Victims of Crime (Transitional) Regulations 2017

The regulations are tightly technical and their main concepts are procedural: prescribed particulars, a prescribed costs scale, indexing and rounding rules, mechanisms for certification of recoverable disbursements, and a transitional application to matters under the repealed 1978 Act.

Prescribed particulars (r 4)

• The regulations specify the information that constitutes the "prescribed particulars" referred to in section 7(3) of the Act (r 4). The list is exhaustive in form and covers identity data for claimant and victim, precise particulars of the offence (date, time, place, type and surrounding details), police reporting history and reasons for not reporting where applicable, a clinical-style catalogue of injuries, offender identity and conviction details, and specific financial particulars including itemised treatment and funeral expenses and membership of health funds (r 4(a)-(m), (p), (q)). For loss of earning capacity the regulation requires occupation details, gross income for a defined 12 month period, particulars of disability and the temporal breakdown of incapacity, and details of any subsequent employment with employer names, addresses and gross income figures (r 4(l)(i)-(vi)). Dependants must provide "all the facts" to establish financial loss (r 4(m)). Claimants must state the final amounts claimed and detail the calculations for both financial and non-financial loss (r 4(n)-(o)).

Prescribed costs (r 5 and Schedule 1)

• The regulations make the Schedule 1 amounts the prescribed scale "pursuant to section 10 of the Act" (r 5(1)). Schedule 1 distinguishes solicitor fees for applications to court ($1,400 indexed), settlements without a court application ($700 indexed) and solicitor work on appeals ($700 indexed) (Schedule 1 cl 2). Counsel fees are separated into a preliminary fee for preparatory work and the first five hours of hearing ($1,000 indexed), an additional hourly rate for each hour after five ($200 indexed), a pre-trial conference fee ($250 indexed), and an appeal fee ($700 indexed) (Schedule 1 cl 3). Disbursements are recoverable subject to certification by the court where there is an application to court, and subject to certification by the Crown Solicitor where the matter is settled without an application to court (Schedule 1 cl 4).

Indexing and calculation rules (Schedule 1 cl 1)

• Schedule 1 defines CPI as the Adelaide all groups index and prescribes an annual adjustment on 1 January by reference to the September quarter CPI immediately preceding, using the September quarter 2014 CPI as the base. The quotient used for adjustments is calculated to two decimal places and the adjusted amount is rounded to the nearest dollar (Schedule 1 cl 1(a)-(b)). The Schedule labels certain dollar figures "(indexed)" to indicate this mechanism applies.

Transitional application (Schedule 2)

• Schedule 2 makes the costs regime applicable to legal costs under s 10 of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 for matters finalised after these regulations commenced (Schedule 2 cl 1). The regulations therefore operate across two regimes insofar as legal costs are concerned: the Victims of Crime Act proceedings and residual Criminal Injuries Compensation Act matters finalised after the commencement date.

Interpretation linkage (r 3)

• The instrument defines "Act" in r 3 to mean the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 as it applies pursuant to Schedule 1 clause 2 of the Victims of Crime Act 2001. The regulation explicitly notes that the 1978 Act has been repealed but continues to apply in respect of injuries arising from offences committed before the commencement of the Victims of Crime Act 2001 (r 3 note). This is a textual bridge between the old statute and the new scheme for the narrow purpose of these regulations.

Taken together, the principal concepts are recordkeeping and evidentiary specificity for claimants, capped and itemised fees for legal practitioners with an annual CPI-linked adjustment, and discrete certification routes for disbursements depending on whether there is a court application.

The regulations directly and immediately affect four categories of actors identified in the text: claimants (including victims and dependants), legal practitioners (solicitors and counsel), courts and the Crown Solicitor, and parties whose conduct or status is evidentially relevant to a claim (offenders and third-party payers such as health funds). Indirectly the regulations affect administrative actors who administer the Victims of Crime Act compensation process because compliance with prescribed particulars and cost certification interacts with existing administrative decision-making.

