Following the continued updates from the SCCO, they have most recently advised as of 10 March 2025 the following turnaround on matters.
The Cost Officers are currently working on bills of costs for which supporting papers were received by them around the middle of April 2024. There is still a delay between the assessment being undertaken and the assessed bills being sent out by approximately two weeks.
The Admin Team at the SCCO are currently working on new bill filing acceptance/rejections from the first week of February 2025 and certificates submitted in the first week of March 2025.
The SCCO have continued to request that we do not chase unless the matters pre-date the above dates.
The backlog does not appear to be showing signs of any real improvement, these updates show it is being worked through at a steady pace month on month. The SCCO have recently had some assistance from other London Judges where they have been picking up assessments if they have had time in their day. This does not yet seem to have had much of an impact, but it is hopeful this will soon show results.
What we are seeing from this intervention are Orders that might look slightly different to usual, so be sure to check that there is authority for you to take fixed costs or, if appropriate, have your costs assessed by way of detailed assessment.