England and Wales adopt 65:75:100 legal aid fees 3 March
New rules on how criminal defence work is paid are now set. On 5 February 2026 the Ministry of Justice signed the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, published on legislation.gov.uk. They apply in England and Wales from 3 March 2026 and update the 2013 remuneration framework.
If you are revising for public law or criminal practice, note the legal base. The Lord Chancellor has exercised powers under sections 2(3) and 41 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. The instrument was laid before Parliament on 6 February 2026 and signed on 5 February by Sarah Sackman, Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice.
The headline change is a fixed ratio across offence types: 65:75:100 for guilty plea, cracked trial and trial basic fees. In plain terms, a trial attracts the full basic fee, a cracked trial three‑quarters of that, and a guilty plea 65 percent. The replacement tables in Schedule 2 set this relationship for all offence categories.
For litigators in the Crown Court, trial basic fees for offence bands E, F, G, H and I rise within the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme. The Ministry of Justice also increases certain appeal fees, with new tables substituted in Schedules 2 and 4 to reflect the revised payments.
You will see frequent references to the ‘PPE cut‑off’. PPE means pages of prosecution evidence and is used to gauge the size of a case. The amended tables cover both cases at or below the cut‑off and those above it, for cracked trials, guilty pleas and trials, while keeping the 65:75:100 split consistent.
Timing matters for practitioners and students alike. The Regulations only apply where there is a ‘relevant determination’ on or after 3 March 2026. That is a legal aid decision under LASPO 2012 section 13 (advice and assistance for individuals in custody), section 15 (advice and assistance for criminal proceedings) or section 16 (representation for criminal proceedings) made on or after that date.
Appeals receive attention too. The fee table for representation on an appeal by way of case stated-where a lower court asks the High Court to rule on a point of law-has been replaced. Payments for Assigned Counsel are clarified: limits now apply to work in the magistrates’ or youth court and to appeals by way of case stated in the High Court, as set out in the new table.
For classroom discussion, the key learning is predictability. The Government has moved to a transparent national split between plea, cracked trial and trial fees and nudged up some higher‑band trial and appeal payments. The aim is that the relationship between outcomes is clear before a case concludes.
A quick worked example helps you visualise it. If the basic trial fee for a given offence band were £1,000, the cracked trial fee would be £750 and the guilty plea fee £650. Actual sums still vary by offence band and by PPE, but the proportions now hold across the scheme.
The Explanatory Note points you to a full impact assessment published with the Ministry of Justice’s response to ‘Criminal Legal Aid: proposals for solicitor fee scheme reform’. Use that, alongside the statutory instrument on legislation.gov.uk, to explore how fee rules can influence behaviour and resourcing in the justice system.
If you are facing charges, nothing here alters whether you qualify for legal aid; it changes how your lawyer is paid once legal aid is granted. If you work in a firm, check which schedule applies, confirm the PPE position early, and ensure new determinations made on or after 3 March are costed under the updated tables.
The dates are easy to remember. Made on 5 February 2026, laid on 6 February and in force from 3 March, the amendments extend to England and Wales. We will keep watching how these changes bed in and how they support timely access to advice and representation.