The next CPR update includes an important change to the way in
which costs of under £25,000 will be assessed in the
future.
Practice Direction 51E provides for a County Court Provisional
Assessment Pilot Scheme (the" Scheme"). The Scheme will
be introduced for a period of 1 year in the county courts of Leeds,
Scarborough and York but it is very likely to be rolled out to the
rest of the country in due course.
The Scheme will apply where assessment proceedings have been
commenced on or after 1 October 2010 and where the base costs
claimed are £25,000 or less.
The aim of the Scheme is that within six weeks of commencement,
relevant bills will be provisionally assessed on paper. No party is
allowed to attend. Within 21 days of receipt of notice of the
provisional assessment, either party can request an oral hearing if
they are dissatisfied with the outcome of the assessment. But the
disincentive for any party which might wish to complain about the
assessment is
