The extension of fixed recoverable costs is a headache for all sorts of reasons. There is, of course, the challenge of adapting business models to be able to handle most civil claims worth up to £100,000 on fixed costs.

Then there is the technical detail around the changes, of which there is a lot. The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2023, laid before parliament in May and which come into force from October, feature 18 separate amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules, ranging from one-word changes to complex new arrangements.

But it turns out this is not all - the goalposts are being moved before a ball is kicked.

The newly-published Civil Procedure Rule Committee minutes from June reveal that following publication of the FRC reforms, the sub-committee received ‘useful’ feedback from stakeholders. Some of these points require immediate action while others may be subject to future consultation. The crux of it being that a suite of minor changes to the amendments have been drafted to address some of the issues flagged up.

Which leads rather confusingly, as the committee explains, to the amendments to the reforms coming into force at the same time as the reforms themselves. October is going to be a long month, one suspects.

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