NLJ costs revision: costs management & the problem of incurred costs

Incurred costs ‘represent the single greatest problem’, Professor Dominic Regan says in his first post-holiday refresher article on costs management, in NLJ this week. Sir Cliff Richard’s incurred costs for his privacy suit against the BBC, for example, were £1.167m. Prof Regan notes that, while Sir Rupert Jackson, architect of costs management, has noted that steps must be taken to control incurred costs, he is still striving to reassure those who are concerned. This is because costs management is ‘prospective; it is only about what is to be done and to be spent’.