Submit a Bulk Claim (SaBC)
How SaBC works: how to claim, bulkloading, fee codes and guidance.
Applies to England and Wales
Submit a Bulk Claim enables providers to upload Legal Help, Crime Lower and Mediation monthly submissions.
Launch of Submit a Bulk Claim (SaBC) – 4 February 2026
The Submit a Bulk Claim (SaBC) service will go live on 4 February. All legal aid providers will receive direct communication regarding the go-live date via the LAA Bulletin on Friday 16 January.
This is a significant moment, as unlike other systems that we have restored following the cyber-attack, this will be a brand new service, all be it with some similarities to how our CWA system previously functioned.
Providers will need to use SaBC to upload their January submission, by 17 February.
This early deadline is to allow the processing time required to ensure payments are made on time at the start of March. No further changes to the deadline of the 20th are expected in 2026.
The monthly contingency process ends on 20 January, and all future submissions must be via SaBC.
In preparation, there will be a series of provider webinars to guide users through the new service and ensure they are ready to submit through SaBC. Sign-up links will be sent out for you to register.
We have already contacted the Software Vendors (SVs) for which we have details, to ensure they are engaging with providers; however, we would encourage providers to liaise with their own SV to confirm they are prepared for go-live.
To ensure that you are prepared for the launch of SaBC, we would encourage providers to:
- Sign up to the weekly webinars we will be scheduling throughout January and February
- Review the guidance materials available below
- Watch the recorded system walkthrough on the LAA Training website
- Seek support from us early if you require any assistance
This will help ensure providers are able to submit their claims on time by 17 February through SaBC.
It is particularly important that any provider experiencing difficulties contacts us as soon as possible so that we can offer support. Early engagement will help providers avoid delays and make future submissions through SaBC significantly simpler.
If you have any queries, please either contact your Contract Manager or email SubmitABulkClaimQueries@justice.gov.uk. Please do refer to the published guidance in the first instance as this will likely address your query.
Government confirms increases to some Civil and Crime legal aid fees taking effect on 22 December.
Civil
On 1 December, the statutory instrument uplifting all claimable rates for immigration and housing-controlled work was laid. This came into effect for matters opened on or after 22 December 2025. The uprated fees, linked to the single fee codes, can be found here .
Where applicable and only for uplifted fees, we have uplifted the immigration profit cost and total cost limits that are set out in the 2024 Standard Civil Contract Immigration Specification.
Crime
Regulations were also laid on 1 December which will introduce the following fee increases for criminal legal aid cases beginning on or after 22 December 2025:
- Harmonised police station fees to £320 with the police station escape fee threshold revised from £960 to £650 (excl. VAT).
- 10% uplifts to fees for the magistrates’ court (including the Youth Court)
- Prison law fees increased by 24%
- 10% uplift to solicitor fees for some appeals work
Frequently asked questions on the uplifted fees -
The is guidance on how to claim the higher Housing and Debt and Immigration and Asylum fees for matters opened on or after 22 December.
Monthly Claim Submissions
The contingency process has now ended and all future monthly submissions for controlled work, crime lower and mediation must be made using Submit a Bulk Claim (SaBC).
The first submission you must make via SaBC, will be your January submission which must be uploaded by 17 February.
Providers can find further guidance on the submission of claims for matters for which you made use of the monthly contingency process, below.
When to submit your claim
SaBC will be available for use by providers from 4 February 2026. The deadline for making January submissions in SaBC is 17 February 2026.
Try to make sure your submission is at the beginning of the month as this allows maximum time to offer support and resolve any questions.
How to claim
All claims for controlled work, mediation and crime lower work must now be submitted via Submit a Bulk Claim (SaBC).
SaBC is a digital billing service that allows and validates monthly submissions online and calculates fees.
To access Submit a Bulk Claim, you will need to have a verified account with Sign in to legal aid services (SILAS) and Submit a Bulk Claim will need to have been added to your profile. Once this has been done, and you are logged into SILAS, you will be able to click on a link to access the Submit a Bulk Claim landing page. See the Legal Aid Agency training website for guidance on how to create an account with and use SILAS.
How SaBC works
Providers will be able to access the service via SILAS and can upload their bulkload or case management system exported data file directly into SaBC. The service will check the file and calculate the price of each claim within it. If any information is missing or if fundamental errors have been made within the submission, it will be rejected prior to calculating costs.