Claimants and victims

• Claimants must provide the prescribed particulars set out in r 4. That list imposes a document and information supply duty on a claimant, and requires contemporaneous and historical details: identity and contact, specific offence details, police reporting information, a detailed account of injuries and medical evidence "in the claimant’s possession", itemised treatment and funeral expenses, details of health fund membership, and detailed income and employment history where loss of earning capacity is asserted (r 4(a)-(q)). Dependants must supply "all the facts" relied on to establish a claim for financial loss (r 4(m)). The claimant therefore bears the evidentiary and document-gathering burden necessary to satisfy s 7(3) as fleshed out by these regulations.

Legal practitioners (solicitors and counsel)

• The regulations prescribe the scale of legal costs that may be recovered under the Act (r 5(1); Schedule 1 cl 2-3). Solicitors and counsel are therefore constrained to billing and recovery within those categories: solicitor fees set at $1,400 indexed for court applications, $700 indexed for settlements without court, and $700 indexed for appeal work (Schedule 1 cl 2). Counsel’s fees are tightly specified and include a preliminary fee that covers both preparatory work and the first five hours of hearing (Schedule 1 cl 3(1)). Where work extends beyond the first five hours counsel may claim $200 indexed per additional hour or part hour (Schedule 1 cl 3(2)). Disbursements can be recovered if certified by the court for applications, or by the Crown Solicitor for matters settled without application (Schedule 1 cl 4). Legal practitioners therefore face a ceiling and a certification pathway which shapes fee arrangements and may influence decisions about whether to litigate or settle.

Courts and the Crown Solicitor

• The court performs a gating function for the recovery of disbursements in matters where an application is made to court, because recovery requires the court’s certificate that the disbursements were reasonably incurred (Schedule 1 cl 4(1)). In settled matters the Crown Solicitor has that certification function (Schedule 1 cl 4(2)). These roles place decision-making authority over the recoverability of outlays in the hands of judicial officers and the Crown Solicitor respectively.

Offenders and third parties

• The prescribed particulars require information about offenders where known, including their name, conviction details if any, and "any information as to the whereabouts, income and assets of the offender(s)" (r 4(h)-(j)). Claimants must also state all amounts received "by or on behalf of the claimant from the offender or any other source" and steps taken to obtain payment from offenders or other persons or government units (r 4(q)). That creates a disclosure obligation that can compel claimants to investigate third-party resources and past payments, and to produce that information to the compensation decision-maker.

Matters arising under the repealed Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978

• The Schedule 2 transitional provision means legal costs in relation to matters finalised after commencement but governed by the 1978 Act remain subject to the Schedule 1 scale (Schedule 2 cl 1). Actors engaged in legacy matters must therefore comply with the new costs scale if a matter finalises after 11 August 2016, even if the substantive claim is traced to pre-Victims of Crime Act conduct (r 3 note; Schedule 2 cl 1).

Other administrative actors

• Administrative officers charged with processing claims under section 7(3) of the Act will necessarily rely on the particulars prescribed at r 4 as the standard for completeness and may return claims that lack the required material. The Crown Solicitor’s office will be active in certifying disbursements for settled matters.

Who pays

• The regulations set recovery mechanics and amounts but do not themselves specify the ultimate payer of the legal fees and disbursements. Schedule 1 uses the language "may recover" and prescribes certification routes (Schedule 1 cl 4). The instrument therefore constrains amounts recoverable and who certifies recoverable disbursements, but the identity of the party mandated to pay those certified sums is not spelled out in these regulations.

This section identifies the operative duties and rights that the regulations create or clarify, citing the precise provisions.

Duty to provide prescribed particulars (r 4)

• Duty: A claimant required to comply with section 7(3) of the Act must supply the particulars listed at r 4(a)-(q). The list is mandatory for the purposes of s 7(3) because the regulation opens with "For the purposes of section 7(3) of the Act, the following are the prescribed particulars" (r 4).
• Scope: The duty extends to identity details, offence particulars, police reporting history, a narrative and clinical description of injuries, offender details if known, asset and income information about offenders, itemised special damage including treatment and funeral costs and health fund membership, granular loss-of-earning capacity data including gross income for the 12 month period ending 30 June prior to the injury, periods of incapacity (total and partial), and employer particulars (r 4(a)-(l)). Dependants must provide all facts supporting a claim for financial loss (r 4(m)). Claimants must lodge calculations for final amounts claimed for both financial and non-financial loss (r 4(n)-(o)), copies of medical reports in their possession (r 4(p)), and a statement of amounts already received and steps taken to obtain compensation from offenders or third parties (r 4(q)).
• Effect: Failure to supply these particulars will mean non-compliance with the regulation-made standard for s 7(3), which may influence the administration of a claim under the Act. The regulations do not state the administrative consequence of non-compliance.

