Two recent cases have outlined how the Court should approach incurred costs in budgeting.
In Harrison v University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire Hospital NHS Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 792, the Court of Appeal confirmed that incurred costs do not form part of the budgeting process; these are to be dealt with at detailed assessment. This reaffirmed the position of Carr J in Merrix and expressly disagreed with the dicta in SARPD Oil International Limited.
In Sir Cliff Richard OBE v The BBC & Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [2017] EWHC 1666(Ch), Chief Master Marsh indicated that the court should be wary of making any comment in relation to incurred costs at the budgeting stage.