civil news: accurate counsel payment lists help reduce rejects"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>It is important to give us a complete breakdown of counsel payments to reduce the possibility of rejects when filling in claim forms for both the:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Family Advocacy Scheme<\/li>\n<li>Family Graduated Fee Scheme<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The simplest way to do this is to fill in a \u2018counsel matrix\u2019. This allows you to give the Legal Aid Agency a breakdown of counsel payments under a certificate.<\/p>\n<p>You can do this within the relevant form or by sending a completed \u2018counsel matrix\u2019 before a claim is submitted.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"sending-matrix-within-claim-form\">Sending \u2018matrix\u2019 within claim form<\/h3>\n<p>A \u2018counsel matrix\u2019 can be found inside both the \u2018CIV Claim5\u2019 and \u2018CIV Claim5A\u2019 form.<\/p>\n<p>This allows you to break down the payments that your records show have been made to counsel.<\/p>\n<p>We can then use this completed \u2018matrix\u2019 to check our records and identify any discrepancies.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"sending-matrix-before-claim-submissions\">Sending \u2018matrix\u2019 before claim submissions<\/h3>\n<p>An alternative is to complete a standalone \u2018counsel matrix\u2019 form before submission of any claim.<\/p>\n<p>Simply complete the \u2018matrix\u2019 with counsel payments you know about. We will then check our records to confirm amounts that have been paid.<\/p>\n<p>This approach means any discrepancies can be resolved before you submit your claim, making a reject less likely.<br \/>\nThe \u2018Excel\u2019 version of the form is preferred as this allows calculations to be made more easily and also helps caseworkers when responding.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"benefits\">Benefits<\/h3>\n<p>Completing the \u2018counsel matrix\u2019 in this way makes it simpler for the Legal Aid Agency to reconcile the amounts we have paid with those set out by the solicitor.<\/p>\n<p>It means we can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>make sure that counsel fees are all paid before we settle the solicitor\u2019s final bill and close down the certificate<\/li>\n<li>determine any refund or statutory charge liability once solicitor\u2019s final bill is paid <\/li>\n<li>check that any assessment on the claim takes into account work carried out by counsel<\/li>\n<li>make sure all work is within the cost limit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/family-graduated-fee-and-family-advocacy-claim-forms\">FGF and FAS claim forms<\/a> \u2013 to download \u2018CIV Claim5\u2019 and \u2018CIV Claim5A\u2019 containing \u2018counsel matrix\u2019 grids<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/counsel-matrix-details-of-counsel-claims-paid-to-date\">Counsel matrix: details of counsel claims paid to date<\/a> \u2013 to download standalone \u2018counsel matrix\u2019<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:contactcivil@legalaid.gsi.gov.uk\">contactcivil@legalaid.gsi.gov.uk<\/a> \u2013 email to use when sending standalone \u2018counsel matrix\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reminder to providers to give us a breakdown of payments made to counsel under a certificate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59783"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}