Right to recover legal costs and disbursements within the prescribed scale (r 5(1); Schedule 1)

• Right: Pursuant to r 5(1) the Schedule 1 amounts are the prescribed scale for costs under s 10 of the Act. Legal practitioners therefore have a right to recover the amounts prescribed so long as the statutory and certification requirements are met.
• Limits: The solicitor and counsel fees are capped by the specified figures in Schedule 1 cl 2-3. The solicitor fee is $1,400 indexed for an application to a court, $700 indexed for a claim settled without court application, and $700 indexed for appeal work (Schedule 1 cl 2). Counsel fees are likewise capped and structured (Schedule 1 cl 3).
• Certification: Disbursements are recoverable only if certified by the court for matters with an application to court, or certified by the Crown Solicitor for settled matters (Schedule 1 cl 4). The right to recover disbursements is therefore conditional upon an authoritative certificate.

Restriction on other fees (r 5(2))

• Duty/Constraint: The regulations specify that, "for the avoidance of doubt, there is no fee payable in proceedings under the Act except as set out in Schedule 1" (r 5(2)). That operates as a prohibitory rule against additional fees beyond the prescribed scale for proceedings under the Act.

Indexation and computation rules (Schedule 1 cl 1)

• Duty/Right: Where a fee is followed by "(indexed)" the amount is to be adjusted annually using the Adelaide CPI September quarter of the immediately preceding year against the September quarter 2014 base. The quotient is calculated to two decimal places and the resulting amount rounded to the nearest dollar (Schedule 1 cl 1(b)). This confers a right to increased nominal amounts in line with CPI movements and imposes a duty to apply the prescribed method of computation.

Transitional application of the costs scale (Schedule 2 cl 1)

• Right/Obligation: The Schedule 1 costs regime applies to legal costs under s 10 of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 for matters finalised after commencement. Parties and practitioners engaged in legacy matters must therefore apply the Schedule 1 rules to legal cost recovery in respect of such late-finalised matters.

Interpretation linking the instrument to the 1978 Act (r 3)

• Clarifying provision: r 3 defines "Act" for the purposes of these regulations to mean the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 as it applies pursuant to Schedule 1 clause 2 of the Victims of Crime Act 2001. The regulation includes an explicit note that the 1978 Act has been repealed but continues to apply in respect of injuries from offences committed before the commencement of the Victims of Crime Act 2001. That interpretive duty frames how the prescribed particulars and costs rules are applied across two statutory regimes.

What the regulations do not do

• They do not, in their text, create an enforcement penalty, a formal sanctioning mechanism, or identify the ultimate payer of costs specified. They do not prescribe administrative timeframes, decision-making standards, or procedural formats for lodging the prescribed particulars. They also do not specify how decision-makers should treat incomplete particulars.

The instrument does not itself create monetary penalties, criminal sanctions, or explicit enforcement provisions beyond the mechanisms it prescribes for certification and recovery of legal costs. The regulatory text focuses on setting procedural content and caps for recoverable legal costs rather than establishing an enforcement regime.

No penal sanctions in the regulations

• The regulations contain no express penalty clauses or coercive fines. None of the provisions set out a criminal or civil penalty for failing to provide prescribed particulars or for breaching any requirement in the regulations.

