If the court decides to make an order for costs against a legally aided party, it may either make an order that the amount of the costs payable by the legally aided party is to be determined by a Costs Judge or District Judge, or make an order which specifies the amount which the legally aided party is required to pay.

If the court decided to make an order that the amount payable by the legally aided party is to be determined by a Costs Judge or District Judge, it may also state the amount that that person would have been ordered to pay had costs protection not applied, i.e. the full costs which would be determined by summary assessment. Alternatively, the court may make findings of fact, e.g., about the conduct of all the parties which must be taken into account by the Costs Judge or District Judge in the subsequent determination proceedings.

The court will not make an order which specifies the amount which the legally aided party is to pay, unless it considers it has sufficient information before it to decide what amount is reasonable and either the order also states the amount of the full costs (i.e. the amount which that person would have been ordered to pay had costs protection not applied) or the court is satisfied that the full costs would exceed the amount which it has specified the legally aided party must pay.

If the legally aided party does not have costs protection in respect of all of the costs (e.g. the certificate was not in force during the whole of the proceedings) the order must also identify the sum payable in respect of which the legally aided party had costs protection and the sum payable in respect of which he did not have costs protection.

A specimen order for costs made against a claimant, who is a legally aided party, is set out in Appendix AD.