'Only has effect in respect of work carried out on or after that date' is the key line in a new Scottish court instrument that will matter to anyone with civil litigation still running into the autumn. Under the Act of Sederunt (Taxation of Judicial Expenses Rules) (Amendment) 2026, the judicial expenses unit will rise from £18 to £22.10 on 10 October 2026. That may read like back-office legal drafting, but it is not small stuff for people actually using the courts. The unit sits inside the 2019 rules on taxation of judicial expenses, so when certain charges are worked out, the figure underneath them is going up sharply.

The increase is £4.10 a unit, which works out at just under 23 per cent. According to the official explanatory note published with the instrument, the higher rate applies only to work carried out on or after 10 October, meaning there is no backdating for work already done before that date. The timetable is now set. The instrument was made on 18 August 2026, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 20 August, and will come into force on 10 October after draft rules were submitted by the Scottish Civil Justice Council and approved by the Court of Session.

For solicitors, pursuers and defenders, the practical effect is clearer than the wording first suggests. Where expenses are taxed or assessed by reference to the relevant tables, the rise in the unit value pushes up the figures attached to eligible work from 10 October onwards. That matters in the sort of cases that do not often make national headlines but shape everyday commercial and personal life: debt claims, contract rows, property disputes and other civil matters where the argument over expenses can be nearly as important as the argument over the claim itself.

The same instrument also tidies up rule 3.7 on simple procedure. Its heading is changed to 'reduction of charges', and the rule is redrafted to make clear that it applies in simple procedure cases where expenses are taxed or assessed by reference to the schedule 5 table of charges. That is more than housekeeping. Simple procedure is where many lower-value disputes involving ordinary households, sole traders and small businesses are dealt with. Clearer wording should leave less room for confusion over when charges can be reduced and how the table is meant to apply.

There is another practical change buried in the amendment. Rule 4.2 is altered so that allowable outlays expressly include court fees, with the official note saying the amendment is there to make that point clear. For clients trying to budget for a case, and for firms trying to give straight answers about likely recovery, that sort of clarity matters. Court fees are not optional extras. They are part of the real cost of getting a matter in front of a judge, and spelling that out in the rules removes at least one area of avoidable doubt.

The bigger question, as ever, is who feels the pressure when court costs rise. For solicitors, especially smaller practices outside the central belt’s largest offices, a higher unit may bring recoverable figures a bit closer to present-day running costs. For litigants on the wrong end of an expenses award, though, the risk calculation can become that bit harder. That is where this stops being technical and starts becoming social. Access to justice is not only about whether a court is open for business. It is also about whether individuals, charities and small firms can afford the chance that losing will cost more than they had hoped.

For readers and firms across the North who trade, contract or litigate across the Border, this is exactly the sort of rule change worth clocking early. The numbers will not apply retrospectively, but from 10 October they will apply to work done from that date, and that will feed into case budgets, settlement talks and advice on whether to press on. The official note is brief, and the amendment itself is tightly drawn. Even so, the message is plain enough. Scotland’s court expenses regime is getting dearer this autumn, and anyone with live civil business in the system would be wise to read the small print before the next invoice lands.