Enforcement by certification and recovery pathways (Schedule 1 cl 4; r 5)

• Enforcement in practical terms operates through entitlement and certification. Schedule 1 cl 4 provides that:
  • If an application is made to a court, a legal practitioner "may recover all disbursements reasonably incurred under the Act as allowed by certificate of the court" (Schedule 1 cl 4(1)).
  • If a claim is settled without an application to a court, a legal practitioner "may recover all disbursements reasonably incurred as certified by the Crown Solicitor" (Schedule 1 cl 4(2)).
• These provisions allocate decision-making authority to the court or the Crown Solicitor to determine whether disbursements were reasonably incurred and thus recoverable. Recovery of solicitor and counsel fees is governed by the prescribed scale in Schedule 1 and by whatever recovery or payment mechanisms are provided for in the Act itself (r 5(1) links the scale to s 10). The regulations do not themselves specify enforcement mechanisms for collecting unpaid certified sums.

The regulation that no fee other than Schedule 1 is payable (r 5(2))

• r 5(2) states plainly there is "no fee payable in proceedings under the Act except as set out in Schedule 1." This is an internal constraint on permissible fees in proceedings under the Act and therefore functions as a substantive rule with potential administrative and legal force. The regulations do not, however, articulate penal or enforcement measures (for example, interest on unpaid amounts or contempt mechanisms) for contravention of r 5(2).

Role of courts and Crown Solicitor

• The court’s certificate (Schedule 1 cl 4(1)) serves both an evidentiary and an enforcement gating role: it is required before disbursements can be recovered in matters where there was an application to court. The Crown Solicitor performs the equivalent role where a claim is settled without application (Schedule 1 cl 4(2)). These certificates will be determinative of recoverability; courts have inherent enforcement mechanisms for their orders and certificates, and the Crown Solicitor’s certification implies administrative payment processes. The regulations do not spell out further enforcement detail for non-payment of certified sums.

Transitional enforcement implication

• Schedule 2 extends the application of the costs scale to legal costs under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 for matters finalised after commencement. Enforcement of recoverability in those matters will follow the same certification routes but within the procedural context of the legacy Act for finalised matters.

Administrative discretion and risk

• The regulations allocate discretionary authority to the court and to the Crown Solicitor to determine the reasonableness of disbursements. That discretionary certification is the practical enforcement mechanism for recovering outlays that sit outside the capped fee amounts. The rules for indexing and rounding are mechanical and leave little room for discretion in fee quantum, subject to whether a practitioner’s entitlement falls under the categories in Schedule 1.

In short, enforcement is exercised through certification and recovery procedures rather than through novel sanctioning clauses inside the regulations themselves. The regulations set caps and processes rather than punitive measures.

These regulations are subordinate legislation made under the Victims of Crime Act 2001. They explicitly interact with that Act and with the repealed Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978. The instrument also invokes external economic metrics (the Adelaide CPI) which are statutory publications of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, but the regulations do not otherwise reference other statutes.

Link to the Victims of Crime Act 2001 (r 4; r 5(1))

• Purpose linkage: The regulations state they are "under the Victims of Crime Act 2001" and expressly prescribe particulars "for the purposes of section 7(3) of the Act" (r 4). They also specify "pursuant to section 10 of the Act, the scale of costs set out in Schedule 1 is the prescribed scale" (r 5(1)). The regulations therefore operate as instruments that give detail to the statutory framework created by the Victims of Crime Act. Their legal force and applicability derive from those parent provisions in the Act.

Interaction with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 (r 3 interpretation; Schedule 2)

• The regulations adopt a textual definition in r 3 that defines "Act" to mean the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 "as it applies pursuant to Schedule 1 clause 2 of the Victims of Crime Act 2001." The regulation contains an explanatory note that the 1978 Act has been repealed but continues to apply in respect of injuries arising from offences committed before the commencement of the Victims of Crime Act 2001. Schedule 2 then provides that the regulations apply "in relation to legal costs under section 10 of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 relating to matters finalised after the commencement of these regulations." The practical effect is to fold legacy matters into the new costs regime when those matters finalise after the regulations’ commencement date. That is a deliberate cross-Act application.

Certification roles and other legal actors

• The regulations allocate specific certification functions to courts and the Crown Solicitor for recovery of disbursements (Schedule 1 cl 4). Those functions sit within the broader procedural and evidence rules of courts and within the Crown Solicitor’s administrative role, meaning the regulations must be read in conjunction with court procedure rules and the Crown Solicitor’s own operational processes.

