Getting back to basics on costs

19 September 2025 / David Bailey-Vella

Issue: 8131 / Categories: Features , Profession , Costs

David Bailey-Vella breaks down the costs budgeting light pilot

The costs budgeting light pilot sets out to streamline the costs management process for lower-value multi-track claims.
It presents a step towards a permanent overhaul of the costs budgeting framework for lower-value claims.

In a significant step toward modernising civil litigation in England and Wales, the 179th amendment of the CPR introduced the costs budgeting light pilot scheme, also known as simplified costs budgeting.

Launched on 6 April 2025, this three-year pilot aims to streamline the costs management process for lower-value multi-track claims, reducing complexity and promoting proportionality in legal proceedings. For those practitioners engaging with the pilot, it is important to explore and understand the scope, structure, strategic implications, and practical next steps.

The pilot applies to Part 7 multi-track claims and is mandatory for eligible cases issued between 1 April 2025 and 1 April 2028, unless the court directs otherwise, with a value of less than £1m. The scheme is currently being trialled in the business

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content

If you are already a subscriber sign in

...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

Getting back to basics on costs

David Bailey-Vella breaks down the costs budgeting light pilot

The costs budgeting light pilot sets out to streamline the costs management process for lower-value multi-track claims.
It presents a step towards a permanent overhaul of the costs budgeting framework for lower-value claims.

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content

If you are already a subscriber sign in

...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

SourceURL:

Links:

E-newsletter Sign-Up

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All

Arc Pensions Law—Ian D’Costa

Pensions firm welcomes legal director in London

Shakespeare Martineau—Jonathan Warren

Real estate disputes team strengthened by London partner hire

Morgan Lewis—Christian Tuddenham

Litigation partner joins disputes team in London

NEWS

Read All

NLJ this week: AI, liberty & the digital cage

Government plans for offender ‘restriction zones’ risk creating ‘digital cages’ that blur punishment with surveillance, warns Henrietta Ronson, partner at Corker Binning, in this week's issue of NLJ

NLJ this week: Leasehold reform in limbo

Louise Uphill, senior associate at Moore Barlow LLP, dissects the faltering rollout of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 in this week's NLJ

NLJ this week: Enforcement reform gets real

Judgments are ‘worthless without enforcement’, says HHJ Karen Walden-Smith, senior circuit judge and chair of the Civil Justice Council’s enforcement working group. In this week's NLJ, she breaks down the CJC’s April 2025 report, which identified systemic flaws and proposed 39 reforms, from modernising procedures to protecting vulnerable debtors

NLJ this week: Standish reshapes family & inheritance claims

Writing in NLJ this week, Katherine Harding and Charlotte Finley of Penningtons Manches Cooper examine Standish v Standish [2025] UKSC 26, the Supreme Court ruling that narrowed what counts as matrimonial property, and its potential impact upon claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975

NLJ this week: Clearing Christine Keeler’s name

In this week's NLJ, Dr Jon Robins, editor of The Justice Gap and lecturer at Brighton University, reports on a campaign to posthumously exonerate Christine Keeler. 60 years after her perjury conviction, Keeler’s son Seymour Platt has petitioned the king to exercise the royal prerogative of mercy, arguing she was a victim of violence and moral hypocrisy, not deceit. Supported by Felicity Gerry KC, the dossier brands the conviction 'the ultimate in slut-shaming'

Error message

Getting back to basics on costs

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Ian D’Costa

Shakespeare Martineau—Jonathan Warren

Morgan Lewis—Christian Tuddenham