CCMS Performance
What Is Happening With CCMS?
In January 2022, CCMS’ billing software was upgraded as part of LAA’s ongoing modernisation programme for CCMS.
Since the upgrade, there has been a decline in performance in CCMS for larger bills, which is caused by the amount of data being processed on the web page.
Generally, performance in CCMS declines when a bill reaches around 80 items. However, as there are many variables, performance can also decline on bills below 80 items.
What Are the Main Impacts?
When CCMS is affected by performance issues, it can result in system freezing when trying to change pages.
This means that providers may experience the following knock-on impacts:
• Loss of data entered in CCMS;
• Failure to save changes; and
• Failure to submit claims once completed.
What Fixes Have Been Tried?
Both server size and capacity have been increased, as have several technical options advised by our third-party software partner. Unfortunately, none of these have resulted in a satisfactory return to expected CCMS performance.
The solution will involve reducing the amount of data the web page is trying to handle. These changes will impact the user experience and will need to be developed with proper user research. This is a process that will take time to ensure it is delivered correctly and does not negatively impact further on user experience.
Solutions
As LAA work to develop a long-term fix, there are two recommended solutions:
Claim Upload
CCMS’ Claim Upload (also referred to as Bulk Upload) functionality is not impacted by CCMS’ performance issues and continues to function in full for bills of all sizes.
Claim Upload allows you to create a bill in a single file using information directly out of your case management software. This file can then be uploaded directly in to CCMS, meaning you do not need to create the bill step-by-step in CCMS through the Portal.
Summary Level Claiming
If Claim Upload is not a suitable solution for your firm, you are able to create and submit your claim at summary level in CCMS.
You can request permission on any claim you believe will be impacted by CCMS’ performance issues. You do not need to attempt to create a claim and have it fail before asking, you can ask for permission to create a summary level claim in advance.
For the avoidance of doubt, LAA will accept summary level claims in CCMS as standard on any claim assessed at court or that qualifies for assessment at court but is being submitted to LAA voluntarily for assessment.
This means you only need to request permission where:
• The case is less than £2,500 in assessable costs; or
• The case concluded in the Magistrates Court or equivalent.
Requesting permission upfront helps LAA to understand the ongoing scale of the problems and helps us let the caseworker know what to expect on assessment so we can pay your claim first time.
More information on claims that are being submitted to LAA voluntarily for assessment is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transfer-of-claims-assessed-at-court-to-the-legal-aid-agency
When you have been given permission to claim at summary level in CCMS, please ensure you upload a breakdown of the work undertaken. You may choose to use a CIV CLAIM1 or CIV CLAIM1A form, but LAA will also accept any format that contains the same information.
You can access the CIV CLAIM1 here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civ-claim1-civil-claim-form-not-fixed-fee
You can access the CIV CLAIM1A here
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civ-claim1a-fixed-fee-public-and-private-law-schemes
In the event you have been able to create a claim and download the bill summary report, but unable to submit the claim, a copy of the bill summary report would be an acceptable breakdown to upload with a summary level claim once permission has been agreed.
You can request permission for summary level claiming in CCMS by:
• Calling our contact centre on 0300 200 2020;
• Using our Live Chat feature here Ministry of Justice: Contact Us; or
• Emailing our Online Support Team on Online-Support@justice.gov.uk
Create the bill in line with the step-by-step guide for LAA Assessed bills.
When asked if you would like to bill for Disbursements, answer Yes. If you answer No, you will not be given the option later on to submit a summary level claim.
Click Next.
Click Remove at the top of any Bill Line page. This example is for a CPGFS Bill Line, but the same applies to PFLRS Bill Line or any Hourly Rates Bill Line.
Click Next.
On the Disbursement Bill Line Page, in the Activity Type field select Profit Cost (Summary) from the bottom of the drop-down list. Also enter
• Activity Date: can be any date, normally the date the bill is created
• Net Value: the actual summary level value of the claim you are making
• VAT: select the applicable VAT rate from the dropdown
• Fee Earner: the name of the fee earner who undertook the work
Frequently Asked Questions
| Question | Answer |
| Can you fix it by reverting to the old CCMS software? | This is unfortunately not an option. The upgrade to CCMS was a required step in the long-term modernisation of CCMS and its migration to cloud servers. The old version of CCMS was also out of date and no longer supported by our third-party software partners. |
| Can you fix it by reducing the number of items on the bill pages, like before the upgrade? | We cannot guarantee this would fix the problem, but it is a potential solution that will be explored through user research. |
| My bill is less than 80 items and I am having performance issues. Can I claim summary level? | Yes. 80 items is a guideline figure only, you can request summary level claiming on any bill that has either been affected by CCMS’ performance, or if you believe it will be affected. |
| What is Claim Upload? | Claim Upload, also known as Bulk Upload, allows you to export data directly out of your own case management software and upload it directly in to CCMS. This means you can create a bill without having to manually enter each item of the claim in CCMS. There is no deterioration in CCMS’ performance when creating large bills using Claim Upload. |
| How do I get Claim Upload? | To enable CCMS’ Claim Upload functionality, you should liaise directly with your case management software vendor about upgrading. |