The costs of litigants in person can be divided into four categories:

(1) Out of pocket expenses (such as court fees, fares for travelling to court, witness fees, etc) if they relate to work or disbursements which would have been done or made by a legal representative if one had acted for the litigant in person.

(2) Payments made to obtain expert assistance in connection with assessing the claim for costs.   For this purpose a person is an expert if he is a barrister, solicitor, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, a Costs Lawyer, or a law costs draftsman who is a member of the Academy of Experts or The Expert Witness Institute.

(3) Costs for work done by the litigant in person which caused him or her pecuniary loss (for example, a litigant in person who is employed losing a day’s pay through attending a court hearing or through going on a long journey to interview an essential witness).

(4) Costs for work done by a litigant in person which did not cause him or her any pecuniary loss (e.g, the examples just given if the work was done during leisure time).

Extract from the Senior Courts Costs Office Guide 2018