According to the Scottish Civil Justice Council’s published summary, the Act of Sederunt (Taxation of Judicial Expenses Rules) (Amendment) 2026 updates the 2019 rules used when judicial expenses are taxed or assessed in civil proceedings in the Court of Session, Sheriff Appeal Court and Sheriff Court. Under the statutory process, the Court of Session approved draft rules submitted by the Council before making the instrument. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk) The main operational change is a rise in the value of the judicial expenses “unit” to £22.10 from 10 October 2026. Because that unit sits inside the tables used to calculate recoverable solicitor charges, the amendment will matter most where a court awards expenses and the account then falls to be taxed or assessed. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk)
The new figure replaces the current £18.00 unit. Scottish Civil Justice Council committee papers record that the present rate is a six-minute unit equivalent to £180 per hour, while the new £22.10 rate works out at £221 per hour; on a straight comparison, that is an increase of about 22.8 per cent. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk) This is the second notable uplift since unit-based charging was introduced in 2019. The Council’s papers show that the 2019 rules set the baseline at £16.40 per unit, and a 2023 amendment then increased that figure by 9.75 per cent to £18.00. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk)
The commencement rule is tight. The increase to £22.10 applies only to work carried out on or after 10 October 2026, rather than to all accounts prepared after that date. In policy terms, that means the amendment changes the value of future work, not the rate attached to work already done. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk) That split-date approach is likely to matter for cases that run across the October changeover. Where an account of expenses contains work done both before and after commencement, firms and other frequent litigants will need clean file records showing when each item of work was carried out; that is an inference from the transition rule, but it is the most obvious administrative consequence of the drafting. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk)
The amendment also revises rule 3.7. The heading changes from “Simple Procedure” to “Reduction of Charges”, the rule is recast to apply in any simple procedure case where expenses fall to be taxed or assessed by reference to schedule 5, and wording in rule 3.7(3) is removed because the Council identified it as duplicative. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk) This is not merely cosmetic. A Scottish Civil Justice Council paper from October 2025 said the drafting was being changed to reduce confusion among some practitioners about what rule 3.7 was doing and how it should be read in simple procedure cases. Read that way, the 2026 amendment is a clarification of scope and label rather than the creation of a new simple procedure expenses regime. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk)
Rule 4.2 is amended so that allowable outlays expressly include court fees. The Scottish Civil Justice Council’s official summary says the purpose of the change is to make clear that court fees are an allowable outlay under the 2019 rules. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk) For court users, that express wording should narrow room for argument over whether routine court fees sit within recoverable outlays, although the ordinary taxation process still governs disputed accounts. The drafting points towards clarification and consistency in recovery practice, rather than the introduction of a wholly new category of expense. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk)
Taken together, the 2026 instrument does three distinct things: it raises the monetary basis for recoverable solicitor charges, clarifies how reductions operate in simple procedure, and states expressly that court fees count as outlays. The amendment is technical in form, but its effects will be visible in expenses negotiations, settlement decisions and post-judgment recovery work across Scotland’s civil courts from 10 October 2026. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk) For policy readers concerned with access to justice, the measure is a reminder that procedural instruments can alter litigation economics without changing the underlying merits of a claim. The Court of Session has not rewritten the law of expenses, but it has adjusted the valuation mechanism inside that system and removed ambiguity on two recurring points of practice. (scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk)