Annual Regulatory Fees

CLC Practice fees explained

The CLC charges an annual Practice Fee to all CLC regulated practices. The practice fee is levied in November of each year and is based on the turnover that the practice declares during the PII renewal round which concludes in June of the same year. The practice fee has 3 components which are described below.

Practices are given the option of making payment by direct debit over the remaining period of the licence. Should the entity cease trading or exit CLC regulation (voluntarily surrender its licence) before the next licence renewal point, i.e. 01 November. Any unpaid amounts will be collected by the CLC at the next collection following notification by the practice.

1. The Practice Fee is levied on practices to recover the direct costs of regulation incurred by the CLC. This fee is collected in November, however payment can be spread over 12 months.

2. The Compensation Fund Contribution is levied on practices to fund the direct operating costs and reserving of the fund. This fee is collected in November, however payment can be spread over 12 months. The contributions are ring fenced and used only for:

• Intervention and practice closure related expenditure (this includes costs associated with finalisation of client matters and storage of files)
• Compensation Fund Grant payments (this includes the payment of grants and, where appropriate, legal fees associated with claims).

3. The OLC Levy is charged to all practice to recover the cost recharged to the CLC by the Legal Ombudsman. This fee is collected in May of the following year, however payment can be spread over 12 months. The intension of the OLC levy is to improve the transparency of the cost associated with the OLC service and direct some of the cost to practices that are contributing to the cost. There are two elements to the charge levied on practices:

• An OLC Availability Fee – which is billed to all practices and recovers 70% of the OLC cost recharged to the CLC. This cost is allocated to practices on the basis of their practice fee (A) proportional to the total practice fees collected (B) – [A/B * 70% of OLC cost]
• An OLC Usage Fee – which is levied on practices that have had cases accepted for investigation by the OLC over the preceding 3 years. A cost per case is derived by dividing the annual average total number of cases by the cost to be recovered. This is then charged to practices based on their annual average number of cases accepted for investigation over the previous 3 years. Please note that if the practice has not had any cases accepted by the OLC for investigation over the last 3 year then they will not be charged an OLC usage fee

Fee rate tables

The tables below include the turnover banding and contribution rates used to calculate the Practice Fee and Compensation Fund Contributions for 2021/22.