Not his biggest fan but this is a tremendous song:

The last time I went to Middlesbrough County Court was on an agency repossession matter in the early 90s. We got held over lunch time, the defendant had a liquid one and did little more than grunt in response to my "am am instructed to press for eviction" and for the only time ever I witnessed this happening. He tried to chase me out of the waiting room after shouting a few choice words - well actually just one short one. Being that side of the table was very different to the run of the mill money advice casework I was used to of course.

I went there today to collect a set of bankruptcy forms, not for me by the way, there was a large pile of pre-prepared envelopes immediately to the receptionists hand. Depressing.

Has it always been the case that you have to send a paper LF1 form in addition to your online submission? (We only prepare them and never send them out). Or is this requirement a new one and the dates on the LSC site are just wrong?

In these cash strapped times all our budgets (fully franchised ones with quarterly variance analysis etc.) are subject to scrutiny. Some things you can do without, however CPD points are not amongst them. For firms of a certain size in house courses offer a method for drastically reducing the pounds to points ratio. Even smaller firms have been known to band together to make similar savings - one or two have sold tickets and got their training for free.

With this in mind we are publicising a non exhaustive list of our most popular current courses. We can deliver all of these in your offices, provided you have a projector screen or a blank wall, either as written or tailored to your specific needs. There are Civil and Crime specific versions of many of the courses too.

Interested? Pick up the phone and have a chat.

It has been a day of frustrations, of various sorts, today - too many to mention here really. Suffice it to say I cant bung up the list of in-house training courses we currently have on offer, as I wanted. Hopefully I can do this tomorrow.

As an aside the proposed changes to the family fee scheme is pretty much as we predicted and due to start at the beginning of the new civil contract in April 2010.

The last two films I have watched, Babel and Magnolia, were both rubbish. The latter disproves Mark Kermode's "Philip Seymour Hoffman has never been in a bad film" rule of thumb.

The only good thing about either were the soundtracks and here is the main theme from Babel by Ryuichi Sakamoto. It is a bit different from normal Friday song fare, and a bit on the long side, hope you enjoy it nonetheless. (Don't waste your time watching either of the flicks though).

Regulars on recent Civil training events might remember our prediction that the move to "output" funding of the Family scheme is inevitiable. True to their word wen now have their proposals in this regard. (All 90 pages are currently printing beside me, I am in for another fun packed weekend).

The further expansion of graduated fees is, of course, the central theme and there is to be another round of provider events to try and sell these to you in the very near future.

Having posted this earlier in the week the issue has of course come back to haunt me - and of course with about the most complicated circumstances imaginable. Has anyone been involved in a means referral to the Special Investigations Unit? Give us a ring if you have.

Andy spent some time with a client firm yesterday where there was a bit of concern that notional costs on PACE standard fee claims were dipping below the fee paid. Not a problem in and of itself under the CDS specification. There is even an argument that this demonstrates good, modern efficient practice - which is what the LSC claim to want. There is however the commonly expressed concern here that should this occur across the board the Commissions next step will be to reduce the standard fee.

On a closer look however it was immediately apparent that one reason for this was that the firm have stopped including CDS 1 & 2 costs especially in bail back matters when these amounted to more than the odd phone call or letter. The reason for this
is simply that they have taken the decision that completing these forms is now largely a waste of time under the new scheme.

The SF was calculated as an inclusive one based on the historical costs of advising during an investigation. The notional cost the LSC are now receiving by way of CDS 6 returns may however not be a reasonable comparator.

A regular topic of phone queries relates to the funding of assistance to clients facing confiscation, restraint and receivership under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Fortunately there is a very helpful grid explaining the options at Page 11 of this issue of Focus on CDS 17.

Worth printing off and having to hand in our experience.

Last day for January billing continues to keep the phone busy too.

I have not had time to post yet today because it is the 19th January.

Not that there is anything particularly special about today's date other than most firms seem to be cramming all their difficult contract reporting issues into the last day before the monthly deadline. I have a sore ear now, with all afternoon still to go.

This is another i Pod shuffle generated Friday song, topical because Terry Hall is involved in the Specials reformation this year - I preferred his post ska solo stuff though:

R Steve has been to the LSC training regarding the relaunch of Online billing. You will probably remember that he nursed our CDS 6 and CMRF Wizards through round one of this process. So if you have any difficulties with getting into the swing of reporting in the way give him (and not me or Andy) a ring.

I have just had a conversation with a Client who, like Andy and Steve, attended a recent LSC session on Civil procurement. In the course of this, talking about mergers, acquisitions and consortia, I used the "you will either become a shark or get eaten" analogy. 5 minutes later I came across this article in the Gazette with guess what as a supporting graphic?

The image of these times?

Did you miss this Press Release on Monday? I did.

It confirms that due to Law Society lobbying the LSC have now agreed, contrary to their previous advice which we have diligently passed onto our clients, that you can charge 17.5% VAT for disbursements properly paid at that rate.

It has received less prominence on the LSC site but full guidance can be found, by using the Law Society provided link, here.

The movement towards a new "procurement" regime we have been anticipating seems to be gathering pace. The latest round of provider briefings seem to be pushing the message of "fewer larger suppliers", "clustered civil advice" and "new structures to deliver supply", we have discussed here in recent times. A smattering of Peer Review and new civil CCA file samples requests also suggests that that part of the process is on the move too.

Your experience of these recent sessions would be gratefully received.

The LSC have issued some new guidance with regard to moving or opening offices under the Criminal contract.

Worth a look at.

I have had a pretty fallow period of buying CDs - frankly there is not much desperately exciting going on. I have however been meaning to buy Poor Man's Heaven by the golden boy of British folk music, Seth Lakeman for some time. This is a live rendition of my favourite track:

A second common topic for the week is developing and it an old chestnut - Peer Review. One call was from a client who's appeal failed last year and who now faces his second and vital assessment. Other news is however significantly better two results better than anticipated including, start drum-roll, our second client to get a Category 1, Excellence in crime - very well done. We have also won our most recent appeal.

Ask me to make any sense of the vagaries of these results and I cannot however they has a bit of a positive New year feel about them.

Issue of the week, so far, has been the Statutory Charge. The substantive issue has been with regard to financial matters settled under Family Help where there has been a subsequent certificate for private law children matters. The LSC's position, especially articulated in the North East, is that the Stat. Charge attaches in such cases. We have been copied into some e-mail traffic which confirms that LSC view whilst we, and others, remain sceptical. Has anyone else had to confront this issue and/or have a view on the main point?

You possibly missed the LSC proposals for the renewal of the VHCC scheme - due in the Summer. If you are motivated sufficiently to respond to the consultation all you need can be found at the above link.

Lets begin 2009 with the traditional wish for prosperity, success and so forth, to all our readers.

After a slightly longer than usual layoff here, Xmas falling on funny days, business resumes here once again.

Our major development is of course our new Director of Administrative Services, Jayne, who starts the unenviable task of managing our office from today. So give her a ring in the next few days and introduce yourself.

A return to normal service here from tomorrow.