The Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, announced on 17 April 2015 that there would be no changes to the Guideline Hourly Rates (GHRs) for litigation costs, and that the existing rates would remain in force for the foreseeable future.
The GHRs had originally been set in 2010. According to Lord Dyson, these rates will remain a component in the assessment of costs, along with the application by the judiciary of proportionality and costs management.
Lord Dyson stated that there was no funding available for undertaking the requisite in-depth survey which could act as an adequate evidence base for amending the GHRs. Moreover, even if such funding were available, it was doubtful whether sufficient firms would be willing to participate and provide the level of detailed data required to produce accurate and reasonable GHRs.
