The Court of Session has made the Act of Sederunt (Taxation of Judicial Expenses Rules) (Amendment) 2026, a targeted update to the rules used to tax judicial expenses in Scotland. The instrument was made on 18 August 2026, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 20 August 2026 and comes into force on 10 October 2026. As set out on legislation.gov.uk, the measure amends the 2019 Taxation of Judicial Expenses Rules rather than replacing them. Its immediate effect is to adjust the charging basis used in expenses work and to clarify two areas of drafting on simple procedure and outlays.
The main financial change appears in rule 3.2, where the value of the 'unit' is increased from £18.00 to £22.10. Under the 2019 rules, that unit is the standard figure used in calculating charges for work that falls to be taxed or assessed. The instrument also includes a clear transitional rule. The higher unit applies only to work carried out on or after 10 October 2026, which means there is no retrospective uplift for work completed before that date. For solicitors, auditors and litigants, the timing point will matter in any file that runs across the commencement date.
A second amendment deals with simple procedure. Rule 3.7 is retitled 'reduction of charges', and its opening paragraph is replaced so that the rule expressly applies in any simple procedure case where expenses fall to be taxed or assessed by reference to the table of charges in schedule 5. The effect is to state more directly what the rule is for and when it applies. This is a drafting clarification rather than a wider change to the structure of simple procedure expenses, but it should make the relevant reduction provision easier to identify in practice.
Rule 4.2 on outlays is also amended. The text now states that allowable outlays include court fees, making that point explicit on the face of the rules. According to the explanatory note published with the instrument, this change is intended to make clear that court fees are an allowable outlay. For parties seeking recovery of expenses, that matters because it removes uncertainty in the wording of the 2019 rules without creating a separate fee regime.
The legal route is set out in the instrument itself. In line with section 4 of the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Act 2013, the Court of Session approved draft rules submitted by the Scottish Civil Justice Council and then made the Act of Sederunt under powers including the Litigants in Person (Costs and Expenses) Act 1975 and the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. That points to a routine rules amendment rather than a wholesale reform of civil justice expenses. The explanatory note also records that the 2019 Rules were last amended by a 2023 instrument, and that the unit figure was last substituted in 2023.
For practitioners, the practical issue is record-keeping and timing. Where an account of expenses includes work done both before and after 10 October 2026, the date of the work will determine whether the old £18.00 unit or the new £22.10 unit applies. For court users more broadly, the message is straightforward. From 10 October 2026, the charging unit within Scotland's judicial expenses rules is higher, the simple procedure provision is framed more clearly, and court fees are expressly treated as allowable outlays under the expenses rules.