Civil Justice Council publishes final report on the costs review

The Civil Justice Council published its final report on the costs review on 10 May, which was carried out by the working group led by Justice Birss with the aim of reviewing four aspects of the civil costs regime and making suitable recommendations. The four areas reviewed by the working group are: the guideline hourly rates, costs budgeting, pre-action and digitisation, and the consequences of the extension of fixed recoverable costs. The recommendations include that costs budgeting should be retained and that it should be possible to permit a more tailored approach to costs management, to suit different work types and/or venues where the litigation is conducted.