As you may be aware, the Master of the Rolls has accepted the recommendations of the Civil Justice Council Costs review. As per the recommendations, the Master of the Rolls has confirmed that ‘the 2021 Guideline Hourly Rates will be uplifted for inflation from 1 January 2024 in accordance with the Services Producer Price Index.’ The guideline hourly rates will then be uplifted annually by the Services Producer Price Index.
The new hourly rates are as follows:
The increase is approximately 6-7% depending on your geographical location.
What impact will the new Guideline Hourly Rates have on Court of Protection?
The new guideline hourly rates will come into effect from 1 January 2024. In order to ensure that COP Practitioners are able to claim these within bills, it is imperative that all retainer letters and client care letters are updated to reflect the new hourly rates. Without this paperwork, the practitioner will be unable to claim the new hourly rates as they would be in breach of the indemnity principle.
The indemnity principle states that ‘a successful party cannot recover from an unsuccessful party more by way of costs than the successful party is liable to pay his or her legal representatives’. When applied to Court of Protection costs, this means a Deputy cannot claim costs higher than those stated in their client care letter or retainer letter. Therefore, we recommend that all paperwork be updated to reflect the new guideline hourly rates in advance of 1st January 2024.
Please be aware that the retainers cannot be backdated, and therefore the rates cannot be claimed prior to 1 January 2024. It is also the case that if the client care letters are updated post 1 January 2024, the guideline hourly rates cannot be claimed prior to the date of the updated client care letter.
If you have any queries you can contact Laura Sugarman at Laura.Sugarman@clarionsolicitors.com for further information.