Details have emerged of how fixed recoverable costs (FRC) will be implemented from this October – but the new rules and figures are still unconfirmed.

Newly-published minutes from the Civil Procedure Rule Committee outline exactly when FRC will apply and for which cases.

The intention is that fixed costs will apply to claims where proceedings are issued on or after 1 October, except for personal injury. The new FRC will apply to personal injury claims where the cause of action accrues on or after 1 October, and will only apply to disease claims where the letter of claim has not been sent to the defendant before 1 October.

The new costs regime will apply to most money cases (not including clinical negligence) worth up to £100,000 and is based on proposals set out in Sir Rupert Jackson’s report in 2017.

The rules committee heard that the proposed approach was deemed a ‘sensible way forward’ by having a staged transition into fixed costs.

The minutes do not indicate when the rules will be published, although the final drafts have now been created.

The proposed new practice direction 45 now includes the tables setting out the rates of FRC for the fast track, intermediate track, and noise induced hearing loss claims. It was explained that the FRC figures set out in Jackson’s report have been uprated for inflation using the January 2023 services producer price index. It has previously been confirmed that the figures will not be automatically uprated on a periodic basis.

According to the minutes of March’s meeting, committee chair Lord Justice Birss was keen to avoid ‘spurious precision’ and backed rounding costs to the nearest two significant figures.

Meanwhile, new qualified one-way costs shifting rules have come into force for all cases issued on or after 6 April. Defendants will now be able to recover costs more than the value of damages and interest where there is a costs order in their favour.

Sean Linley, from Carter Burnett legal costs consultants, said the rule changes will give ‘greater bite’ for defendants and will expose claimant practitioners to enhanced risk. He added that ATE premiums may rise as any additional expense will have to be met by the claimant themselves.