LAA Attendance Notes Explained: What Solicitors Need to Know

By Custody Note Editorial·15 February 2026·Updated 31 May 2026

Product editorial team — criminal defence workflow guidance for England and Wales. Content reviewed for general professional workflow accuracy; not legal advice.

Your attendance note is the evidentiary foundation for your Legal Aid Agency claim. If the note is weak, the claim is vulnerable. This guide explains exactly how attendance notes support LAA billing for police station work.

Open Matters — the LAA-aware practice view: Total, Needs Docs, Needs Invoice, Invoiced, Uninvoiced Revenue.

For the complete guide to attendance notes, see Police Station Attendance Notes (UK Guide).

Section 1 — Case Reference & Arrival. UFN, DSCC, instructing firm, 45-minute test — captured at the moment of instruction.

How the LAA billing system works for police station attendance

Police station work under legal aid is billed using the fixed fee scheme. The key numbers (as of December 2025):

Standard fixed fee (INVC): £320
Telephone fixed fee — London (INVB1): £33
Telephone fixed fee — non-London (INVB2): £31.74
Escape fee threshold: three times the fixed fee value

Claims are submitted monthly through the Submit a Bulk Claim (SaBC) system, which replaced the previous CWA system in February 2026.

Section 9 — Time Recording & Fees. Every billable minute captured live with a Now button — fixed-fee or escape-fee.

When attendance notes become critical for billing

Fixed fee claims

For standard fixed fee claims, your attendance note must demonstrate that the work was actually done. An assessor checking the file will look for:

Evidence of attendance (times, station, custody reference)
Evidence of work done (disclosure, consultation, interview)
Correct fee code applied
Claim narrative consistent with the file

A structured attendance note with clear sections makes this straightforward. A vague note with no timestamps or structure invites queries.

Escape fee claims

Escape fee claims are where attendance notes become essential. You must demonstrate that the complexity and time spent justify billing at hourly rates. That requires:

A detailed time breakdown (travel, waiting, consultation, interview, post-interview)
A narrative explaining complexity — why the matter exceeded the fixed fee in duration or difficulty
Consistent records — the times in your attendance note must match the times in your CRM

The time breakdown in your attendance note is the primary evidence. If the note says “total: 2 hours” with no segmentation, the assessor cannot verify the claim components.

Travel and waiting

Travel and waiting time are claimable where the Standard Crime Contract permits. Your note must record:

Time you departed
Time you arrived at the station
Time spent waiting before consultation or interview began

Without these timestamps, the claim element is difficult to defend.

Disbursements

Interpreter fees, mileage, and other disbursements must be linked to a specific attendance date and matter. A structured attendance note with disbursement fields ties the expenditure to the record automatically, rather than relying on retrospective receipt-matching.

Section 5 — Disclosure. Substantive disclosure notes — the LAA's first audit check — are a structured field, not free text.

Common LAA claim mistakes and how attendance notes prevent them

Vague time records. The CRM shows “3 hours” but the file has no breakdown. Fix: segmented time summary in the attendance note.
Missing custody reference. The claim cannot be matched to the police records. Fix: custody record number in the header of every note.
Narrative does not match the file. The CRM claims interview attendance but the note shows telephone advice only. Fix: consistent attendance type recorded at the time.
Inconsistent versions. The billing team works from a handwritten note that differs from the typed-up Word version. Fix: one structured digital record created at the time.
Orphan disbursements. An interpreter invoice cannot be linked to an attendance. Fix: disbursement fields in the note tied to the date and matter.

Section 6 — Consultation. Every advice tickbox is named — auditors can see what you advised on, line by line.

How structured digital notes reduce rejections

A structured digital workflow answers the same questions on every attendance: who, where, when, what was advised, what happened, and what supports the fee. That does not guarantee payment, but it reduces the gap between the work done and the file an assessor sees months later.

Tools like Custody Note include LAA-oriented billing fields, time recording, fee calculation, and QuickFile invoicing — so the journey from attendance to claim is one continuous workflow rather than five separate re-typing exercises.

Open Matters provides the line-item view the SaBC bulk upload needs, filterable by client, firm, station and date.

The SaBC system

Since February 2026, claims are submitted through the LAA's Submit a Bulk Claim system. Providers submit monthly by the 20th. The system calculates fees based on the fee codes and data you provide. Structured attendance notes make SaBC submissions faster and more accurate because the data — attendance type, times, disbursements — is already captured in a consistent format.

Settings — encrypted local storage and an opt-in encrypted cloud backup; LAA and SRA-aligned.

Professional responsibility

Billing software does not replace your obligation to apply the correct codes, rates, and narratives. You must check the current LAA tables, CRM guidance, and your firm's billing procedures before submitting any claim. Custody Note is not endorsed by the LAA — it is a tool to help you produce structured records that support your professional judgment.

Build billing data into your attendance notes from the start.

Custody Note includes LAA billing fields, time recording, fee calculation, and invoicing — all in one record. 30-day free trial.

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