• We aim to have your bill to you in draft form within 15 working days for your approval, but are always working to ensure you are provided with your draft bill as soon as possible.
• The costs of preparing the bill will vary depending on the size of the bill required.
• Typically, the total costs for preparing a short form bill can range from £118 to £236 plus VAT.
• The costs for preparing a full bill of costs are generally charged at around 6.5% of the profit costs claimed and our fees are recovered from P.

In both cases, the costs for our preparation of the bill are included within the bill itself. Therefore, our costs are placed under the same scrutiny as your own. We are able to limit our costs to that as assessed by the costs officer so you have the assurance that your client (the protected party in most cases) will only pay that which is deemed reasonable by the Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO).

To enable us to prepare your bills and ensure all appropriate items are claimed, we would require the following:-

1. Your full file relating to the application or management period to be billed;
2. Your time ledger for the period to be billed (if available);
3. Your accounts ledger relating to the period to be bill (if available; this helps us to ensure all items are included and/or query any items with you prior to assessment);
4. A copy of the order appointing the deputy (for general management work) or confirming the outcome of the application (for stand alone applications) including the authority for your costs to be assessed;
5. Background information relating to the protected party’s circumstances, current assets held and liabilities to be managed (this assists the court in considering the proportionality of the costs claimed);
6. Copy of the OPG102 and OPG105 reports (if available); these are now required by the SCCO

Upon receipt of your files, they will be allocated to a dedicated Court of Protection specialist who will prepare the draft bill for you. Along with the request for assessment (N258B), your costs expert will also provide their note, which will provide you with information regarding any issues to be addressed and attendance notes to be provided prior to lodging the bill for assessment.

Your costs specialist will be happy to work with you to ensure you are completely satisfied with the bill prior to submitting to the SCCO, and answer any queries you may have.