The Master of the Rolls has now considered the recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Costs further, and also additional material put to him by the Committee.
On the basis of the evidence available to him, the Master of the Rolls has decided to accept the Committee’s recommendation that the 2009 Guideline Hourly Rates should be increased (in line with inflation) by 1.7% for 2010. The intention is that this should take effect from 1st April 2010.
The Advisory Committee commented in their recommendations that this involves no substantial change as "we have yet to complete our analyses of the issues raised in our paper The Derivation of New Guideline Hourly Rates”. This increase should therefore not be treated as evidence that they are rejecting Lord Justice Jackson’s call for a "robust" review of current rates (ie a reduction in current rates). On the other hand, the decision to make any increase suggests they are not persuaded that it is obvious current rates are too high.
