The Ministry of Justice has recently announced its intention to implement Sir Rupert Jackson’s proposals to extend the fixed costs regime from limited personal injury claims. The regime will extend to most civil cases worth up to £25,000 in the fast track and to what are described as “intermediate cases” valued up to £100,000. There will be exemptions to cases such as professional negligence and intellectual property disputes.
All cases under the new regime will be allocated to one of four bands of complexity and different fixed costs will apply to each band. The MOJ has published the figures originally suggested for the fixed costs by Jackson but that was in 2017 (!) and the final figures will take into account inflation.
The Civil Procedure Rules Committee will finalise the rules applicable to the new regime.
Unity broadly welcomes the proposals. They will encourage early resolution of cases and both parties will enjoy certainty as to the amount of costs that the losing party will have to bear. However, we do have concerns that the fees charged by solicitors to their clients will be substantially more than the fixed costs recoverable on the successful outcome of the case. It will be interesting to see what impact the changes will have on access to justice. No doubt, the panel at Unity’s forthcoming conference (13th October). The full government report can be found on the MOJ website.
With no intended irony, the MOJ has at the same time indicated its intention to proceed with 129 fee increases despite acknowledging the frustrations that court users express at the poor level of service received and the decaying fabric of buildings. Unity doubts whether the income from these rises will be used to employ more staff or make court buildings fit for use.