Supplementary evidence submitted by the
Legal Services Commission in response to questions from the Committee
REPRESENTATION ORDERS
IN THE
MAGISTRATES' COURTS:
VOLUMES AND
VALUES
| Lower Standard Fee
| | Higher Standard Fee
| | Non Standard Fee |
| Year | No of Cases
| Cost (£,000) | Average Cost (£)
| No of Cases | Cost (£,000)Average Cost (£)
No of Cases
Cost (£,000)
Average Cost (£)
|
| 2003-04 | 467,474 | 160,781
| 344 | 87,086 | 76,369
| 877 | 33,187 | 60,740
| 1,830 |
| 2002-03 | 449,921 | 154,849
| 344 | 91,866 | 79,741
| 868 | 32,818 | 61,774
| 1,882 |
| 2001-02 | 470,265 | 155,944
| 332 | 89,733 | 73,168
| 815 | 38,222 | 73,695
| 1,928 |
| 2000-01 | 361,231 | 104,183
| 288 | 57,369 | 43,285
| 755 | 49,032 | 87,051
| 1,775 |
| | |
| | | |
| | |
Notes:
1. From April 2001 the Commission moved from counting
claims to cases.
2. In addition to the above, two other changes took place
in April 2001 which had the effect of increasing average case
costs by around 17% (Post charge advice and assistance, which
would previously have been claimed separately was included as
part of the magistrates' court claim; and rates of pay were increased).
3. The figures for 2001-02 include work counted by claim
and by case.
BREAKDOWN OF
MAGISTRATES' COURT
COSTS APRIL
2003-MARCH 2004
Lower standard fee
| Offence Code | Offence Code Description
| No ofCases | Total Supplier Cost Including Counsel (£)
| Average Cost Per Case (£) |
| 1 | Offences against the person
| 76,997 | 28,639,813 | 372
|
| 2 | Homicide and related grave offences
| 660 | 256,278 | 388
|
| 3 | Sexual offences, offences against children
| 6,089 | 2,449,884 | 402
|
| 4 | Robbery | 3,463
| 1,556,230 | 449 |
| 5 | Burglary | 30,611
| 11,340,976 | 370 |
| 6 | Criminal damage | 27,719
| 9,096,004 | 328 |
| 7 | Theft | 103,988
| 33,315,189 | 320 |
| 8 | Fraud and forgery, offences of dishonesty
| 21,263 | 7,414,590 | 349
|
| 9 | Public order offences, offences against public justice
| 40,957 | 14,257,335 | 348
|
| 10 | Offences in relation to supply, production and possession of drugs
| 24,340 | 8,549,918 | 351
|
| 11 | Driving offences | 79,252
| 26,052,039 | 329 |
| 12 | Other offences | 59,992
| 17,780,547 | 296 |
| Total | 475,331
| 160,708,803 | 338
|
| | |
| |
Higher Standard fees
| Offence Code | Offence Code Description
| No ofCases | Total Supplier Cost Including Counsel (£)
| Average Cost Per Case (£) |
| 1 | Offences against the person
| 22,776 | 20,551,147 | 902
|
| 2 | Homicide and related grave offences
| 168 | 156,340 | 931
|
| 3 | Sexual offences, offences against children
| 1,885 | 1,685,217 | 894
|
| 4 | Robbery | 1,424
| 1,491,235 | 1,047 |
| 5 | Burglary | 6,451
| 5,717,808 | 886 |
| 6 | Criminal damage | 4,712
| 4,134,349 | 877 |
| 7 | Theft | 14,852
| 12,281,189 | 827 |
| 8 | Fraud and forgery, offences of dishonesty
| 4,031 | 3,406,740 | 845
|
| 9 | Public order offences, offences against public justice
| 8,534 | 7,494,952 | 878
|
| 10 | Offences in relation to supply, production and possession of drugs
| 3,251 | 2,922,113 | 899
|
| 11 | Driving offences | 13,595
| 11,690,617 | 860 |
| 12 | Other offences | 5,765
| 4,799,425 | 833 |
| Total | 87,444
| 76,331,132 | 873
|
| | |
| |
Non standard fees
| Offence Code | Offence Code Description
| No ofCases | Total Supplier Cost Including Counsel (£)
| Average Cost Per Case (£) |
| 1 | Offences against the person
| 10,362 | 18,906,849 | 1,825
|
| 2 | Homicide and related grave offences
| 158 | 512,810 | 3,246
|
| 3 | Sexual offences, offences against children
| 1,434 | 3,214,776 | 2,242
|
| 4 | Robbery | 1,025
| 2,240,060 | 2,185 |
| 5 | Burglary | 2,074
| 3,459,103 | 1,668 |
| 6 | Criminal damage | 1,454
| 2,506,771 | 1,724 |
| 7 | Theft | 4,078
| 6,297,170 | 1,544 |
| 8 | Fraud and forgery, offences of dishonesty
| 1,476 | 3,767,694 | 2,553
|
| 9 | Public order offences, offences against public justice
| 3,659 | 7,085,692 | 1,937
|
| 10 | Offences in relation to supply, production and possession of drugs
| 1,082 | 2,170,757 | 2,006
|
| 11 | Driving offences | 4,150
| 6,828,241 | 1,645 |
| 12 | Other offences | 2,166
| 4,784,588 | 2,209 |
| Total | 33,118
| 61,774,511 | 1,865
|
| | |
| |
Interpretation of the first table "volumes and values
time series" is a little tricky as there were considerable
changes to the way we recorded and paid for cases during 2001.
Basically from April 2001 onwards for new cases in the magistrates
court we started counting the number of cases rather than the
number of claims (prior to April 2001 there could have been more
than one claim per case).
In addition, from April 2001 post charge advice and assistance
was included in the cost of the magistrates court case and payment
rates were increased.. We estimate that broadly speaking this
lead to a rise in average case costs of around 17%.
Finally, the totals in the two tables wont quite match (particularly
for non standard fees) as the two queries on the database were
run at different times.
Legal Services Commission
10 June 2004
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