Costs budgeting is designed to ensure proportionate costs are incurred by setting budgets at an early stage in the proceedings.
Costs are proportionate if they bear a reasonable relationship to the sums in issue in the proceedings and the other relevant factors set out in CPR 44.3(5).
That being the case, how often do judges, when setting budgets, record in the relevant order the sum they considered to be reasonably in issue? How often are they asked to do so?
If a claim subsequently settles for significantly less than the recorded sum, would this not represent a “good reason” to depart downwards from the budget?
Costs budgeting – The value of the claim