Could rule changes be on the horizon? Dominic Regan looks ahead to 2023, & considers guideline hourly rates & caps on deductions
- Update on guideline hourly rates: are they still relevant with so many fee-earners now working at least partly from home?
- Costs post-Belsner: is reform of the Solicitors Act 1974 on the way?
The Master of the Rolls approved an increase in guideline hourly rates which took effect in October 2021. Master Rowley, at para [44] of R v Barts Health NHS Trust [2022] EWHC B3 (Costs), said: ‘Where the work is as recent as 2019, it seems to me there is no argument that the correct starting point is the 2021 guideline figures.’ He then proceeded to allow even more for all grades of fee earner on account of importance, urgency and complexity. The Master of the Rolls has indicated a further review in just two years’ time. Master Brown in TRX v Southampton Football Club Ltd | [2022] EWHC B7 (Costs) applied new rates to work undertaken as far back as 2017.
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