The Senior Court Costs Office Guide 2023 (the ‘Guide’) has now been released and can be found here. Although this guide is meant for proceedings in the Senior Court Costs Office (‘SCCO’), this is a very useful starting point to understanding detailed assessment proceedings generally.
As with the SCCO Guide 2021, the Guide is split into 4 parts:
- Part A General Matters = covering matters such as entitlement to costs, costs management orders, costs capping orders and the electronic bill;
- Part B Detailed Assessment Proceedings = covering the processes of, and time frames for, commencing detailed assessment, serving points of dispute, serving replies to the points of dispute, and requesting an assessment;
- Part C Applications = covering the processes of obtaining and setting aside a default costs certificate, obtaining a payment on account and applications in detailed assessment proceedings; and
- Part D Specific Proceedings = covering solicitor and client assessments, costs only proceedings, appeals and litigants in person.
The changes in the Guide are minimal but include:
- Amendment to the qualified one-way costs shifting (‘QOCS’) section in light of the change to CPR 44.14 in April of this year;
- the inclusion of Precedent R and T in the schedule of precedents; and
- the inclusion of standard orders for assessments under CPR 46.4(2) in the schedule of precedents.
See Ella Wilkinson’s blog here regarding the changes to the Guide in relation to COP cases.
Ellena Hunter is an Associate in the Costs and Litigation Funding Department at Clarion Solicitors. You can contact the team at civilandcommercialcosts@clarionsolicitors.com