The change to the CW1 declaration mentioned in this post relates to the penultimate paragraph 11.1.1 in this guidance document. Are we alone in not having seen any advance notice of this? Was there any?
Read the whole thing, however there seem to be two clear elements; the clients reporting responsibilities on change of circumstances and the firm’s with regard to reassessment.
The former places the client under a duty to report any improvement in means since the original assessment these may include “new employment or a lottery win”!
You, acting as the assessing authority, are unlikely to think that a reassessment is appropriate unless:
“the client’s means have improved dramatically (e.g. inheritance or lottery win) or the matter is likely to run for some time, say three months or more, after a significant change in circumstances”.
Quite why any of this is necessary in an age of standard fees, initial attendance triggers payment, and the limited impact of the statutory charge on controlled work, is beyond me. Unless of course you know better.
