Police station escape fee calculator
Legal Aid Agency police-station remuneration for a unique file number on or after 22 December 2025. Work out whether hourly profit costs escape the £650 threshold and what the claim is (fixed fee plus excess, not the full hourly total). Mileage is a separate disbursement. Figures are exclusive of VAT.
UFNs before 2025-12-22 use older scheme-specific fees and are not calculated here. There is no automatic “double fee”. Sources last checked: 2026-10-05.
UFN date vs determination date: SI 2025/1251 regulation 5 applies the harmonised rates to services following a relevant determination made on or after 22 December 2025. The LAA Guide to the Changes in Reporting Crime Lower Work uses the UFN date in SaBC reporting. This calculator follows that UFN-date practice. If a rare file has a mismatched UFN and determination date, check the guide and your contract manager before claiming.
Unique file numbers on or after 2025-12-22 only. All amounts are exclusive of VAT.
Mileage disbursement (optional)
Profit costs and escape fee
Claim: £336.58 ex VAT
Hourly profit costs £666.58 exceed the £650 escape threshold. SCC Specification para 9.94 and CBAM Version 27 section 5.13: the claim is the £320 fixed fee plus the excess over £650, which is £336.58 excluding VAT. It is not the full hourly total.
- Hourly profit costs
- £666.58
- Escape threshold
- £650.00
- Fixed fee
- £320.00
- Escapes fixed fee?
- Yes
The fixed fee and the escape threshold do not include VAT (CBAM Version 27, section 5.13 paragraph 7). Crime lower costs are reported exclusive of VAT. This module does not add a VAT amount.
Travel and waiting time at the Schedule 4 hourly rates is included in profit costs for the escape test (SCC Specification paras 9.75 and 9.103). On an escape claim, assessment will not allow more than 45 minutes’ travelling time each way unless paras 9.75A to 9.75C (destination police station) apply (para 9.99). This module does not apply that cap, because it does not know how the time was split across journeys.
Double fee — not calculated
“Double fee” is not a term defined in the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 or in the 2025 Standard Crime Contract Specification. The contract does not pay twice the fixed fee because there were two interviews or two attendances. Paragraph 9.77: if the client is under investigation for a number of offences, the starting point is one police station attendance fixed fee. More than one fixed fee is possible only where the client has genuinely separate legal problems requiring separate advice, which must be justified in a file note. Paragraphs 4.40 and 4.41: two matters that need advice on one occasion only, or that arise from the same set of circumstances, are not separate police-station matters. This module will not turn those tests into a number.
For PACE time limits and reviews, use the PACE detention clock. For training note layout, see the attendance notes gallery.
Source register (England and Wales)
LAA regulations, Standard Crime Contract Specification, assessment guidance, and UFN reporting notes used on this page (checked 5 October 2026).
| Document | Section / paragraph | Effective | Date checked | Rule supported |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, Schedule 4 | Paragraph 2(1)–(5) and the hourly-rate table | Hourly table from 30 September 2022 (SI 2022/848); fixed fee and threshold from 22 December 2025 (SI 2025/1251) | 2026-10-05 | Attendance, travel and waiting hourly rates; telephone and CDD fees; £320 fixed fee; £650 escape threshold for all schemes |
| Criminal Legal Aid (General and Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 | Schedule 2 paragraph 1, substituting Schedule 4 paragraph 2(4) and (5) | 22 December 2025 | 2026-10-05 | Harmonised police station fixed fee £320 and escape threshold £650 |
| 2025 Standard Crime Contract Specification | Paragraphs 4.37–4.41, 5.43, 9.75, 9.77, 9.81, 9.90–9.99 and 9.103 | Specification in force for the 2025 contract (1 October 2025 to 30 September 2035); fee figures in the regulations from 22 December 2025 | 2026-10-05 | Escape fee is fixed fee plus hourly excess over the threshold; telephone fee in the threshold test only; 45p per mile; no defined double fee; separate matters test; 45-minute travel cap on assessment |
| Criminal Bills Assessment Manual, Version 27 | Section 5.13 (escape fee cases), including the £320 / £650 / £1,500 / £1,170 example | October 2026 | 2026-10-05 | Escape claim formula, VAT exclusion, disbursements outside the threshold, public-transport 25p and bicycle 20p assessment rates |
| LAA Travel and Subsistence Guidance | Mileage guide rates: standard motor 45p, public transport 25p, cycling 20p | Guidance current on gov.uk at the date checked | 2026-10-05 | Assessment mileage rates where a private car is or is not justified. Not HMRC rates. |
| Criminal Legal Aid (General and Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 | Regulation 5 (amendments apply to services following a relevant determination on or after 22 December 2025) | 22 December 2025 | 2026-10-05 | Legal trigger for the harmonised £320 fixed fee and £650 escape threshold is the determination date under LASPO, not the UFN date alone. |
| Guide to the Changes in Reporting Crime Lower Work (LAA) | Table 2 — UFNs dated 22 December 2025 onwards | Guidance current on gov.uk at the date checked | 2026-10-05 | SaBC reporting practice uses the UFN date for the harmonised fees; this calculator follows that UFN-date approach. |