Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department used to calculate the proposed fixed recoverable costs; which band housing disrepair cases will fall into; and if he will publish statistics on claimant costs awarded in housing disrepair cases.

The Government set out the way forward on extending fixed recoverable costs (FRC) in civil claims on 6 September 2021, following its earlier consultation. The proposed FRC were put forward by Sir Rupert Jackson, then a Court of Appeal judge, in his 2017 Review of Civil Litigation Costs: Supplemental Report – Fixed Recoverable Costs. The FRC set out in Sir Rupert’s report will be uprated for inflation prior to implementation in 2022. As proposed by Sir Rupert, housing disrepair claims will generally be allocated to Band 3, with more complex claims falling in Band 4. The Ministry of Justice does not hold detailed data on claimant costs awarded in housing disrepair claims.