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17 January 2025 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8100 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Civil way: 17 January 2025

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Costs rates up; forget the merits; specials interest down; parking ticket escape; tale of 94 dodgy divorces; reporters rule, OK!

XMAS BOX

Guideline rates for the summary assessment of costs increased by 3.65% as from 1 January 2025, thanks to service producer price inflation values up to and including the first quarter of last year. Subsequent inflation is promised to be captured in future annual uplifts.

The guidelines received a major overhaul in 2021 after 11 years in slumber (see ‘Civil Way’, 171 NLJ 7950, p17) and last rose by 6.66% from January 2024. At the top of the league, grade A centrally based London fee earners in very heavy commercial and corporate work now weigh in at an hourly rate of £566. The poorest paid at grade A are those on the national 2 band who will now make do with an hourly guideline of £282.

The good news should be communicated to those clients who may be impacted.

LAW BITES

Tribunal stuff

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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NEWS
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NLJ this week: Tightening the screws on JCT terminations
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
NLJ this week: Old rules, fresh warnings in employment law
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
NLJ this week: The rise of the ‘ChatGPT client’ rattles the profession
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
NLJ this week: Surrogacy children caught in succession gap
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
NLJ this week: Online safety law at a crossroads
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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