What Is a Detailed Assessment Hearing?

When a case ends and one side has been ordered to pay the other side''s legal costs, the figure is rarely agreed on the spot. If the parties cannot settle the amount between themselves, the court decides it. That process is called detailed assessment, and the formal court appointment where a judge works through the disputed items is the detailed assessment hearing.

This article explains how detailed assessment proceedings work in England and Wales, what to expect at the hearing itself, and the procedural traps that catch out litigants who try to handle it alone.

What is a detailed assessment hearing?

A detailed assessment hearing is a court hearing at which a costs judge (or a district judge sitting in the County Court) goes through a bill of costs line by line and decides what is reasonable and proportionate for the paying party to pay. It is not a retrial of the underlying dispute. The court has already decided who pays. The only question at this stage is how much.

The rules sit in Part 47 of the Civil Procedure Rules. In the High Court and the Senior Courts Costs Office, specialist costs judges hear the bigger or more complex assessments. In the County Court, the work is done by district judges or regional costs judges. Either way, the procedure is the same in outline.

When does detailed assessment apply?

Detailed assessment usually follows a final order for costs at the end of litigation, but it also crops up after Part 36 offers are accepted late, after interim costs orders made during the case, and after some appeals. Unless the court orders otherwise, detailed assessment of costs payable under an order is not begun until the proceedings have concluded.

It applies where summary assessment is not appropriate, typically because the bill is large, the case has run for more than a day, or the issues on costs are themselves complex enough to need proper argument.

The notice of commencement and the bill of costs

The receiving party must file and serve a notice of commencement, accompanied by a formal bill of costs, within three months of the order or event that triggers the entitlement to costs. The notice tells the paying party that the clock has started.

The bill of costs is a structured document setting out every item of work done, who did it, when, at what hourly rate, and the disbursements claimed. Court fees, counsel''s fees, expert fees, travel and copying all appear as separate lines. Done properly, it allows the paying party (and the court) to see exactly what is being claimed and why.

Points of dispute and replies

Within 21 days of service of the notice of commencement, the paying party must serve points of dispute. This is the document that picks the bill apart. It might challenge hourly rates, the grade of fee earner used, the time spent on particular tasks, the level of counsel''s brief fee, or whether certain disbursements were necessary at all.

The receiving party then has 21 days to serve replies. If the paying party fails to serve points of dispute in time, the receiving party can apply for a default costs certificate for the full amount of the bill plus fixed costs. That is a serious sanction and one of the reasons litigants in person come unstuck.

Provisional assessment

For bills of £75,000 or less, the court conducts a provisional assessment on the papers. The judge reads the bill, the points of dispute and the replies, and makes a decision without anyone attending. The outcome of the assessment is sent out in writing.

Either party can then ask for an oral hearing if they are unhappy, but there is a cost risk: if the party requesting the hearing does not improve their position by at least 20 per cent, they pay the costs of the hearing itself. That keeps provisional assessment relatively final in practice.

Requesting a detailed assessment hearing

Where provisional assessment does not apply, the receiving party must file a request for a detailed assessment hearing within three months of the expiry of the period for starting detailed assessment proceedings. The request goes to the appropriate costs office, with the bill, the points of dispute, the replies, the fee earners'' breakdown and the relevant orders.

The court then lists the hearing. Short bills might be dealt with in an hour. Heavier bills can take a full day or more.

What happens at the hearing

On the day, the costs judge works through the bill in order. Each disputed item is argued: the paying party explains why a particular charge is unreasonable or disproportionate, the receiving party defends it, and the judge rules. Some items take seconds. Others, particularly arguments about proportionality across whole phases of work, can take much longer.

Good advocates come armed with the file, the underlying correspondence, comparable rates, and a clear sense of which fights are worth having. Poor preparation shows immediately. Judges who do this work every day can tell within minutes whether the person at the lectern understands the bill they are arguing about.

At the end the judge gives a figure for each item and a total. Interest, the costs of the assessment itself, and any payments on account are then dealt with.

Costs of the assessment

The general rule is that the receiving party is entitled to the costs of the detailed assessment proceedings, unless the court orders otherwise. Part 36 offers play a major role here. If the paying party makes a Part 36 offer on the costs and the receiving party fails to beat it, the costs consequences swing the other way for the period after the offer should have been accepted.

This is why experienced costs practitioners take Part 36 on costs as seriously as Part 36 on the underlying claim.

Common pitfalls for litigants in person

The procedure looks navigable on paper. In practice the deadlines are unforgiving, the formatting requirements for the bill are strict, and the case law on proportionality is dense. The most common problems are missed deadlines for points of dispute, bills that do not comply with Precedent S or the relevant format, and parties who turn up to the hearing without the underlying file to justify the time claimed.

A default costs certificate issued against a paying party who slept on a notice of commencement is, in most cases, very difficult to set aside.

How long does it all take?

From notice of commencement to a final order it is realistic to allow six to twelve months for a contested assessment, longer for the biggest cases. Provisional assessment is faster, often resolved within three to four months of the request being filed.

Getting representation at a detailed assessment hearing

Costs work is a specialism. The judges who hear these cases do nothing else, and the advocates who appear in front of them tend to be either specialist costs barristers or costs lawyers authorised by the Costs Lawyer Standards Board. Both can conduct the hearing, argue points of dispute and replies, and handle the assessment from start to finish.

Clerk and Counsel can put you in touch with either. A costs barrister is the usual choice for higher-value or legally complex bills, particularly those headed for the Senior Courts Costs Office. A costs lawyer often makes more sense on standard County Court bills, provisional assessments and proportionality-led arguments, and is generally the more cost-effective option for everyday assessments. Both can also negotiate before the hearing, draft points of dispute or replies, and advise on Part 36 strategy on the costs themselves.

If you have just received a notice of commencement, or you are the receiving party trying to get a bill in front of the court, get in touch and we will match the work to the right advocate.