Guideline Hourly Rates are due to rise in January 2024

It has been announced by the Master of the Rolls that the Guideline Hourly Rates (GHR) are due to rise in January 2024 and will apply to work carried out from the 1 January 2024. So far the actual figures have not been set so watch this space for more details. They are expected in the next couple of weeks.

The Master of the Rolls has also said that he agrees that there should be annual increases in the GHR, which should give more certainty to what rates the courts will use.

The last GHR increase was in 2021 and will be increased for inflation in accordance with the Service Producer Price Index which has recently shown an annual increase of 3.4%. However, expect a higher increase than that as it will have to take account of several years of inflation.

Whilst hourly rates will affect far fewer cases since the expansion of fixed recoverable costs in cases worth up to £100 000, they will still be important in the multi-track and in historical cases and so insurers and other paying parties will be interested to see what the increases are when they are announced.

We will provide more detail when it is known.