The 18th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) was published on 9 April 2026.
The JCG sets out guidelines and are not binding on any court assessing damages in any particular case. As the introduction to the previous edition, the 17th noted "… no two injuries are the same in their effect and interpretation will always be needed to enable particular cases to be fitted within any of the brackets identified."
Inflation index
The figures in the 18th edition have been adjusted to take account of increases in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to August 2025 at around 8.26% (see table below).
Once again the introductory comments make it clear that it is not in the editorial board's gift to apply an index other than RPI. They do refer to reasoned arguments received since the publication of the 17th edition setting out why an alternative index should be preferred. The introduction makes it clear that this is an important issue to be resolved.
The introduction also refers to the whiplash regulations, confirming which table applies from when and also details the Supreme Court's decision in the "mixed injury test cases" – see our previous alert here.
The fact that "minor psychological injury" is not a defined term is also flagged, but reference is made to the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice on 5 August 2025, which can be found here.
This edition includes some quite significant changes in chapter 3 to the section on epilepsy to cover changes in the medical terminology used. Changes have also been made in chapter 4 to the category on sexual and/or physical abuse to reflect updated case law, and chapter 6 where a new section on miscarriage has been added.
Examples
When the last edition of the guidelines was published we compiled a table showing a spread of injuries and the increases in the applicable brackets together with a calculation of the percentage increase that this represented. We have carried out the same exercise for the same injuries in respect of the 18th Edition and the figures are shown in the table below.
Comment
The changes in the chapters highlighted above are helpful additions to the guidelines. Otherwise, the changes largely reflect RPI with some rounding to whole figures. It should be noted that RPI is adopted to August 2025. It is to be anticipated that argument will be made for sums above those in the JCG to account for RPI since that date.
It is to be hoped that a suitable case can be brought before the courts ahead of the next edition so that the question of which index should be applied and from when can be fully argued and determined ahead of publication.
Click here to view the new figures in the 18th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines.
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