In each part of a bill all the items claimed must be consecutively numbered and must be divided under such of the following heads as may be appropriate:

(1) Attendances on the court and counsel, in chronological order, up to the date of the notice of commencement.
(2) Attendances on and communications with the receiving party.
(3) Attendances on and communications with witnesses, including any expert witness.
(4) Attendances to inspect any property or place for the purposes of the proceedings.
(5) Attendances on and communications with other persons including officers of public records.
(6) Communications with the court and with counsel.
(7) Work done on documents: preparing and considering documentation, including documentation relating to pre-action protocols where appropriate, work done in connection with arithmetical calculations of compensation and/ or interest and time spent collating documents.
(8) Work done in connection with negotiations with a view to settlement if not already covered in the heads listed above.
(9) Attendances on and communications with London and other agents and work done by them.
(10) Other work done which was of or incidental to the proceedings which is not already covered in any of the heads listed above.

In the list of items above, “attendances” includes interviews and meetings and “communications” covers letters and e-mails sent and telephone calls.

In each part of a bill which claims items under head (1) (attendances on court and counsel) a note should be made setting out, in chronological order with dates, all the relevant events in the proceedings including events which do not constitute chargeable items and including all orders for costs which the Court has made (whether or not a claim is made in respect of those costs in this bill). Note that head (1) covers only attendances on the court and counsel. Communications with the court and counsel fall within head (6).

Under heads (2) to (10), claims in respect of routine communications should be claimed as a single amount at the end of each head (e.g. “29 routine letters out at £x each and 8 routine telephone calls at £y each … £z”). If the number of attendances and nonroutine communications under a head is less than 20, each of them should be set out, in chronological order with dates. However, if under any head the number of attendances and non-routine communications amount to 20 or more, the claim for the cost of those items in that part of the bill should be for the total only and should refer to a schedule in which the full record of dates and details is set out. Where bills contain more than one schedule, each schedule should be numbered consecutively.

See the Part 47 Practice Direction (para 5.22) for guidance on matters such as the court’s normal time allowance for routine items, treatment of electronic communications, local travelling expenses and photocopying costs.

Excerpt from the Senior Courts Costs Office Guide 2021