Court Fees in Costs Proceedings: A Complete Guide
Costs proceedings in England and Wales involve a range of court fees that are easy to overlook until they arise. Whether you are commencing detailed assessment, dealing with an interlocutory application, or facing an appeal from a costs decision, the fee payable to HMCTS is a real and recoverable expense. This page sets out every current fee relevant to costs proceedings, with notes on when each applies and what it means in practice.
Figures verified against GOV.UK EX50, last updated July 2025
Commencing Costs Proceedings
Two types of costs claim require an issue fee at the outset.
Costs-only proceedings arise where the parties have settled the substantive dispute but cannot agree the costs. Either party may issue under CPR 46.14 to resolve that outstanding question. Costs assessment proceedings arise where a client disputes the amount of their solicitor’s bill and applies to the court for an assessment under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.
| Application | Fee |
|---|---|
| Starting costs-only proceedings (fees order 1.8b) | £67 |
| Starting costs assessment proceedings under the Solicitors Act 1974 (fees order 1.8b) | £67 |
The £67 issue fee is modest relative to what follows, but it opens the formal process and triggers the procedural timetable under CPR Part 47.
Detailed Assessment Hearing Fees
The most significant fee in any detailed assessment is the hearing fee. It is payable when filing the request for a detailed assessment hearing (Form N258) and is scaled to the amount of costs claimed by the receiving party.
These fees apply to privately funded detailed assessment requests. For legally aided cases, see below.
| Costs claimed (fees order 5.2) | Fee |
|---|---|
| Up to £15,000 | £398 |
| £15,000.01 to £50,000 | £801 |
| £50,000.01 to £100,000 | £1,192 |
| £100,000.01 to £150,000 | £1,595 |
| £150,000.01 to £200,000 | £1,992 |
| £200,000.01 to £300,000 | £2,988 |
| £300,000.01 to £500,000 | £4,980 |
| More than £500,000 | £6,640 |
These fees apply whether the assessment takes place at the Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO) or at a district registry.
For legally aided cases, a fixed fee of £237 applies to the request for detailed assessment, regardless of the value of the bill. This reflects the specialist nature of publicly funded work and is substantially lower than the scaled fee for private cases.
The scale of the hearing fee in higher-value cases means that the proportionality of pursuing detailed assessment to a hearing, as against settling, is a live strategic question. A £300,000 bill carries a £2,988 hearing fee for the receiving party; a £500,001 bill carries £6,640. Those figures should inform settlement discussions.
Default Costs Certificates
Where a receiving party serves a Notice of Commencement (Form N252) and the paying party fails to serve Points of Dispute within the 21-day period under CPR 47.9, the receiving party may apply for a Default Costs Certificate for the full amount of the bill.
| Application | Fee |
|---|---|
| Request to issue a Default Costs Certificate (fees order 5.3) | £80 |
| Request or application to set aside a Default Costs Certificate (fees order 5.5) | £148 |
Applications to set aside are common where Points of Dispute have been served late or where there is a dispute about service of the Notice of Commencement. The paying party bears the £148 set-aside fee, and the costs of any set-aside application are themselves at the court’s discretion. Paying parties who receive a Notice of Commencement should not underestimate the cost and disruption of missing the deadline.
General Applications (N244)
Interlocutory applications in costs proceedings are made using Form N244. The applicable fee depends on whether the application is on notice or by consent or without notice.
| Application type (fees order 2.4) | Fee |
|---|---|
| Application on notice | £313 |
| Application by consent or without notice | £123 |
If a without-notice application is refused and is ordered to be made on notice, the applicant must pay the balance (£190) before the application proceeds.
N244 applications arise regularly in costs proceedings: extensions of time under CPR 47.7 or 47.9, relief from sanctions, applications to adjourn a hearing, stay applications, and disputes about whether a bill has been properly served. Where multiple applications are made simultaneously, only one fee is payable.
In contested assessments with multiple interlocutory skirmishes, N244 fees can accumulate significantly before the assessment hearing is even listed. Each application is also a costs event in its own right, with the costs of that application subject to the court’s discretion at the conclusion.
Appeals from Detailed Assessment Decisions
A party who wishes to appeal a decision made in detailed assessment proceedings may do so under CPR 47.22 and CPR Part 52. The specific costs assessment appeal fee applies, rather than the standard civil appeal fees.
| Application | Fee |
|---|---|
| Appeal against a decision made in detailed assessment proceedings (fees order 5.4) | £283 |
The standard civil appeals fees (£171 county court / £294 High Court under fees order 2.2 to 2.3) do not apply to appeals from detailed assessment. The £283 fee is specific to costs assessment appeals.
Appeals in costs proceedings arise most often in relation to proportionality decisions, departures from Guideline Hourly Rates, counsel fee reductions, or budget departure decisions. They require permission and, unless the point is one of principle, the courts are slow to interfere with a costs judge’s assessment of individual items.
Fixed Costs Determination
Where a party seeks a formal determination of fixed costs under CPR Part 45, a separate fee applies.
| Application | Fee |
|---|---|
| Request for a Fixed Costs Determination (fees order 5.6) (must be accompanied by Precedent U) | £398 |
Fixed costs determinations are used where the applicable fixed costs regime under Part 45 is in dispute, or where the parties cannot agree the application of the fixed costs tables.
Costs Budgeting and the CMC
Costs management conferences (CMCs) are hearings at which the court approves the parties’ costs budgets in Precedent H format. They do not attract a separate court fee: the fee is subsumed within the general multi-track hearing fee structure (currently £1,334) for the substantive proceedings.
