Redress For Survivors (Historical Child Abuse In Care) (Scotland) Act 2021 - payment of legal fees and related decisions: statutory guidance - updated November 2024

Legal fees for Nominated Beneficiaries

19. Where an applicant passes away during the application process, a nominated beneficiary may be invited to take over the application in the circumstances set out in section 66 of the Act. As this sets out, depending on the circumstances, a nominated beneficiary may be invited to take over before or after a determination is made on the application.

20. The fees for advising the applicant can be found in Part 1 and Part 2 of the Table of Fees in the Schedule of the Regulations. As per regulation 6(3) and (4) of the Regulations, the fees in Column B apply where the applicant died after making an application but before their application was determined. For example, if a solicitor advised the original applicant on a first application for an individually assessed payment and the applicant passed away before the application was determined, the relevant prescribed fee would be £1500 (plus VAT where applicable). This would be £340 for a fixed rate payment application.

21. This would be in addition to the Column B fixed fee of £375, set out in Part 4 of the Table of Fees, for advising the nominated beneficiary. The total payable legal fees in this scenario are £1875 for an individually assessed payment application or £715 for a fixed rate payment application.

22. However, if the applicant passed away after a determination was made, a Column A fixed fee of £2000 (plus VAT where applicable) would be payable for an individually assessed payment application. This is because the applicant had not passed away before their application was determined. This would be in addition to a Column A fixed fee of £500 for advising the nominated beneficiary. The total payable legal fees in this scenario are £2500 for an individually assessed payment application or £950 for a fixed rate payment application.