From 28 May 2025 to 22 August 2025 the Costs and Funding Committee of the Council ran a Public Consultation on adopting ‘unit-based charging’ as its preferred methodology for establishing all future fee regulations. In practice that means that each fee amount charged would be broken down into its 2 component parts:

• A 6 minute ‘unit of work’ that will generally remain constant over time; and
• A baseline ‘monetary value’ of £6.10 per 6 minute ‘unit’ that is adjusted over time.

The Consultation Analysis report published in September 2025 narrated the positive feedback received from 26 respondents. On 27 October 2025 the members of the Costs and Funding Committee considered that analysis and decided to instruct the preparation of the statutory instrument needed to implement ‘unit-based charging’.

The rationale for implementing this change in methodology is that it will simplify the future maintenance of these regulated fees instruments, facilitate more timely adjustments for inflation, and most importantly provide all potential users with much greater transparency on the fees they can expect to be charged.

Notes for Editors:

1. The Consultation Paper, Impact Assessments, Consultation Analysis, and the Consultation Response paper can be viewed via the Consultation pages on the Councils website:

   https://www.scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk/consultations/scjc-consultations

2. The minutes from the meeting of 27 October 2025 can be viewed via the Cost and Funding Committee pages on the Councils website:

https://www.scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk/committees/costs-and-funding-committee/2025