Tag: Clarion Costs Team

Guideline Hourly Rates 2021 & Other Changes Impacting COP Costs

Laura SugarmanLeave a comment

From 1st October 2021, the new Guideline Hourly Rates will come into force. This means that from this date, subject to your retainer/client care letter, you will be able to claim the new hourly rates. The new rates are as follows:

 Grade AGrade BGrade CGrade D
London 1£512£348£270£186
London 2£373£289£244£139
London 3£282£232 £185£129
National 1£261£218£178£126
National 2£255£218£177 £126

The new Guideline Hourly Rates will displace Master Whalan’s decision in PLK & Others (2020). The new GHR differ across geographical locations, but overall, they are increased from the outdated 2010 GHR. For most junior fee earners, the increase is less than those awarded in PLK & Others.

In respect of Court of Protection costs specifically, the report quotes Master Whalan in the decision of PLK & Others, where he concluded that ‘ultimately I am not satisfied that the evidence supports Mr Wilcock’s contention that COP firms have experienced a significant increase in hard and soft overheads’.

It was also noted that ‘in general, however, COP assessments can be conducted by costs officers utilising the GHR as the reasonable hourly rate. The issue as to the appropriate status or grade of fee earner for the work in question will always be a matter for discretion of costs officers and/or costs judges’. When considering the PLK rates, the decision was made that ‘the GHR rates (if approved) are the rates to be used, not the PLK rates’.

The impact of this for Court of Protection practitioners is that the rates stated in the PLK & Others judgment dated 30 September 2020, as set out below, will no longer apply to costs to be assessed by the Senior Courts Costs Office, and that the new GHR will instead be applicable.

As well as this, there will also be an increase to Court fees which will also impact COP matters. The new Court fees will impact all COP matters, with the COP assessment fee increasing from £85 to £87. The cost of a costs appeal in COP matters will increase from £65 to £70.

Alongside policy change, there have been many changes at the SCCO too with several experienced Costs Officers leaving or retiring, creating inconsistent assessments and large delays.

In addition, the proposed COP E-Bill is almost ready for consultation and once approved, will create a more streamlined assessment process. The SCCO are also now accepting electronic PDF bundles for assessment, which is positive news for the environment. However, electronic systems are not without their flaws and it’s likely to take some time for the SCCO to adapt fully.

If you have any questions about any of the issues raised, please contact Laura Gillin at Laura.Gillin@clarionsolicitors.com

Proposed increases to court fees to proceed

Bethany CollingsLeave a comment

Court and Tribunal Fees – The Government response to the consultation on ‘Increasing selected court fees and Help with Fees income thresholds by inflation’

Following a consultation process, the Government will be proceeding with proposed increases to Court fees. the changes are likely to come into force in early Autumn. The proposed fee increases reflect inflation and are not therefore real terms increases.

The proposed increases will effect the costs  of detailed assessment as set out below.

DescriptionCurrent FeeIncreaseFinal fee  
Assessment of costs (under Part 3, Solicitors Act 1974)  £55+£4£59
Where the party filing the request is legally aided  £220+£17£237
Costs up to £15000  £369+£29£398  
Costs £15000 – £50000  £743+£58£801  
Costs £50000 – £100000  £1,106+£86£1,192  
Costs £100000 – £150000  £1,480  +£115  £1,595  
Costs £150000 – £200000  £1,848  +£144  £1,992  
Costs £200000 – £300000  £2,772  +£216  £2,988  
Costs £300000 – £500000  £4,620  +£360  £4,980  
Costs Above £500000  £6,160  +£480  £6,640  
Issue of default costs certificate£66  +£5  £71  
Appeal (detailed assessment proceedings)£231  +£18  £249  
Request/application to set aside a default costs certificate  £121+£9£130  

There will also be an effect on the costs of assessment in Court of Protection cases:

On the filing of a request for detailed assessment for Court of Protection  £85£2£87  
Appeal against a Court of Protection costs assessment decision  £65£5£70  

Bethany Collings is an apprentice paralegal in our Costs and Litigation Funding team. If you have any questions, please contact her on 0113 227 3607 or at Bethany.Collings@clarionsolicitors.com

The Process of a Request for Reassessment

Stephanie KayeLeave a comment

Unlike any other area of law, there is a process regarding Court of Protection assessments that is not in any written case or law, however a spoken arrangement passed down by Costs Judges in order to save judicial time – the Request for Reassessment.

What is it?

Once a Court of Protection Bill of Costs has been assessed at the SCCO, there may be various reductions made that you would not agree with, whether that be a reduction to your hourly rate, time spent liaising with P that was deemed ‘too excessive’ without any reference to case law or document reviews that were ‘unnecessary’. There is a chance to appeal this with the correct justification, prior to arranging a hearing.