You can find further information on how to use SaBC in the Submit a Bulk Claim User Guide which can be found in the Guidance section below.
Changes for providers
Unlike in CWA, providers are unable to enter the details of each claim directly into SaBC – instead the submission must be uploaded via a bulkload spreadsheet export or via a file exported from their case management system (updated CSV, XML, and TXT exports).
Using the bulkload spreadsheet and compatibility
If your case management system export isn’t compatible with SaBC or if you don’t have one, you can still bulkload your submission data using the bulk upload spreadsheet (links below).
We have updated the bulkload spreadsheet to improve its functionality for providers, this includes:
- For Windows users, adding in a drop-down menu for providers to select a Fee Code for each claim
- For Windows users, Updating the example references to reflect current Contracts and schedules
- Updating validation to reduce the likelihood of any rejects when claims are uploaded to SaBC
- Updating links and references to support guidance
We have also created a version of the spreadsheet designed specifically for those using MacBook operating systems. While this version does not have all the updated functionality of the Windows version (such as the Fee Code dropdown), it should assist providers who encountered compatibility issues when trying to use the Windows version. The MacBook version will have further iterations in due course, to ensure it fully reflects the Windows version.
The supporting guide has also been updated, and there are now two – one for Windows and one for MacBooks, reflecting the slight differences in functionality between the two.
Providers should ensure that they use the latest version of the spreadsheets for any submissions.
The and provides guidance on how to use the spreadsheet(s) to draft your monthly submission, validate it and create an export file.
Immigration and Mental Health providers
We have identified an incompatibility between SaBC and the previous version (v1.38) of the bulkload spreadsheet.
Contract Managers will contact providers to confirm what changes are needed to any previously prepared submissions as a result.
Use of Macros
We have been made aware of some providers experiencing issues with macros on the bulkload spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is published on the official GOV.UK website, which is the trusted source of documentation for the Legal Aid Agency. You should have confidence in downloading files from here. All materials undergo standard assurance and integrity checks before publication.
The spreadsheet makes use of macros for data validation and generation of a file for upload into our systems. Unfortunately, it is not possible to provide a non-macro version without removing this functionality. The file can be opened with macros disabled, but users would need to complete data validation and file generation manually.
We understand that you may have a policy in place to restrict the use of macros. Where possible, you may wish to review these settings to allow macros from trusted and verified sources, such as the GOV.UK website.
Thank you for raising your concerns and for working with us as we establish these new processes.
Claim amendments
Amendments to claims submitted on CWA
Make changes to any of your previously submitted CWA claims using 1 of 3 amendment forms and guidance:
Email amendment requests to: PA-ClaimAmend@justice.gov.uk
When completing the spreadsheet remember to:
- include the net revised cost, not gross
- check the compatibility of cost and code combinations within revised claims
- put your name and account number in the subject header
Whilst we are currently unable to process any amendments, a solution on how these will be amended is being developed so the forms can be submitted pending a confirmed approach.
Amendments to claims submitted on SaBC
The ability to amend a claim submitted on SaBC, will not be available for launch. If you have requested payment for cases under the monthly contingency, and have identified that there was an error affecting the amount you were entitled to claim, if possible, please correct these claims prior to submitting them on SaBC.
An approach to amendments for claims submitted on SaBC, will be communicated in due course. Please do continue to complete and send an amendment form where you identify an amendment is needed to a claim submitted on SaBC.
Submit a Bulk Claim and new Fee Code field
Each claim submitted through Submit a Bulk Claim, will need to include a new, single fee code.
This change has been required to enable us to deliver the new service at speed.
You will need to include the new fee codes in any SaBC submission for them to be accepted by the new service.
To support you to make this change, we have worked with software vendors who have been updating their systems to accommodate and enable the new fee codes. Most vendors have confirmed that they are going to auto-generate the codes in the claim exports. If you have any concerns as to whether your case management system has been updated accordingly, please contact your software vendor.
We acknowledge that this is a considerable change and we are working as hard as possible to minimise the impact for providers, including working with a group of providers to design the service. However, due to the need to deliver a working service as early as possible, the initial release will only support the submission and pricing of claims.
