Access to Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2003

Remuneration orders N.I.

47.—(1) When making any remuneration order the Lord Chancellor shall have regard, among the matters which are relevant, to—

(a) the time and skill which the provision of services of the description to which the order relates requires;

(b) the number and general level of competence of persons providing those services;

(c) the cost to public funds of any provision made by the regulations; and

(d) the need to secure value for money.

(2) Before making any remuneration order, the Lord Chancellor—

(a) shall consult the Lord Chief Justice, the Law Society, the General Council of the Bar of Northern Ireland and, if the remuneration order relates to criminal defence services, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and

(b) may undertake such other consultation as appears to him to be appropriate.

(3) When the Lord Chancellor is making provision in a remuneration order which prescribes fees which are to be paid to persons or bodies in respect of the provision of services by them, nothing in paragraph (1) requires him to have regard to any fee payable, otherwise than in accordance with a remuneration order, in respect of the provision of such services.

(4) In paragraphs (1) to (3) “remuneration order” means an order under Article 12(3), 23(3) or 24(3) which relates to the payment by the [F1 Department] of remuneration—

(a) for the provision of services by persons or bodies in individual cases, or

(b) by reference to the provision of services by persons or bodies in specified numbers of cases.

(5) Until the Attorney General is a person appointed under section 22(2) of the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002F2 , the reference in paragraph (2) to the Director of Public Prosecutions shall be construed as a reference to the Attorney General.

F1 Word in art. 47(4) substituted (18.11.2014) by Legal Aid and Coroners‘ Courts Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 (c. 11), s. 12(2)(d)(v), Sch. 2 para. 6(38) (with ss. 2(3), 9, Sch. 1 para. 3(3)) (but this amendment cannot take effect until the commencement of S.I. 2003/435, art. 47)

F2 2002 c. 26

Commencement Information

I1 Art. 47 in operation at 1.4.2015 by S.R. 2015/194, art. 2, Sch. (with art. 3)