The AGFS additional preparation fee rises from £62 to £81 for cases with a representation order dated on or after 28 July 2026, an uplift of around 31%, and for the first time extends to guilty pleas as well as trials and cracked trials, under SI 2026/744 and Crown Court Fee Guidance v1.24.
TL;DR · LAST REVIEWED 22 July 2026
- The additional preparation fee is a fixed fee under paragraph 18A, Schedule 1 of the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, paid on top of the graduated fee.
- For representation orders dated on or after 28 July 2026 the fee is £81 and covers trials, cracked trials and guilty pleas; for orders dated 17 April 2023 to 27 July 2026 it remains £62 and covers trials and cracked trials only.
- The change is made by the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/744), which amends Schedule 1 to the 2013 Regulations.
- In guilty plea cases the fee is claimable wherever a full guilty plea fee is payable, including discontinuances where the prosecution has served its evidence.
- Discontinuances before evidence is served attract only 50% of the guilty plea basic fee and are not eligible for the additional preparation fee.
- Claims go through the miscellaneous fees page of the Claim for Crown Court Defence (CCCD) tool, though the LAA has warned the CCCD update may not be live immediately from 28 July 2026.
AGFS additional preparation fee: rate and eligibility by representation order date and case outcome
| On or after 28 July 2026 | £81 | Trial, cracked trial or guilty plea | SI 2026/744; CCFG v1.24 paragraph 2.17A |
| 17 April 2023 to 27 July 2026 | £62 | Trial or cracked trial only | Fee as introduced; guilty pleas not covered |
| Before 17 April 2023 | Not payable | No eligibility | Fee did not exist for these representation orders |
| Discontinuance, evidence served | Fee payable | Claim as discontinuance in CCCD | Paid in addition to the full guilty plea fee |
| Discontinuance, no evidence served | Not payable | 50% of guilty plea basic fee only | Not eligible for the additional preparation fee |
| Dismissals, remittances, no evidence offered after not guilty plea at PTPH | Fee payable | Claim as guilty plea | Treated as guilty plea scenarios in the guidance |
Source: Crown Court Fee Guidance v1.24 and Legal Aid Agency, 22 July 2026
KEY FACTS
- New rate: £81 fixed fee for representation orders dated on or after 28 July 2026, up from £62, an increase of £19 or roughly 31%
- Scope from 28 July 2026: trials, cracked trials and guilty pleas; before that date the fee applied to trials and cracked trials only
- Legal basis: paragraph 18A, Schedule 1, Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, as amended by SI 2026/744
- Guidance: Crown Court Fee Guidance version 1.24 (July 2026), paragraph 2.17A, following the v1.23 uplift and guilty plea expansion
- The AGFS calculator will be updated in due course, and the LAA will issue interim claiming instructions if the CCCD update is not ready by 28 July 2026
What is the AGFS additional preparation fee
The additional preparation fee is a fixed fee under paragraph 18A, Schedule 1 of the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, introduced for representation orders dated on or after 17 April 2023 at £62, and paid on top of the advocate's graduated fee.
The fee was added to the Advocates' Graduated Fee Scheme to enhance remuneration for preparation beyond the expected norm. The Crown Court Fee Guidance describes its purpose as recognising two pressures on advocates: the preparation carried out for trials that prove ineffective, and the growth in the scope and volume of written and audio-visual material that Crown Court cases now routinely involve. As originally introduced, the fee was payable only where the matter was a trial or a cracked trial, at a flat £62 regardless of case length or complexity, and only for cases with a representation order dated on or after 17 April 2023. It sits within the miscellaneous fees of the scheme rather than the graduated fee calculation itself, which is why it is claimed separately through the miscellaneous fees route in the billing system rather than forming part of the main graduated fee claim. The fee is per case rather than per hearing, and the current authority for both the rate and the eligibility rules is paragraph 2.17A of the Crown Court Fee Guidance, now at version 1.24 following two updates in July 2026.
What changed on 28 July 2026
Two things: the fixed fee rises from £62 to £81, an increase of £19 or roughly 31%, and eligibility extends from trials and cracked trials to include guilty pleas, for representation orders dated on or after 28 July 2026.
The changes are made by the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/744, which amends Schedule 1 to the 2013 Remuneration Regulations, the schedule that sets out the graduated, fixed and miscellaneous fees payable to advocates in the Crown Court. The operative date turns on the representation order, not the date of the hearing or the claim: a case with a representation order dated 27 July 2026 or earlier remains on the £62 rate and the old trial and cracked trial eligibility, while an order dated 28 July 2026 or later attracts £81 and the wider scope including guilty pleas. The guilty plea extension is the more significant of the two changes in practice, since guilty pleas make up a large share of Crown Court disposals and were previously excluded entirely. The Legal Aid Agency updated the Crown Court Fee Guidance twice in July 2026 to implement this: version 1.23 introduced the uplift and the guilty plea expansion, and version 1.24, published alongside an LAA news story on 22 July 2026, clarified exactly which guilty plea payment scenarios qualify.
When can the fee be claimed in guilty plea cases
The fee is claimable in any scenario where a full guilty plea fee is payable to the instructed advocate, including discontinuances where the prosecution has served its evidence, but not where a case is discontinued before evidence is served.
