ARCHIVED: The death of Queen Elizabeth II and consequent accession of King Charles III impacted upon a number of aspects of civil litigation. This Tracker highlighted the key changes of relevance to dispute resolution practitioners which were announced. Change to practice/procedure Date Details Commercial Court Guide and Circuit Commercial Court Guide updated 3 October 2023 All references to 'Queen', ‘QC’ and 'QB' amended.For further information, see: LNB News 04/10/2023 35—CTJ updates Commercial Court Guide and Circuit Commercial Court Guide. CPR updated In force 6 April 2023 Amendments made to the CPR to replace references to the Queen.For further information, see: LNB News 02/02/2023 98—Amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules in force on 6 April 2023—The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2023. Practice Directions to the CPR updated In force 31 January 2023 Amendments made to the Practice Directions to the CPR to replace references to the Queen.For further information, see: LNB News 07/02/2023 72—153rd Practice Direction update—changes in force

Timeline of key events Date Event Minutes of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC) meeting of 5 December 2025 The CPRC referred to part one of the Law Commission’s report on contempt of court. It opposed the Law Commission’s proposal for a single overarching code / set of rules. It was agreed that contempt rules for civil courts should remain in CPR 81 as this is a complete procedural code. The CPRC supported alignment of the rules of contempt, where practical, with other courts and tribunals noting that civil and family courts are already aligned. However, there is a less compelling case for alignment with criminals courts and tribunals due to differences in drafting style, etc.The CPRC considered it premature to make amendments to the rules on contempt before the Law Commission published part two of its report. It was agreed that the CPRC would retain control over the rules on civil contempt. For further information, see News Analysis: Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting—5 December 2025. 18 November 2025 The Law Commission published part

Costs budgeting light The costs budgeting pilot schemes under CPR PD 51ZG1 and CPR PD 51ZG2 have been introduced to test new approaches to costs budgeting. CPR PD 51ZG1 applies to ‘relevant claims’ in certain Business and Property Courts and for certain business and property work in the County Court that are issued on or after 6 April 2025 but before 6 April 2028. CPR PD 51ZG2 applies to Part 7, multi-track cases which have a value of less than £1 million and are issued on or after 6 April 2025 but before 6 April 2028. Both pilot schemes are intended to provide a simplified approach to costs budgeting with the aim of improving efficiency and reducing the amount of time for the parties and the court. In addition, there is a third pilot scheme (CPR PD 51ZG3) for simplified costs budgeting in cases where qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) applies. The costs budgeting pilot schemes came into force following the Civil Justice Council (CJC) producing a report on costs in May

This Practice Note tracks statements, reports, consultations, etc on dispute resolution aspects of cryptoassets (cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs)), smart contracts and digital securities including the legal status of such assets in English law. For general guidance on cryptoassets and how they arise in the context of a dispute resolution lawyer’s work, see: • Practice Note: Cryptoassets for Dispute Resolution lawyers • Practice Note: Cryptoassets for Dispute Resolution lawyers—key and illustrative cases • Issues in cryptoasset related civil claims—checklist This Tracker is not concerned with wider regulatory aspects of cryptoassets or digital assets, instead see Practice Note: UK regulation of cryptoassets—essentials. Report Key dates Details UK Jurisdiction Taskforce’s (UKJT’s) Control Panel Report on Control of Digital Assets 19 March 2026 The UKJT’s Control Panel published its report on how digital assets are controlled in practice. It is intended as an ‘explanatory guide’ to assist judges and legal practitioners when applying the law ‘as a matter of fact to various and evolving technologies’ (para 18).For details and a link to the Panel’s report, see:

ARCHIVED: This Tracker followed the progress of the introduction of the new electronic bill of costs (precedent S) which came into force on 6 April 2018. This Tracker is therefore for historical purposes only. What is the ‘in force’ date? The electronic bill of costs came into force on Friday, 6 April 2018 when dealing with detailed assessment in both the Senior Court Costs Office (SCCO) and the County Court. Postponement of the introduction of the new bill of costs in 2017 Discussions during the CPR Committee meetings during 2017 led to the postponement: • May 2017—in the CPR Committee meeting, it was noted that the take up of the pilot scheme for the new bill of costs had been limited (three bills in electronic format). Despite this, the committee agreed to make the pilot mandatory for bills submitted to the SCCO and for it to be extended to the County Court, although that would require some further work. The proposals were to apply to Part 7 Multi-track claims, with detailed exceptions

This Practice Note sets out the work being undertaken in England and Wales as well as internationally to consider the application of private international law to digital assets, or digital tokens as they are sometimes referred to. Digital technologies have advanced considerably and the courts have seen an increase in digital asset disputes, eg cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens. Terms associated with a digital asset or the system through which it is held or transferred may contain provisions concerning jurisdiction or applicable law. Their effect depends on the relevant private international law rules, the issue in dispute and the persons whom they bind. These issues can be extremely difficult to determine due to the nature of the assets and the problems with applying the traditional connecting factors, for example, where the assets are located. Consideration is being/has been undertaken to consider this area in England and Wales and internationally. This Practice Note considers some of the work undertaken. England and Wales—legislation The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 came into force on 2 December 2025. Section 1 confirms