Indexation interacting with ABS statistics

• Schedule 1 defines CPI as the Consumer Price Index (All groups index for Adelaide) published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and ties annual fee adjustments to that published statistic. That establishes a cross-reference to federal statistical outputs for the purpose of adjusting monetary values in the regulations.

No express interaction with other legislation in the text

• The regulations do not mention other Acts such as freedom-of-information, privacy, or debt-recovery statutes. They do not, in their terms, override or displace other statutory obligations. For example, the requirement to provide copies of medical reports "in the claimant’s possession" (r 4(p)) may implicate privacy obligations under other regimes, but the regulations do not resolve any conflict or create exemptions. Practitioners must therefore consider any overlapping statutory regimes outside this instrument when complying.

Transitional sequencing

• The regulations’ retroactive commencement to 11 August 2016 (r 2) and their application to matters finalised after that date under the 1978 Act (Schedule 2 cl 1) create sequencing interactions: where a matter arises under the 1978 Act but finalises after 11 August 2016, the Schedule 1 costs rules govern legal costs. That may affect legacy procedural arrangements and retainer expectations for practitioners engaged on older matters that finalise later.

In sum, the regulations are designed to be read as subordinate detail for specified provisions of the Victims of Crime Act and, by specific transitional wording, to apply the costs regime to certain matters under the repealed Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978. They do not purport to alter other statutory regimes but will interact with them in practice, especially where disclosure and certification intersect with privacy, court procedure, and government legal practice.

The regulations provide a concise legislative history in the instrument itself. Key points from the document are:

• Instrument title and citation: The regulations are cited as the Victims of Crime (Transitional) Regulations 2017 (r 1).
• Commencement: Clause 2 states "These regulations will be taken to have come into operation on 11 August 2016" (r 2).
• Gazettal and formal entry: The Legislative history/Principal regulations table records Year 2017, No 9, Gazette 9.2.2017 p393 with commencement noted as 11.8.2016 (r 2). This confirms the formal publication date in the gazette and the retroactive commencement date.
• No further amendments recorded in the instrument: The legislative history section provides no subsequent amendment entries. The entries contained in the instrument are limited to the original 2017 instrument entry. No amending regulation numbers, dates, or textual alterations are listed in the provided text.
• Transitional clause: Schedule 2 clause 1 is an intrinsic transitional provision of the instrument, not an amendment to another instrument. It applies these regulations to legal costs under section 10 of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 for matters finalised after commencement.
• Repealed Act note: r 3 contains a note that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 has been repealed but applies in respect of injuries from offences committed before the commencement of the Victims of Crime Act 2001. The schedule 2 transitional provision interacts with that interpretive note.

Because the instrument itself contains only the initial regulation and the legislative-history citation of its gazettal, the textual record available in this instrument indicates a single registration event and the specified retroactive commencement. The instrument does not record any subsequent amendments, revocations, or replacement instruments within the provided legislative history excerpt.

If a practitioner requires confirmation whether later regulations amended these provisions, they should consult the official consolidated regulations or the publisher’s online index (the regulation itself notes the Index of South Australian Statutes or www.legislation.sa.gov.au for further information). The instrument as presented contains no internal record of later amendments.

The regulation text provides no case citations, judicial determinations, or examples of litigation that interpret these regulations. There are no named cases or reported decisions included in the instrument. The document’s Legislative history section records only the gazettal and commencement detail.

What the instrument contains on litigation is procedural and anticipatory:

• It prescribes the scale of costs that may be recovered in proceedings under the Act (r 5(1); Schedule 1 cl 2-3). That means disputes about the application or meaning of the Schedule (for example, whether a particular activity falls within the preliminary fee or whether a disbursement was "reasonably incurred") would be matters of legal interpretation likely to be resolved by courts if contested. However, no such judicial interpretations are recorded in the instrument itself.

Absence of recorded litigation in the text

• Because the instrument itself does not provide litigation history, researchers or practitioners should not infer from silence that the regulations have not been litigated. The instrument simply does not record judicial treatment. For a complete litigation history, searching case law databases, court registries, or consolidated legislation annotations external to the instrument would be necessary.

