On 15 May, the Northern Ireland County Court Rules Committee (CPRC) launched a consultation entitled Scale Costs. The closing date for responses is 10 July 2026.
The Minister of Justice has previously announced that she intends to make changes to the financial jurisdiction in the County Court, increasing it to £60,000, and the jurisdiction of district judges to £20,000, and in defamation cases up to £10,000. This change is planned for Autumn 2026 subject to amendments to the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981 and to the Department of Justice making changes to legal aid legislation.
This consultation sets out the position reached by the CPRC in respect of costs for matters falling within the new County Court financial limits.
The CPRC proposes maintaining the existing costs structure and building on existing scales by providing six additional bands to specify costs for matters within the general civil jurisdiction up to the new limit of £60,000 and, for defamation matters, three additional bands up to the new limit of £10,000. Final decisions will be made once consultation responses have been considered.
The CPRC is also consulting on a proposed amendment to Order 55, rule 11(1)(ba) of the County Court Rules to include specified lung diseases within the categories of cases where a judge or district judge may order an enhancement of costs if satisfied that the issues are of particular complexity.
The committee are consulting on :
- Whether the guiding principles used in the 2001 Review should be applied?
- The proposed banding.
- The approach to setting the scale costs.
- The proposed scale cost.
- The proposed amendment to Order 55, rule 11(1)(ba).
The papers sets out in some detail how the proposed scale costs have been calculated with reference to the Belfast Solicitor's Association scale and the Insurers’ Scale, with a proposed percent reduction.
We will be responding to the consultation and our Strategic Advisory Team is here to help if you have any queries or would like to discuss.
