Following enquiries by the Law Society, the Legal Services
Commission (LSC) has confirmed that: 'cases where the magistrate's
discharge a defendant at committal following a successful
submission of no case to answer are treated as cases where
committal proceedings are discontinued or withdrawn'.
The Law Society wrote to the LSC to seek clarification that
following the removal of the committal fee, there will still be
funding for cases which are discharged at a committal hearing
following a successful submission of no case to answer. The Society
had some concerns that on a strict reading of the contract and the
CDS Funding Order 2011, it appeared that with the removal of the
committal fee under article 25 of the Order, there was no longer
any provision for payment in such cases. However, the LSC has
clarified that part B, paragraph 10.91 of the specification, which
refers to cases that are 'discontinued or withdrawn' also applies
to cases that are discharged.
Our judicial review on the removal of the committal fee for
either-way cases has been listed before a Divisional court of three
judges although we are still waiting for a hearing date. This is
now likely to be sometime in January 2012.