Potential points likely to generate disputes (based on text)

• Reasonableness of disbursements: Schedule 1 cl 4(1) conditions recovery on a court certificate that the disbursements were "reasonably incurred." Reasonableness standards often provoke factual and legal dispute.
• Scope of preparatory work included in counsel’s preliminary fee: Schedule 1 cl 3(1) covers "all work preparatory to an application to a court (including advice on evidence and any other legal advice on the application, conferences and proofing witnesses) and for the first 5 hours of the hearing of the application." Disputes could arise over whether particular preparatory activities fall within that phrase or constitute recoverable disbursements.
• Whether particular matters fall to be treated as settled without an application to court for the purpose of which the Crown Solicitor must certify disbursements (Schedule 1 cl 4(2)). The status of a matter as "settled" versus "finalised" could be litigated.

Because the regulations themselves do not record litigation, practitioners must consult external sources to ascertain whether these provisions have been judicially tested.

This section underscores textual, procedural and timing pitfalls that the regulation drafters have embedded in the instrument. Each "gotcha" is grounded in the regulation text and explains the practical effect.

Retroactive commencement date

• r 2 states that the regulations "will be taken to have come into operation on 11 August 2016" even though they were gazetted on 9 February 2017 (Legislative history). Practitioners must therefore be alert that the costs scale and particulars regime apply to matters finalised after 11 August 2016 or to filings after that date as the text and Schedule 2 indicate. Do not assume the gazettal date is the operative start.

Indexed amounts use a specified CPI base and a fixed formula

• Schedule 1 cl 1(b) ties indexing to the Adelaide All Groups CPI, using the September quarter 2014 CPI as the denominator. Adjustments are to be made on 1 January each year using the September quarter CPI of the immediately preceding year. The quotient is to be calculated to two decimal places and rounded to the nearest dollar. Failure to follow this precise arithmetic will produce incorrect indexed figures. The regulation prescribes both the source data and the exact calculation method.

No fees beyond Schedule 1

• r 5(2) specifies there is "no fee payable in proceedings under the Act except as set out in Schedule 1." That is a blunt constraint. Solicitors and counsel cannot claim higher fees through retainer arrangements in proceedings under the Act if doing so would contravene the regulation. This restricts fee negotiation in the statutory proceedings context and may affect how practitioners structure their retainer and whether they encourage alternative pathways such as private settlement outside the Act.

Limited recoverability pathways for disbursements depending on process

• Schedule 1 cl 4 distinguishes recovery certification routes: the court certifies disbursements for matters that involve an application to court; the Crown Solicitor certifies in settled matters. Practitioners must identify early whether a matter involves a court application or will be settled so they know where to seek certification for recoverable disbursements. Mistakenly applying to the wrong certifier could delay or jeopardise recovery.

"Copies of all medical reports in the claimant's possession"

• r 4(p) requires copies only of medical reports that are in the claimant’s possession. That phrasing can be consequential. If a claimant knows of relevant medical reports held by third parties but does not have copies, the claimant could be treated as not having complied with this particular recital unless they obtain and lodge those reports. The regulation does not require the claimant to procure every possible report, only those already in their possession, but the claimant must still disclose amounts received from other sources and steps taken to obtain compensation (r 4(q)), which may require obtaining third-party documentation.

Detailed income accounting tied to a specific 12 month period

• r 4(l)(ii) requires gross income received from occupation or business "during the 12 month period ending on 30 June last prior to the injury." That is an exact reference that can trip up parties who calculate gross income over a different 12 month period or over a financial year instead. Practitioners must ensure the 12 month period specified is the one used when claiming loss of earnings.

Claimant must itemise funerals and treatment

• r 4(k)(i)-(ii) demands itemised lists of expenses in relation to treatment and funeral costs, and the name of the person or institution to whom expenses were paid or are payable. Vague or aggregated cost summaries are therefore inadequate.

"All the facts" for dependants

• r 4(m) requires a dependant claimant to provide "all the facts on which the claimant relies to establish a claim for financial loss." That is a high evidentiary threshold compared to a mere summary and demands comprehensive factual material.