To aid providers understand how the new fee code ‘maps’ across to an existing matter type or other reporting code, and when some of these codes maybe used, we have developed a series of recorded webinars and slide packs for providers to refer to.
Providers can access these webinars and slide packs via the Legal Aid Learning website:
Civil - legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk/submit-a-bulk-claim-civil/
Crime - legalaidlearning.justice.gov.uk/submit-a-bulk-claim-crime
We have also published key information on the new system to help you prepare for implementation.
Calculating value of an outcome
Upon successful uploading and acceptance of the submission, SaBC will price each line and will provide the total value of the submission.
Providers will also be able to view the calculated price of each line of the submission and can click on each individually to view how that sum has been determined.
In future, providers will be able to export the details of the claims and the calculated price, from SaBC.
The value for each claim will be calculated will be in accordance with the relevant provisions in the respective Civil/Crime Remuneration Regulations and Standard Civil/Crime Contracts, with further information available in the reporting codes guidance below.
Reporting New matter starts for controlled work and mediation
‘New matter starts’ is the LAA contracting term used for controlled work and mediation, e.g., the first meeting a provider has with a client.
How to report new matter starts depends on what method of submission you’re using.
LAA’s bulkload spreadsheet
Enter new matter starts into the controlled matter start form (CMSF) area of the spreadsheet.
CMS file
Contact your software supplier to find out if your CMS bulkload file contains your new matter starts.
Claims relating to the contingency period
SaBC must also be used to upload your historic submissions from April to December 2025.
Further information our approach to receiving these contingency submissions will follow w/c 19 January.
Prepared submissions missing fee codes
Most software vendors have also confirmed that they can enable claim exports generated during the contingency period to be re-run with the new codes included, which supports the requirements for all contingency submissions to be made in Submit a Bulk Claim. However, we recognise that there may be additional work for you to update claim exports from the contingency.
To assist you with such updates, we have created a tool which providers can upload these exports into, and the tool will generate the applicable fee code based on the information in that export. This data can then be copied into a version of the bulkload spreadsheet and a new export created.
Not all providers will need to make use of this tool. To aid you in identifying whether it may be of assistance to you, we have created this short survey Check if you need to use the fee code assigning tool for contingency period claims If the survey concludes that you would benefit from use of the tool, we will contact you from the dedicated SubmitABulkClaimQueries@justice.gov.uk email, providing a copy of the tool and supporting guidance. The tool will only be sent to those providers who have used the survey and been shown to potentially benefit from it.
Exceptional Case Funding (ECF)
We are aware that previously CWA would generate an ECF payment reference which providers would then report in CWA in the ECF field. Providers will not need to report such a reference in SaBC, therefore if a provider has any matters which obtained Exceptional Case Funding during the contingency period, they will not need to report a reference as part of their claim uploaded into SaBC. A copy of the letter confirming the grant of Exceptional Case Funding should continue to be retained on file.
Guidance Documents
The sets out instructions on how to use the new system, SaBC, to bulk upload a monthly submission for Civil (Legal Help), Crime Lower or Mediation for legal aid providers.
The includes help on selecting the appropriate Fee Code and other codes (e.g. matter types) when reporting completed civil and mediation work.
The includes help on selecting the appropriate Fee Code and other codes (e.g. stage reached) for completed criminal work. The changes made are also summarised in the
Contact
Email SubmitABulkClaimQueries@justice.gov.uk if you have any questions regarding your submission.
We understand this is a significant change, at short notice, and are committed to working closely with you to support a smooth transition.
We are keen to understand more about your monthly submissions, how you usually submit and the impacts of this change on your usual operations, you can help us by sharing your feedback using this link - New ‘Submit a Bulk Claim’ service - Provider feedback form.
Updates to this page
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Document updated.
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Information on the Submit a Bulk Claim (SaBC) page has been updated and the attachments have been refreshed.
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Full list of fee codes has been added.
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Fee Codes updated
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Frequently asked questions on the uplifted fees added.
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Fee uplift guidance
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Submit a Bulk Claim FAQs have been updated.
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Bulk claim user guide has been added
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Submit a Bulk Claim (SaBC) guidance has been updated.
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Replacement of CWA monthly submissions system – Contingency claims has been updated. Submit a Bulk Claim (SaBC) FAQs have also been updated.
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Guidance for SaBC has been updated.
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SaBC guidance has been added.
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First published.