Outlays/disbursements
The amount payable for outlays is specified in the approval email sent with each grant of aid. These outlays are provided for reimbursement of basic expenses such as telephone calls, facsimile and minor general photocopying expenses.
Separate extensions of legal aid must be sought for other outlays such as travel costs, process server fees, pre-sentence reports and medical reports.
Practitioners may only claim for outlays that have actually been incurred on behalf of a legally aided client.
Legal Aid Queensland will pay for the following items in an outlay / disbursement component within a grant of aid:
- Facsimile messages (payable at legal aid scale of fees)
- Local phone calls (payable at legal aid scale of fees)
- STD phone calls (actual costs incurred payable)
- Mobile phone calls (actual costs incurred payable)
- Minor general photocopying expenses (payable at legal aid scale of fees)
- Postage fees (payable at legal aid scale of fees)
- Parcel fees (actual costs incurred payable)
No fees are payable for the following items:
- Administrative / overhead costs, such as:
- file opening fees
- file covers and other stationery fees
- printing
- file retrieval fees
- file closing fees
- archive fees
- bank charges etc.
- Receiving facsimiles
- Internet access
- Sending / receiving emails
No fees are payable for sending facsimiles, STD / mobile phone calls, photocopying or postage fees on fixed fee disbursement grants e.g. summary criminal matter grants (MG1 or XW1), family dispute resolution grants (FDR1) and family law litigation grants (FM2A).
Audit requirements
There must be evidence held on the practitioner's file to indicate the basis on which the costs claimed were calculated.
Practitioners may not claim the cost of calls at a rate that exceeds that actually incurred by them.
Last updated 15 January 2018