The v1.24 clarification draws the line at the full guilty plea fee. Where the instructed advocate is entitled to the full guilty plea fee, the additional preparation fee can be claimed on top. The most important application is discontinuances: where the prosecution has served its evidence before discontinuing, the case should still be claimed as a discontinuance in CCCD, and the additional preparation fee is payable in addition to the guilty plea fee. Where the case is discontinued before any evidence has been served, the instructed advocate is entitled to only 50% of the guilty plea basic fee, and that scenario is expressly not eligible for the additional preparation fee. The guidance is equally specific about three other outcomes: dismissals, remittances and cases where no evidence is offered after a not guilty plea at the plea and trial preparation hearing should all continue to be claimed as guilty pleas, which brings them within the fee's scope for qualifying representation orders. Cases discontinued either before or after service of evidence should continue to be claimed as discontinuances rather than reclassified, with eligibility for the fee following the evidence-served test rather than the claim label.
How is the additional preparation fee claimed
Through the miscellaneous fees page of the Claim for Crown Court Defence online billing tool, by selecting 'additional preparation fee' from the dropdown list, though the CCCD update for the new £81 rate may not be live on 28 July 2026.
The claiming route is unchanged by the uplift: the fee is a miscellaneous fee, claimed by navigating to the miscellaneous fees page within a CCCD claim, opening the dropdown fee list, selecting the additional preparation fee and completing the submission. CCCD is being updated with signposting to remind providers that the fee is available in all eligible cases. Advocates whose chambers use vendor-supplied case management systems rather than claiming directly in CCCD should contact their software supplier about how to request the fee at submission. Two practical warnings sit alongside the rules. First, the LAA has said the CCCD update enabling the increased fee to be claimed, including in guilty plea cases, may not be available immediately from 28 July 2026, and that it will issue further communications confirming how providers should submit claims in any interim period, so claims for qualifying cases in the first weeks may need to be held or submitted under interim arrangements. Second, the AGFS calculator will be updated in due course, meaning fee estimates generated before that update will not reflect the £81 rate or the guilty plea scenarios.
Which rate applies to a specific case
The representation order date decides everything: orders dated on or after 28 July 2026 attract £81 across trials, cracked trials and guilty pleas, orders dated 17 April 2023 to 27 July 2026 attract £62 for trials and cracked trials only, and earlier orders attract nothing.
Because the fee turns on the representation order date rather than when the case concludes, advocates will be running both regimes in parallel for some time. A trial concluding in autumn 2026 on a representation order granted in June 2026 is a £62 case with no guilty plea eligibility, while an identical case on an order granted in August 2026 is an £81 case with the full eligibility. The transitional provision in regulation 3 of SI 2026/744 preserves the old rules for pre-commencement orders, which is the standard approach in AGFS amendments and the reason the Crown Court Fee Guidance states both rates side by side in paragraph 2.17A. For billing teams, the practical check is a three-step one: confirm the representation order date, confirm the case outcome against the eligibility table above, and where the outcome is a discontinuance, confirm whether the prosecution served evidence before the case ended, since that single fact decides both the level of the guilty plea fee and eligibility for the additional preparation fee. The fee remains flat in all cases: it does not scale with pages of prosecution evidence, trial length or offence category, unlike the graduated fee it accompanies.
How to claim the additional preparation fee in CCCD
- Open the claim in the Claim for Crown Court Defence (CCCD) online billing tool.
- Navigate to the 'miscellaneous fees' or 'misc fees' page within the claim.
- Open the dropdown fee list on that page.
- Select 'additional preparation fee' from the list.
- Complete and submit the claim as normal.
- Advocates using vendor case management software should ask their supplier how to add the fee at submission.
RELATED GUIDES
DISCLAIMER
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or billing advice. Fee eligibility depends on the specific representation order, case outcome and current Legal Aid Agency guidance, which providers should verify against the Crown Court Fee Guidance and the Remuneration Regulations before claiming.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the AGFS additional preparation fee
The fee is £81 for cases with a representation order dated on or after 28 July 2026, and £62 for orders dated between 17 April 2023 and 27 July 2026. It is a flat fixed fee that does not scale with case size or trial length.
Can the additional preparation fee be claimed on a guilty plea
Yes, for representation orders dated on or after 28 July 2026, wherever a full guilty plea fee is payable. Orders dated before 28 July 2026 remain limited to trials and cracked trials.
Is the fee payable when a case is discontinued
It depends on evidence. If the prosecution served its evidence before discontinuing, the fee is payable in addition to the full guilty plea fee. If no evidence was served, only 50% of the guilty plea basic fee is payable and the additional preparation fee cannot be claimed.
How is the additional preparation fee claimed
Through the miscellaneous fees page in the Claim for Crown Court Defence (CCCD) tool, by selecting 'additional preparation fee' from the dropdown list. The LAA has warned the CCCD update for the new rate may not be live immediately from 28 July 2026.
What legislation sets the additional preparation fee
Paragraph 18A, Schedule 1 of the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, as amended by the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/744), with detailed rules in paragraph 2.17A of the Crown Court Fee Guidance.
SOURCES
- The Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026 – accessed 22 July 2026
- Legal Aid Agency, AGFS additional preparation fee news story – accessed 22 July 2026
- Legal Aid Agency, Crown Court Fee Guidance v1.24, paragraph 2.17A – accessed 22 July 2026