However, the consequences of failure to comply with costs budgeting rules go well beyond a court fee. Under CPR 3.14, a party who fails to file a costs budget on time is treated as having filed a budget comprising only court fees, effectively wiping out the recoverable costs of that party unless the court grants relief. That is not a fee: it is a sanction that can dwarf the value of any court fee several times over.
Applications to extend time for filing a budget, or to vary an approved budget (using Form N244), attract the standard N244 fees set out above: £313 on notice, or £123 by consent.
Are Court Fees Recoverable?
In detailed assessment proceedings, the receiving party’s court fees are themselves recoverable as costs of the assessment, subject to the court’s discretion under CPR 47.20. The hearing fee, any DCC fee, and the costs of justified N244 applications can all in principle be recovered from the paying party.
Recovery is not automatic. The court will consider:
- The outcome of the assessment
- The conduct of both parties during proceedings
- Whether the dispute could reasonably have been resolved without a hearing
- Proportionality of the costs of the assessment to the sums in dispute
Where a paying party has taken unreasonable points in Points of Dispute, or where a receiving party has maintained an inflated bill to the assessment hearing and achieved only a modest reduction, those factors will be weighed by the costs judge when dealing with the costs of assessment. Court fees paid may not all be recoverable in full if conduct is found to be unreasonable.
Practical Implications
The fee structure creates several pressure points that costs lawyers plan around from the outset of proceedings.
Settlement timing and the hearing fee. A receiving party who settles after filing a Notice of Commencement but before filing a request for a hearing avoids the hearing fee entirely. In a £300,000 bill that is a £2,988 saving; in a £500,000+ bill, £6,640. Settlement discussions often accelerate when a hearing request is imminent, partly for this reason. Knowing when the other side is about to file their hearing request can be tactically significant.
Default Costs Certificates and the cost of missing a deadline. The £80 DCC fee is small in itself, but the consequences for the paying party are not: a DCC for the full amount of the bill, plus a £148 set-aside fee if they want to challenge it, plus the costs of any set-aside application. Paying parties who receive a Notice of Commencement must diarise the 21-day Points of Dispute deadline from the outset.
Accumulating N244 fees. In contested assessments, interlocutory applications accumulate. Three N244s on notice is £939 in fees alone, before any solicitor or counsel costs. That is before the assessment hearing fee is paid. A realistic costs budget for contested detailed assessment proceedings should include a line for N244 fees as a matter of course.
Legal Aid cases. The fixed £237 fee for legally aided detailed assessment requests is substantially lower than the scaled private-case fee. For a bill claiming £200,000, the saving compared to a private-case receiving party is £1,755. This is relevant for firms managing mixed portfolios of publicly funded and private work.
The CPR 3.14 sanction dwarfs any court fee. In costs management proceedings, the financial exposure from a missed budget filing deadline is not a court fee: it is the loss of all costs except court fees for the whole phase of litigation. That sanction is routinely described as draconian by the courts and is applied strictly. Fee management and budget compliance are two entirely different risk categories.
Need advice on costs proceedings?
TMC Legal is a specialist costs law firm advising solicitors, insurers, and litigants on all aspects of costs proceedings in England and Wales. We act for receiving and paying parties in detailed assessment, costs budgeting, and costs applications at every level.
If you have a costs dispute you need to resolve, or want advice on strategy before commencing or responding to assessment proceedings, we are happy to help.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the detailed assessment hearing fee become payable?
The fee is payable when the receiving party files the request for a detailed assessment hearing (Form N258). It is not payable at the point of serving the Notice of Commencement or the bill. This means a receiving party who settles before filing the hearing request avoids the fee entirely.
Is there a separate court fee for serving a bill of costs?
No. There is no court fee for serving a bill of costs or a Notice of Commencement. The first fee payable in a standard detailed assessment is the hearing request fee under fees order 5.2, or the Default Costs Certificate fee if the paying party fails to serve Points of Dispute.
Does the hearing fee apply to provisional assessments?
Yes. The same fee scale under fees order 5.2 applies to provisional assessments as to full hearing assessments. The difference is that provisional assessments are determined on the papers without a hearing. If a party is dissatisfied with the provisional outcome and requests an oral hearing, there is no additional fee, but the party must improve by 20% or more on the provisional figure to avoid paying the costs of the oral hearing (CPR 47.15(10)).
What happens to the hearing fee if the case settles after it has been paid?
Court fees paid are generally not refunded on settlement. This is a further reason why settlement before the hearing request is filed is financially preferable to settlement after it.
Can the paying party recover the set-aside fee if the Default Costs Certificate is set aside?
The £148 set-aside fee is itself a cost of the proceedings. Whether it is recoverable from the receiving party depends on the circumstances of the set-aside and the court’s discretion on costs. If the DCC was obtained improperly (for example, because the Notice of Commencement was not validly served), the court may order the receiving party to pay the set-aside costs including the fee.
Do the standard N244 fees apply in SCCO proceedings?
Yes. The N244 fees under fees order 2.4 (£313 on notice / £123 by consent or without notice) apply in the SCCO as in any other court. There is no different fee structure for costs proceedings in the Senior Courts Costs Office.
Are these fees the same in the High Court and county court?
Yes. The EX50 fee schedule states that the fees apply equally in both the High Court and county courts, unless otherwise stated. The costs assessment fees are the same whether the assessment takes place at the SCCO, a High Court district registry, or a county court.
This page sets out court fees as published in the HMCTS EX50 fee schedule (last updated July 2025). Fees are set by statutory instrument and are subject to change. Always verify the current fee against the GOV.UK EX50 schedule before filing. This page does not constitute legal advice. TMC Legal Limited is authorised and regulated by the Costs Lawyer Standards Board.