This Tracker considers key forthcoming legislative changes of interest to Dispute Resolution lawyers, on-going and recently closed consultations and other relevant developments, to assist lawyers to track and keep up to date with recent and forthcoming developments. To track developments: • in respect of digital assets, including cryptoassets, see Practice Note: Tracker—cryptoassets for Dispute resolution lawyers • in respect of artificial intelligence (AI), see Practice Note: Tracker—AI for dispute resolution lawyers • in respect of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), see Practice Note: Tracker—ADR developments For historic developments, see Practice Notes: • Tracker—legislation, consultations and other developments—Dispute Resolution—historic • Brexit legislation tracker for dispute resolution practitioners [Archived] which covers legislative developments relevant to the UK’s departure from the EU Civil procedure Consultation Key dates Details Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC) consultation on proposed amendments to CPR 5, CPR PD 5A and CPR PD 5B—electronic signatures consultation 14 September 2026–13 November 2026 The CPRC is consulting on proposed amendments to CPR 5, CPR PD 5A and CPR PD 5B concerning electronic signatures. The proposals would consolidate

This Tracker considers key legislative changes, consultations and other relevant developments of interest to Dispute Resolution (DR) lawyers, where those developments are no longer on-going but may be of interest for historic purposes. It covers alternative dispute resolution (ADR), Brexit, debt management, civil procedure, consumer contracts, enforcement and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). For current developments, see Practice Note: Tracker—legislation, consultations and other developments—Dispute Resolution. To track lawtech developments, see Practice Note: Tracker—cryptoassets for Dispute Resolution lawyers. ADR Consultation Key dates Details Civil Justice Council (CJC) Interim Report on the future role of ADR in Civil Justice October 2017–15 December 2017 In January 2016, the CJC resolved to form a Working Group to review the ways in which ADR (not including arbitration) had been encouraged and positioned within the civil justice system in England and Wales.The CJC published its interim report of that working group in October 2017.The CJC argued that ADR has failed to achieve the integral position in the civil justice system that was intended and expected for it at the

This Tracker provides a summary of current pilot schemes which are in force in the civil courts. For information on pilot schemes in the civil courts which have ended, see Practice Note: Dispute Resolution—pilot schemes which have ended. Online court col style="width: 33%;"> Pilot scheme Key dates Details Damages claims pilot scheme—CPR PD 51ZB 28 May 2021 to 6 April 2027 CPR PD 51ZB contains a pilot scheme to test an online claims process for County Court damages claims where parties are represented by a legal representative. Claims are managed using an online portal called the Damages Claims Portal.For more information, see Practice Note: Damages claims pilot scheme—CPR PD 51ZB. Online Civil Money Claims Pilot—CPR PD 51R From 7 August 2017 to 6 April 2027 CPR PD 51R contains a

This Tracker considers the review of the Guideline Hourly Rates (GHR). GHR are rates the court refers to, on summary assessment, when determining whether the hourly rates sought by a solicitor are reasonable for work done in civil and commercial matters. A number of reviews have taken place and these are set out below. Uplift to GHR on 1 January 2026 The Master of the Rolls (MR) announced that from 1 January 2026, the GHR were to be uplifted for inflation in accordance with the Services Producer Price Index (SPPI). For further information, see: LNB News 02/01/2026 10—Master of the Rolls updates solicitors’ guideline hourly rates for 2026. Uplift to GHR on 1 January 2025 The GHR were uplifted for inflation on 1 January 2025 in accordance with the SPPI. For further information, see: LNB News 02/01/2025 32—Master of the Rolls announces update to Guideline Hourly Rates. Uplift to GHR on 1 January 2024 The GHR were uplifted for inflation on 1 January 2024 in accordance with the SPPI. The GHR are

Tracking pixels (also known as single-pixel gifs, web beacons and web bugs) are small-graphics files incorporated into a website or an email. They display an image, usually the size of a single pixel, that is invisible to the user. When a user’s browser reads the code of the website it communicates with the operator’s server in order to display the image and, through this process, the operator is able to acquire information such as technical specifications of the device, operating systems and settings being used. It can also track a user’s activities during a session. Tracking pixels can be particularly useful for analysing direct marketing campaigns by email by providing data on how recipients opened an email. For the same reason, they can also be used by spammers to ascertain whether an email address is valid.

Numerous documents will need to be drafted and agreed with the project team for most construction projects. This table can be used as a tool to keep track of those documents throughout the project and assist with reporting to the client. More or less detail