It came about following a review of the appeal process by Master Haworth, as only oral hearings, which are expensive and time consuming were used for appealing amounts of time which did not justify the use of the process. Often the cost and time spent in an appeal outweighed any proportionate benefit.

Upon reviewing the assessment, if you are unhappy with it, you can lodge a request for reassessment with the SCCO.

The process for the request for reassessment is as follows:

  • If you are unhappy with the outcome of the assessment, you can request a reassessment within 14 days of the original assessment.
  • The Bill of Costs is returned to the Costs Officer who undertook the initial assessment for reconsideration in respect of the issues requiring reconsideration.
  • The Costs Officer will generally accept where they have made an error. They base their assessment on the points raised before them, so these points need to be justified and they need to have all of the facts to make an informed decision. It is not worthwhile to simply disagree with their approach – you need to explain why you disagree with particular reductions and on what grounds they should increase the amount allowed.
  • The assessment will be reconsidered on paper and returned to you with additional comments following the Costs Officer’s reassessment.
  • If you are still unhappy with the assessment, you can proceed to an oral hearing before a Costs Master; but be aware that this can be an expensive and timely process.

Here at Clarion, we are more than happy to review any assessments and consider an appeal; we can also lodge the request for reassessment on your behalf. Please get in touch with a member of our Costs Team to find out more.

Joshua Sidding is a Paralegal in the Court of Protection Team of the Costs and Litigation Funding Department at Clarion Solicitors. You can contact him at Joshua.sidding@clarionsolicitors.com and 0113 222 3245, or the Clarion Costs Team on 0113 246 0622.

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Increase to Court Fees

Stephanie KayeLeave a comment

The Government issued a public consultation on 22 March 2021. The Ministry of Justice is consulting on increasing some court fees in line with historical inflation dating from August 2016 to April 2021, or from the year the fee was last amended (capped at August 2016). The proposal is limited to fees which are under-recovering compared to the estimated cost of the service and to fees which are enhanced, meaning they can legally be set above the cost of service. The impacted fees are included in the following fee orders:

•            Family Proceedings Fees Order 2008 No 1054 (43 impacted fees);

•            Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008 No 1053 (67 impacted fees);

•            Court of Protection Fees Order 2007 No 1745 (3 impacted fees); and

•            Magistrates Courts Fees Order 2008 No 1052 (20 impacted fees).

At the same time as increasing fees, the Government is also proposing to widen access to the Help with Fees scheme and make it more generous. This proposal includes inflationary uplifts to the income thresholds, including the couple and child premiums, in the Help with Fees scheme, backdated to August 2016. The proposal will widen access to and increase the generosity of the Help with Fees scheme. In particular, the extended scheme will benefit women, people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people and younger people, who all feature disproportionately among low income groups.

The proposed fee increases will raise an estimated additional net income of £11-£17 million a year for HMCTS after fee remissions, including the proposed changes to Help with Fees, are applied. This will help to ensure HMCTS continues to have the necessary funding to complete its much needed and important activities. Given the current economic uncertainty and the difficulty in forecasting rates of inflation accurately at this time, the figures included in this proposal are indicative and will be revised, based on actuals, prior to the implementation of the revised fee. Therefore, this estimated income is subject to change.

Responses are welcomed from anyone with an interest in or views on the subject covered by this consultation. The full consultation is available at: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/increasing-selected-court-fees-income-thresholds. Responses are required by the 17th May and can be submitted via an online survey using the link above, via email: mojfeespolicy@justice.gov.uk, or by post to: Fees Policy Team, Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France, London SW1H 9AJ.

Any questions regarding this consultation can be addressed to the Ministry of Justice Fees Policy Team (mojfeespolicy@justice.gov.uk).

More changes are coming to costs in the latest amendments to the CPR – Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2021

Anna LockyerLeave a comment

More changes are coming to costs in the latest amendments to the CPR – Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2021, which comes into force on 6 April 2021, and the 127th update to the PD. 

Costs Management

These changes are not significant, however it is noted that there has been one amendment that is worthy of mention particularly for practical reasons. During the last tranche of costs changes in October 2020 (122nd update) when the costs practice directions and rules were consolidated and the precedent H guidance notes were incorporated into PD 3E, it was identified that one of the amendments created difficulties in terms of drafting of the budget. The amendment related to CPR 3.17(3)(a) which stated that the Court may not approve costs incurred before the date of any costs management hearing and replaced the previous practice direction that referred to how the courts may not approve incurred costs up to and including the date of the costs and case management hearing. This amendment resulted in the provision of updated incurred costs information that included an element of estimated costs, i.e. the costs associated with attending the CCMC. Please see follow this link https://www.clarionsolicitors.com/articles/costs-and-litigation-funding-newsletter-october-2020 for more a detailed analysis in that regard.