Solicitor fee differs by process

• Schedule 1 cl 2 makes a clear distinction between solicitor fees for an application to court ($1,400 indexed) versus a settlement without application ($700 indexed). The differential may influence whether a practitioner recommends settlement or litigation and has implications for retainer fee expectations.

Counsel preliminary fee covers several activities and first five hours of hearing

• Schedule 1 cl 3(1) bundles preparatory work and the first five hours of hearing into a single $1,000 indexed figure. There is a risk of misallocating particular activities as disbursements rather than being absorbed into the preliminary fee. Additional time at hearing beyond five hours attracts $200 indexed per hour or part hour (Schedule 1 cl 3(2)).

Ambiguity about who ultimately pays

• The regulations say a legal practitioner "may recover" disbursements as certified (Schedule 1 cl 4), but they do not expressly name the payer in these provisions. Practitioners should not assume that certification automatically triggers payment by a particular party without reference to the Act’s payment mechanisms or to administrative processes.

Transitional application to legacy matters

• Schedule 2 applies Schedule 1 to legal costs under s 10 of the 1978 Act for matters finalised after commencement. Practitioners on legacy files must check whether their matter finalises after 11 August 2016 because that timing will determine whether the Schedule 1 costs regime governs recovery.

Rounding and decimal precision

• The indexing calculation requires the quotient to be calculated to two decimal places then rounded to the nearest dollar. Small arithmetic errors in calculation method, rounding or CPI reference quarter could produce incorrect indexed fees. The regulation prescribes the computational methodology precisely; follow it.

No stated consequence for failure to lodge prescribed particulars

• While r 4 prescribes particulars, the regulations do not set the administrative outcome for incomplete submissions. Practitioners must therefore anticipate that decision-makers may require further information, which may delay processing.

This section sets out concrete steps for claimants, dependants and legal practitioners to comply with the regulatory requirements and to preserve entitlement to recover fees and disbursements where appropriate. Each step is tied to the relevant regulation clause.

For claimants and victims (r 4)

1. Assemble identity information: provide name, address and date of birth of the claimant (r 4(a)). If the victim differs from the claimant, provide the victim’s name and date of birth (r 4(b)).
2. Provide offence particulars: supply date, time and place of the offence and a clear description of the type of offence and the surrounding facts (r 4(c)-(d)).
3. Police reporting: state when and where the offence was reported to police, or if not reported, provide a reason for not reporting (r 4(e)).
4. Medical and injury information: deliver details of the injuries (for example broken bones, scars) and lodge copies of all medical reports in the claimant’s possession (r 4(f), (p)). If medical reports are not in the claimant’s possession, secure them where practicable because the regulations require copies in the claimant’s possession.
5. If the victim is deceased, supply relationship to the victim, date of death and funeral date (r 4(g)(i)-(iii)).
6. Offender information: provide offender name(s) if known, conviction details where applicable, and any information about their whereabouts, income and assets (r 4(h)-(j)).
7. Itemise special damage: prepare an itemised list of expenses for treatment with the payee name, and an itemised list of funeral expenses; also detail any health fund membership (r 4(k)(i)-(iii)).
8. Loss of earning capacity claims: prepare occupation/business details at the time of injury and for the 12 months prior; calculate and document gross income for the 12 month period ending 30 June immediately prior to the injury; outline disabilities caused by the injury and the periods during which the claimant was wholly or partially incapacitated; where partially incapacitated, explain the nature and extent of partial incapacity; provide a record of subsequent employment with employer names, addresses and gross income for each post-injury occupation (r 4(l)(i)-(vi)). Note the precise temporal reference for the gross income calculation.
9. Dependants’ claims: compile "all the facts" relied on to establish financial loss (r 4(m)). Be thorough; the regulation expects comprehensive factual material.
10. Final claim amounts and calculations: calculate the final amount claimed for financial loss and the amount claimed for non-financial loss, and include the calculations used to arrive at each figure (r 4(n)-(o)).
11. Disclose other receipts and recovery steps: prepare a statement of all amounts received by or on behalf of the claimant from the offender or any other source, and detail steps taken to obtain payment or compensation from the offender or other persons, corporations or government departments (r 4(q)).

