The CLC has made changes to the way that fees are collected following a full consultation over the summer of 2021 and approval of the proposals by the Legal Services Board. As a result of these changes, the previous Practice Fee has been split into two charges:
- The Practice Fee (billed in advance in November each year for the coming 12 months); and
- The OLC levy (billed in arrears in April each year for the prior 12 months).
In November Practice Fees were reduced by an average of 23%. The purpose of this rate reduction was to remove the OLC levy cost from the Practice Fee charge.
The CLC says it will shortly notify practices of their share of the OLC levy for the period November 2021 to March 2022 (the March 2021 to October 2021 portion was collected under the previous system). The levy is being billed now so that it aligns with the OLC financial year and invoice to the CLC. Future bills will reflect the full year cost of the OLC.
The OLC levy has two components:
- An availability fee which is set at 70% of the total OLC cost and allocated to practices based on the proportion of their Practice Fee charge to the total Practice Fee collected. As well as the usage fee for cases relating to closed practices.
- A usage fee comprising of 30% of the OLC cost. Only practices that have had cases accepted by the OLC for investigation in the previous 3 years will pay the usage fee. The usage fee is calculated using a case fee derived by dividing the total average annual number of cases over the last 3 years by 30% of the total OLC cost.
Full details and the calculation of each practice’s contribution to the OLC levy will be set out in individual letters which the CLC will be issuing in the coming days.
