What is the CCMS Portal (CCMS LAA)?

The CCMS Portal refers to the Client and Cost Management System (CCMS). This portal is an online system that allows costs lawyers, costs draftsmen, fee earners and handlers from the Legal Aid Agency to organise, and work on, their caseload.

The CCMS encompasses the entire procedure involved in certificated civil and family legal aid work, ranging from the initial submission of legal aid applications to the subsequent payment of bills.

CCMS Portal submission

The Legal Aid Agency has undergone a significant transformation, discarding outdated paper-based processes in favour of the streamlined CCMS Portal. This has made the agency’s approach to handling cases much more efficient and effective.

Upon reaching the settlement stage, the CCMS Portal allows legal professionals to seamlessly manage their costs. All costs claims can now be submitted through this system, allowing a costs draftsman to efficiently address each matter on a case-by-case basis.

Furthermore, it is worth highlighting that the Family Advocacy Scheme (FAS) enables the submission of claims for fees and disbursements under any certificate, simplifying the process of recovering legal aid costs.

Whilst the CCMS provides the option to submit exceptional legal aid cases, submitting an interim/final claim for costs on a certificate through this system can pose challenges.

To streamline the process and enhance efficiency, we suggest utilising third-party software specifically designed for compiling hourly rates exceptional costs claims.

If you are dealing with aged legal aid claims that pre-date CCMS, costs should be submitted in the relevant CLAIM1/CLAIM1A format and emailed to CIS-SFE@justice.gov.uk for processing, along with evidential documents in support.  This ensures that you can still follow an electronic submissions process, rather than dealing with paper submissions which can be time ineffective. 

How can ARC Costs Assist?

The team of expert Costs Lawyers and Costs Draftsman at ARC Costs are specialists in legal aid costs matters. Our team can assist in quantifying your costs claims, as well as uploading the relevant documents to the CCMS alongside preparing exceptional costs claims on third party software. 

We can further assist on any legal aid matters in which inter partes costs orders are made (this can be common in Judicial Review and civil disputes, and sometimes and family law disputes where there has been unreasonable conduct). Generally on these cases, we prepare comprehensive Bills of Costs in a 6 column bill format to recovery both IP and LAA costs, to maximise your recovery.

To find out more about how we can help you, please contact us on 01204 387302. Alternatively, contact an expert directly at info@arccosts.co.uk.

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