Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Varying costs budgets: identifying and evidencing significant developments under CPR 3.15A (England and Wales)

Published by a LexisNexis Dispute Resolution expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note outlines the position on costs budgeting from 1 October 2020. It explains why the phrase ‘significant developments’ is key when seeking to vary a costs budget and what the phrase is intended to capture. It also refers to examples, drawn from judgments, of changes the court has regarded as significant developments.

Why are ‘significant developments’ important?

A costs budget can only be changed if there have been ‘significant developments’ that justify the alteration. This is provided for in CPR 3.15A(1): ‘A party (“the revising party”) must revise its budgeted costs upwards or downwards if significant developments in the litigation warrant such revisions.’ It is important to recognise that where significant developments affect a party’s costs budget, that party (the revising party) must revise the budget, whether the figures go up or down.

What is meant by ‘significant developments’?

The scope of the phrase ‘significant developments’ can be difficult to grasp as it is not defined. The absence of a definition was considered by the CPR Committee at its April 2019 meeting, but it was decided that no definition was needed. See News Analysis: Minutes of...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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