{"id":68177,"date":"2016-03-03T12:05:08","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T12:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=68d506a2644660bcc2e329cb38224def"},"modified":"2016-03-03T12:05:08","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T12:05:08","slug":"news-story-crime-news-online-billing-for-advocates-expands-northwards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=68177","title":{"rendered":"News story: Crime news: online billing for advocates expands northwards"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>National rollout for online billing under the Advocates\u2019 Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS) continues on 14 March 2016 in the Northern and North East Bar Circuits.<\/p>\n<p>The online application has been piloted by advocates and solicitors since October 2015 and has been available to the Midland Circuit since 25 January 2016.<\/p>\n<p>We are continuing to rollout the billing application nationally following the:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>successful conclusion of the pilot phase<\/li>\n<li>initial roll out in the Midland Circuit<\/li>\n<li>positive feedback from current users<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"what-happens-next\">What happens next?<\/h3>\n<p>Chambers and solicitors\u2019 firms in the Northern and North East Circuit areas will be contacted by their contract managers.<\/p>\n<p>They will be given information on:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>making claims for Crown Court defence work using the online application<\/li>\n<li>details of support available to new users <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can find out more information, including a Crime Billing Online FAQ document, on GOV.UK\u2019s legal aid pages \u2013 see link below.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"benefits-of-online-billing\">Benefits of online billing<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>simplifies AGFS billing, including evidence submissions<\/li>\n<li>avoids postal delays<\/li>\n<li>reduced postage and printing costs<\/li>\n<li>online messaging and instant notifications from processing teams<\/li>\n<li>\u2018wet signatures\u2019 no longer needed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"future-rollout\">Future rollout<\/h3>\n<p>This is expected to finish by summer 2016 and is based on the Bar Circuits which divide England and Wales into 6 areas.<\/p>\n<p>Keep an eye on e-alerts for information on rollout dates for the remaining circuits i.e. South Eastern, Wales and Chester and Western. <\/p>\n<p>Throughout rollout the Crime Billing Online project will continue to take on board user feedback.<\/p>\n<p>This will help the project to make further refinements to the system in partnership with Ministry of Justice Digital Services.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/simplifying-criminal-legal-aid-processing\">Criminal legal aid processing: applications and digital systems<\/a> \u2013 to find out more about crime change and download a \u2018Crime Billing Online FAQ\u2019 document<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:crimebillingonline@legalaid.gsi.gov.uk\">crimebillingonline@legalaid.gsi.gov.uk<\/a> \u2013 for email enquiries about the project<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crime Billing Online to launch in both Northern and North East Bar Circuits for Advocates\u2019 Graduated Fee Scheme.<\/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\/68177"}],"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=68177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}