{"id":70978,"date":"2016-05-26T10:02:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T10:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=37e8656c910392ca4ee9c8ce5620b63e"},"modified":"2016-05-26T10:02:05","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26T10:02:05","slug":"news-story-civil-news-claims-for-work-by-enquiry-agents-and-process-servers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=70978","title":{"rendered":"News story: Civil news: claims for work by enquiry agents and process servers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>We would like to clarify our approach when considering claims for work carried out by enquiry agents and process servers.<\/p>\n<p>This follows a number of enquiries about the work that can be claimed for.<\/p>\n<p>Our approach to assessing work is on the basis of the \u2018reasonableness of the costs incurred\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The idea is to make sure the most cost effective means of service has been used. This takes into account the:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>overall cost of service<\/li>\n<li>location of agent used<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"travel-costs\">Travel costs<\/h2>\n<p>Where travel costs have been incurred the invoice should provide details of where the travel is to and from. Post codes should also be included.<\/p>\n<p>Generally, there is an expectation that an enquiry agent within either the locality of the court or the respondent would be instructed.<\/p>\n<p>This approach is confirmed in 3.10 of the cost assessment guidance which confirms: \u201cIt will seldom be reasonable to instruct an enquiry agent except in the locality where the work is being done\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Where travel is claimed you should provide detailed justification confirming why you were unable to instruct a local process server.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"repeated-service\">Repeated service<\/h2>\n<p>Where there has been a need for repeated attempts at service we may ask whether substituted service was considered by the court.<\/p>\n<p>This will allow us to consider whether it was reasonable to make those attempts at service.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"time-for-swearing-affidavits\">Time for swearing affidavits<\/h2>\n<p>It is considered that an allowance of between 12 and 18 minutes would be reasonable for the drafting and swearing of the affidavit. Any amounts claimed in excess of these times would require full justification.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"time-claimed-for-explaining-terms-of-order\">Time claimed for explaining terms of order<\/h2>\n<p>We will only allow a nominal amount of about 6 minutes where time has been claimed for explaining the terms of the order. Where the time taken to explain the terms of the order is lengthy then reasons for this must be provided.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"administrative-costs\">Administrative costs<\/h2>\n<p>There is no provision to charge for administrative costs. For example, preparing a reporting invoice or proof of service.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"swear-fees\">Swear fees<\/h2>\n<p>Swear fees are claimable. The cost for the affidavit is approximately \u00a35 for one document and then a further \u00a32 for any additional document.<\/p>\n<p>Where charges have been made for additional documents full details of what these documents are should be provided together with copies.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/funding-and-costs-assessment-for-civil-and-crime-matters\">Legal aid guidance<\/a> \u2013 for costs assessment guidance documents<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clarification on claims for work carried out by enquiry agents and process servers.<\/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\/70978"}],"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=70978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}