{"id":71278,"date":"2016-06-08T14:52:33","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T14:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=5642a1cc1c8125a5e4e069fe5dae0404"},"modified":"2016-06-08T14:52:33","modified_gmt":"2016-06-08T14:52:33","slug":"news-story-crime-news-online-advocates-billing-now-available-nationwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=71278","title":{"rendered":"News story: Crime news: online advocates\u2019 billing now available nationwide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Online billing under the Advocates\u2019 Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS) is now available across England and Wales with encouraging feedback from users.<\/p>\n<p>The South East Circuit was the final one to come on board on 9 May with the online billing application called \u2018Crown Court Defence\u2019 (CCD).<\/p>\n<p>The CCD application has been rolled out on a circuit by circuit basis since January 2016 and piloted since October 2015.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"user-feedback\">User feedback<\/h3>\n<p>Examples of comments from current users include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cThe speed that claims are turned around is an obvious benefit to Counsel. After one or two small niggles in the early days we have settled into a very comfortable relationship.\u201d \u2013 Lincoln House Chambers, Manchester<\/li>\n<li>\u201cBeing able to review the claims that have been submitted online is extremely helpful to Chambers as it allows us to see payments are due and the progression of our claims.\u201d \u2013 25 Bedford Row, London<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWe submit at least 80% of our bills this way, and our bills are usually paid up to 5 days earlier than by submitting a paper version. Some aspects are quite time consuming, but whenever we have made improvement suggestions, the LAA have endeavoured to help.\u201d \u2013 No.1 High Pavement Chambers, Nottingham<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe CDD system has proved to be much quicker than the standard paper billing process. It is very easy to understand, and the redetermination feature is particularly good.\u201d \u2013 Tuckers Solicitors, National<br \/>\nAll your feedback has been important for improving the system and we will continue to evaluate what you say to make further refinements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"more-users-every-day\">More users every day<\/h3>\n<p>Latest figures show that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>more than 9,000 AGFS bills have been successfully submitted and processed online, with more users signing up every day<\/li>\n<li>usage continues to increase with 26% of advocate bills submitted via CCD in May 2016 \u2013 up from 17% in April<br \/>\nOnline billing for LGFS<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>LAA and MOJ Digital Services have also started IT development to enable litigators to submit Litigator Graduated Fee Scheme (LGFS) claims online through the CCD application.<\/p>\n<p>A provider pilot was run during May and further information will follow in the future.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"third-party-case-management-systems\">Third party case management systems<\/h3>\n<p>The project team is keen to ensure that online billing works well with all case management systems.<br \/>\nAll users are encouraged to register their interest in integrating CDD with other systems by contacting their software vendors.<\/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 online AGFS billing and download a \u2018Crown Court Defence FAQ\u2019 document<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:crowncourtdefence@legalaid.gsi.gov.uk\">crowncourtdefence@legalaid.gsi.gov.uk<\/a> \u2013 for email enquiries about the Crime Billing Online project<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National rollout of online billing under the Advocates\u2019 Graduated Fee Scheme is now complete.<\/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\/71278"}],"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=71278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}