Master Cook recognised the difficulties that rule change made in the 122nd update created and has now addressed this in this latest tranche of rule changes. The rules have been amended, as follows:

“(3) Subject to rule 3.15A, the court (a) may not approve costs incurred up to and including the date of any costs management hearing; but (b) may record its comments on those costs and take those costs into account when considering the reasonableness and proportionality of all budgeted costs.”

This is a change that is very much welcomed and simplifies the presentation of incurred costs.

Some minor amendments to the cost management Practice direction 3E have been made which are limited to substituting “budgeted costs” for total costs (incurred and estimated) in paragraph 4b of practice direction 3E; and the substitution of interlocutory for interim at paragraph 10 (a). The final amendment relates to the table found in PD 3E in the Disclosure section, where ”third party” is to be substituted with “non-party”.

Summary assessment

The PD 51X Costs for Summary Assessment Pilot scheme has been running for nearly 2 years and the judiciary have confirmed that they have received some useful comments, however they have extended the voluntary pilot scheme for a further year to enable the capture of more data.

Capped Costs Pilot

PD51W Capped Costs pilot scheme was launched in January 2019 and has run for 2 years. The scheme was limited to cases valued up to £250,000 in the Business and Property Courts in Manchester, Leeds and London Circuit Commercial Court. It followed a recommendation made by Sir Rupert Jackson in his 2017 report as part of his push for fixed costs. There has been limited uptake with only one case being heard under the pilot and consequently the scheme has not been extended.

The CPRC have commented that “it was acknowledged that the broad aims remain as current as ever and the need for schemes of this kind for the efficient despatch of medium value claims, whether as pilots or not, will continue to be considered in the context of post Covid-19 recovery and new ways of conducting business litigation”.

Joanne Chase is a Senior Associate in our Costs and Litigation Funding team. If you have any questions, please contact her on 07826 166 300 or at joanne.chase@clarionsolicitors.com .

The Precedent T; a new Costs Management precedent, watch this space!

Andrew McAulayLeave a comment

The CPRC have released minutes of their latest meeting.  The committee has provided further information regarding the proposals and options relating to revisions to CPR r3.15 and PD 3E, please follow this link to see our previous update.

CPR r3.15 will be re-drafted stating that revisions to budgets are made promptly rather than the initial suggestion that revisions are made without delay. There will be further amendments to practice direction 3E with the introduction of a precedent T and accompanying rules in relation to the completion of the same. The precedent T will provide much needed structure regarding the process of revising budgets and we are expecting that it will outline how to revise budgets. The intention is that these updates will feature in the October 2020 update to the rules.

Please do not hesitate to give me a call or email if you have any queries regarding revising your budget or any other cost management requirements.  More detail regarding the importance of revising the budget can be found in our previous blog here. Remember that the rules provide for incurring 2% of your budget in respect to all cost management matters which includes monitoring and revising budgets.

You can find out more about our services here or you can contact the Costs Team at CivilCosts@clarionsolicitors.com

COVID-19 update: face to face hearings

Joanne ChaseLeave a comment

HMCTS are consolidating the work of the courts and tribunals into fewer buildings. It has been announced that from Monday 30 March 2020 there will be a network of priority courts that will remain open during the coronavirus pandemic to make sure the justice system continues to operate effectively.

Fewer than half of all court and tribunal buildings will remain open for physical hearings, with 157 priority court and tribunal buildings remaining open for essential face-to-face hearings. This represents 42% of the 370 crown, magistrates, county and family courts and tribunals across England and Wales.

To help maintain a core justice system that is focused on the most essential cases there will be open courts, staffed courts and suspended courts.

The Judiciary recommend that you check which courts are open before you travel.  For information regarding the category of each court please follow this link.

Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland has said that it is vital that we keep our courts running. and that:

“An extraordinary amount of hard work has gone into keeping our justice system functioning. Technology is being used creatively to ensure that many cases can continue. Not everything can be dealt with remotely and so we need to maintain functioning courts.

These temporary adjustments to how we use the court estate will help ensure that we can continue to deal with work appropriately in all jurisdictions whilst safeguarding the well-being of all those who work in and visit the courts”.

Staffed courts will support video and telephone hearings and progress cases without hearings and ensure continued access to justice.

The remaining courts and tribunals will close temporarily and these measures will be kept in place for as long as necessary.

You can find out more about our services here or you can contact the Costs and Litigation Funding team at CivilCosts@clarionsolicitors.com.