The supply of copies to people who are not parties to the proceedings is governed by CPR 5.4C.

In summary, subject to the exceptions mentioned below, permission from a Costs Judge is not needed to supply copies of these documents, on payment of the prescribed copying fee:

• Claim Forms (but not documents filed with, attached to or served with the claim form), provided that all of the defendants have filed an acknowledgement of service or a defence, or the claim has been listed for a hearing, or judgment has been entered.
• Statements of Case (but not documents filed with, attached to or served with the statement of case), provided that all of the defendants have filed an acknowledgement of service or a defence, or the claim has been listed for a hearing, or judgment has been entered. N.B. This does not include Bills of Costs, Points of Dispute or Replies to Points of Dispute.
• Judgments or orders given or made in public (whether at a hearing or not) provided that all of the defendants have filed an acknowledgement of service or a defence, or the claim has been listed for a hearing, or judgment has been entered and subject to CPR 5.4C(1B) (exclusions in relation to mediation settlement enforcement orders, applications for disclosure/inspection of mediation evidence and orders for disclosure and inspection).

Different provisions apply to access by a non-party to statements of case filed before 2 October 2006. CPR 5.4C(1A) and the Part 5A Practice Direction make provision for such cases.

To obtain a copy of any document not provided for by CPR 5.4C, a person who is not a party to the proceedings must obtain permission from a Costs Judge (for which he must make an application and pay the appropriate application fee).

Excerpt from the Senior Courts Costs Office Guide 2021