Once you have e-filed your bill of costs, you should receive an email of acceptance from the SCCO, which requires you to file your papers in support within 28 days of receipt of the acknowledgement. A file of papers is required by the SCCO for assessment, be it a paper file or a PDF file, this is so the Costs Officer can review the evidence of all work done in order to carry out their assessment, alongside the bill of costs. You have to select electronic bundle rather than the paper file when you are e-filing the bill of costs so that the SCCO know what file format to expect.
Electronic files of papers are only recently accepted, but as a result of the SCCO’s outdated software, they have particular requirements surrounding how it should be submitted. For that reason, if you are submitting an electronic file of papers, it is required to be an e-bundle.
The guidance received from the SCCO states that it needs to be in PDF format, ideally with an index at the front so the SCCO can easily navigate. The SCCO specifically request that the uploaded files should be in the following format:
- The file must be named with the SCCO case reference e.g. SC-2020-COP-001234 and the protected party’s surname. If the bill is for General Management, please include the period covered.
- All documents should be in chronological order from the oldest to the newest. Ideally, you should include an index and hyperlink.
- If you upload your papers as more than one file, each file should be labelled so that the contents can be clearly identified by the Costs Officer e.g. SC-2020-COP-001234 file 1- Jan-Mar, SC-2020-COP-001234 file 2 – Apr-May.
- The OPG102, OPG105, the client care letter and any invoices for disbursements or counsels’ fees should appear at the start of the file.
There are various different bundling software packages that are available to prepare your e-bundle, an example of a software that can be used is Bundledocs.
Please find the link for the HMCTS Document Upload Centre – Professional Users Guide for further information:
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Casey Mcgregor at casey.mcgregor@clarionsolicitors.com
