CPR 45.4 governs the costs payable to a litigant in person where it is a matter which would otherwise be subject to fixed recoverable costs (i.e. costs under Section VI, Section VII or Section VIII of Part 45).
In this situation, costs will be paid according to CPR 46.5 with certain variations:
- Where a party was a litigant in person throughout the entire claim, the costs will be capped at, except in the case of a disbursement, two-thirds of the fixed recoverable costs which would have been allowed under Section VI, Section VII or Section VIII if the litigant in person had been represented by a legal representative.
- Where a party was a litigant in person for only part of the claim, the costs allowed for that stage shall not exceed two thirds of the costs in Table 12, Table 14 or Table 15.
Matters become a bit more convoluted where a party is represented by a legal representative for part of the claim:
- For any stage in Table 12, Table 14 or Table 15 during which a party is represented by a legal representative for the entire stage, the fixed recoverable costs shall apply as below, provided that the total amount of costs to be allowed shall not exceed the costs which would have been allowed if the litigant in person had been represented by a legal representative for the entire claim.
- The fixed recoverable costs are:
- where the stage provides only for a fixed sum, the fixed sum;
- in any other stage the difference between the fixed recoverable costs for that stage and the fixed recoverable costs for the last stage before that when the party was a litigant in person.
Good luck to any litigant in person trying to get their head around that.
