England and Wales legal aid fees change on 28 July 2026
According to legislation.gov.uk, the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026 were made on 1 July 2026, laid before Parliament on 3 July 2026, and will come into force on 28 July 2026. They apply in England and Wales and make small but important changes to how some advocacy work in Crown Court legal aid cases is paid. If that sounds highly technical, the plain-English version is this: the Government is widening access to some preparation payments and increasing one extra fee from £62 to £81. That matters because criminal cases often involve many hours of work before anyone even speaks in court.
The rule change amends Schedule 1 to the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013. That schedule contains the Advocates' Graduated Fee Scheme, which is the framework used to pay advocates in Crown Court cases funded by criminal legal aid. For readers new to this, advocates are usually barristers or solicitor advocates representing defendants in serious criminal cases. Their legal aid pay does not work like a simple hourly wage for every task. Instead, it follows set fees and formulas. So even a short amendment can affect what kind of work is formally recognised and paid for.
One of the changes concerns the wasted preparation fee. Until now, the rule said a trial had to last five days before an advocate could apply for that fee. From 28 July 2026, that threshold falls to two days. **What this means:** the gateway for claiming this payment opens earlier than before. In practical terms, more shorter Crown Court trials may now qualify where advocates have done preparation work that ends up being wasted. The amendment does not rewrite the whole funding system, but it does shift the line from five days to two.
The second amendment is about the additional preparation fee. The regulations remove wording that excluded guilty plea cases, which means this fee can now be claimed even where a case ends with a guilty plea. The fee also rises from £62 to £81. That may look like a narrow drafting change, but it teaches us something useful about how criminal cases really work. A guilty plea can still come after substantial preparation. Lawyers may have read case papers, advised a client, prepared arguments, and attended hearings before that plea is entered. The new rule accepts that this work can still deserve payment.
The start date is especially important. These amendments only apply where the formal legal aid decision for criminal representation, made under section 16 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, is made on or after 28 July 2026. So this is not a blanket change for every existing case already moving through the courts. The cut-off is tied to when legal aid representation is formally granted. If you are trying to understand who benefits, that date is the practical dividing line.
The instrument was made using powers in the 2012 Act by the Lord Chancellor and signed by Sarah Sackman, Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice, on 1 July 2026. The explanatory note also says no full impact assessment was produced because the Government does not expect a significant effect on the private, voluntary or public sectors. That official wording suggests ministers see this as a modest administrative change rather than a major funding overhaul. Even so, payment rules matter. They shape what work the justice system notices, values, and is willing to fund.
There is a wider civic lesson here too. Criminal legal aid is not only about what happens in open court. A great deal of the job happens beforehand: reading evidence, advising clients, preparing for hearings, and doing work that the public rarely sees. When the fee rules change, even by a small amount, they show us something about how justice is organised behind the scenes. So the takeaway is clear. According to legislation.gov.uk, these 2026 regulations do three concrete things in England and Wales: they cut the wasted preparation threshold from five days to two, they allow the additional preparation fee to be claimed in guilty plea cases, and they raise that fee from £62 to £81. Small figures on the page, but a useful window into how criminal justice is funded in real life.