For legal practitioners (Schedule 1; r 5)

1. Fee recovery within the prescribed scale: bill in accordance with Schedule 1. For solicitor work, the recoverable amounts are $1,400 indexed for an application to court, $700 indexed for settlement without court, and $700 indexed for appeals (Schedule 1 cl 2).
2. Counsel billing: if acting as counsel, claim a preliminary fee of $1,000 indexed for preparatory work and the first five hours of hearing, $200 indexed for each additional hour or part of an hour after the first five, $250 indexed for attending a pre-trial conference, and $700 indexed for work on an appeal (Schedule 1 cl 3).
3. Apply indexing correctly: where an amount is "(indexed)" follow Schedule 1 cl 1(b) using the Adelaide CPI September quarter of the immediately preceding year relative to the September quarter 2014 base. Calculate the quotient to two decimal places and round the adjusted amount to the nearest dollar. Apply the adjustment on 1 January each year (Schedule 1 cl 1(a)-(b)).
4. Disbursement recovery process: if you make an application to court, seek a certificate from the court that disbursements were reasonably incurred, because Schedule 1 cl 4(1) permits recovery only as allowed by the court’s certificate. If a matter is settled without application to court, obtain certification from the Crown Solicitor for recoverable disbursements (Schedule 1 cl 4(2)).
5. Do not claim fees outside Schedule 1 in proceedings under the Act: r 5(2) prohibits any fee payable in proceedings under the Act except as set out in Schedule 1. Structure retainer letters and client communications with that constraint in mind.

Operational steps for claims handling and certification

1. Early checklist: at intake prepare a checklist that mirrors r 4(a)-(q) to avoid delays from incomplete particulars. Use the checklist to request third-party medical reports early so copies can be lodged as soon as possible.
2. Proof of payments and receipts: secure invoices, receipts and payee details for treatment and funeral expenses to satisfy r 4(k).
3. Income verification: obtain PAYG summaries, tax returns or employer statements to support gross income figures for the exact 12 month period identified in r 4(l)(ii).
4. Document steps taken to recover third-party payments: maintain contemporaneous records of recovery attempts against offenders or third parties, including correspondence and demands, to support the statement required by r 4(q).
5. Coordinate with Crown Solicitor early where settlement is likely: because recovery of disbursements in settled matters requires Crown Solicitor certification (Schedule 1 cl 4(2)), inform the Crown Solicitor early and ascertain their requirements for certification.
6. When litigation is pursued, ensure court orders or certificates explicitly identify disbursements for which recovery is allowed: courts certify disbursements as "reasonably incurred" under Schedule 1 cl 4(1). Obtain written certification to support recovery and invoicing.

Transitional matters under the 1978 Act (Schedule 2)

1. Check finalisation dates: for legacy matters under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1978 determine whether the matter finalised after 11 August 2016, because Schedule 2 applies the Schedule 1 costs regime to such matters (Schedule 2 cl 1).
2. Apply Schedule 1 entitlements where applicable: if a legacy matter finalises after the regulation commencement date, recover costs in accordance with Schedule 1.

Practical billing and client advice

1. Communicate limits to clients: advise clients at the outset of the capped fee amounts for solicitor and counsel fees under the Act and how the CPI indexing mechanism may change nominal figures annually.
2. Consider retainer alternatives when appropriate: because r 5(2) limits fees recoverable in proceedings, practitioners may wish to consider whether separate private retainer arrangements outside "proceedings under the Act" are necessary or permissible for additional recovery of fees, always bearing in mind the prohibition in r 5(2).
3. Keep computation records: when applying the indexing formula maintain a computation record showing the CPI figures used, the two-decimal quotient, and the rounding to the nearest dollar, to provide an audit trail for invoicing and audit.

Administrative follow-up

1. If a claim is returned for incomplete particulars, respond promptly using the r 4 checklist and provide a consolidated submission that anticipates requests for supporting documentation.
2. Retain originals and copies of invoices and certificates: ensure that certificates from courts or the Crown Solicitor are attached to fee-recovery applications or payment requests.

By following the rule text’s specific references and procedural gates, claimants and practitioners can reduce the risk of non-compliance and preserve entitlement to recover the sums that the regulations make recoverable.