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J-Codes and Precedent S Codes

Led by Diellza Nika Hyseni and Mentor Nika · Updated 20 October 2026

Look up the phase, task, activity and expense codes of an electronic bill of costs: the Precedent S code, the J-code and the Practice Direction 47 number side by side, with the Precedent S description of each phase and task and the Precedent H phase each one budgets under. From DMD Costs, law costs draftsmen in Westhoughton, Bolton.

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Activities

Expenses

J-code activity codes

Nothing you type leaves your browser. A reference, not legal advice.

Phase, task, activity and expense names and the Precedent H column are from Schedule 2 to Practice Direction 47, and the Precedent H phase lists from Practice Direction 3D. The phase and task descriptions are reproduced as published in Precedent S (version 2.0.1), which adopted most of its wording from the EW-UTBMS J-Code guidelines; the activity descriptions are our own summaries. Checked on 20 October 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. J-code numbers and names are from the EW-UTBMS J-Code set published by the LEDES® Oversight Committee. DMD Costs is not connected with, or endorsed by, the Ministry of Justice, the judiciary or the LEDES® Oversight Committee. The notes are a guide, not legal advice.

Key points

  • An electronic bill of costs reports and aggregates its costs by the phases, tasks, activities and expenses in Schedule 2 to Practice Direction 47: 15 phases, 41 tasks and 10 activities, with expense categories (PD 47 para 5.A2(a)).
  • Electronic bills are required for detailed assessment in Part 7 multi-track claims for costs between the parties for work done after 6 April 2018, unless the costs are fixed or scale costs, the receiving party is unrepresented, or the court orders otherwise (PD 47 para 5.1).
  • Precedent S, the model electronic bill, codes them P1 to P15, T1 to T41, A1 to A10 and X1 to X15. The EW-UTBMS J-code set (2014) codes the same 41 tasks JA10 to JM40, in 13 phases, with activity codes A101 to A129.
  • Practice Direction 47 does not require Precedent S itself, but any other spreadsheet must perform the same essential functions, including reporting by the Schedule 2 phases, tasks, activities and expenses (PD 47 para 5.A2; SCCO Guide 2025, section 9.3).
  • Schedule 2 fixes the Precedent H phase for each bill phase: interim applications are contingencies, and funding, budgeting, a costs management conference held on its own, and costs assessment are outside the budget phases.
  • In a few places the code and the budget phase part company: a Part 36 offer before proceedings is budgeted in Pre-action (PD 3D), but the Precedent S description of T25 Other Settlement Matters covers Part 36 and other offers. The lookup notes the main ones.

How to use the lookup

  1. Search. Type a code, such as T19, JK10 or A10, or a piece of work, such as trial bundle, Part 36 or points of dispute.
  2. Filter. Narrow the list to tasks, phases, activities, expenses or the J-code activity codes.
  3. Read the entry. Each entry gives the Precedent S code, the J-code and the Schedule 2 number, the Precedent S description (for a phase or task) or our summary (for an activity), its phase and its Precedent H phase.
  4. Check the notes. Notes show where the code and the budget phase differ, and the Practice Direction 47 rules on routine communications and travel.
  5. Copy it. Copy the codes, phase and budget phase for a time-recording guide or the file.

Two sets of codes for the same work

Schedule 2 to Practice Direction 47 numbers the phases, tasks, activities and expenses but gives them no letters. Precedent S, the model electronic bill annexed to the practice direction, codes them: P for phases, T for tasks, A for activities and X for expenses. The J-code set came first: the LEDES® Oversight Committee endorsed it in 2014, at the judiciary’s request, for recording time. Its 41 task codes, JA10 to JM40, match the 41 Schedule 2 tasks one for one, and Precedent S adopted most of its descriptions.

Two differences matter. The J-code set has one phase, JI00 Case and Costs Management Hearings, where Schedule 2 has three: the case management conference (P3), the pre-trial review (P7) and a costs management conference held on its own (P14). And it has 29 activity codes where Schedule 2 has 10: Precedent S activity A10 Plan, Prepare, Draft, Review brings together what the J-code set records as planning (A101), drafting (A103), reviewing (A104) and managing documents and data (A110).

The phases and Precedent H

Schedule 2 says which Precedent H phase each bill phase budgets under, so that a bill can be compared with the approved budget phase by phase. Four phases have no Precedent H phase.

Precedent SJ-codePhase in the billPrecedent H phase
P1JC00Initial and Pre-Action Protocol WorkPre-Action Costs
P2JE00Issue / Statements of CaseIssue / Statements of Case
P3JI00Case Management ConferenceCMC
P4JF00DisclosureDisclosure
P5JG00Witness statementsWitness statements
P6JH00Expert reportsExpert reports
P7JI00Pre-Trial ReviewPTR
P8JK00Trial preparationTrial preparation
P9JL00TrialTrial
P10JD00ADR / SettlementADR / Settlement discussions
P11JJ00Interim Applications and Hearings (Interlocutory Applications)Contingencies
P12JA00FundingNo Precedent H phase
P13JB00Budgeting incl. costs estimatesNo Precedent H phase
P14JI00Costs Management ConferenceNo Precedent H phase
P15JM00Costs AssessmentNo Precedent H phase

Where the code and the budget phase part company

Read together, Schedule 2 and the Precedent H table in Practice Direction 3D do not always put the same work in the same place. These are the points to watch; where a point is our reading rather than the words of a practice direction, the lookup says so.

  • Settlement discussions and Part 36 offers before proceedings: budgeted in Pre-action, while T25 Other Settlement Matters covers Part 36 and other offers.
  • Witness summonses: in the T13 description, but budgeted in Trial preparation.
  • Supplemental disclosure and statements before trial: budgeted in Trial preparation, coded as disclosure or witness statement tasks (our reading).
  • Reviewing the opponent’s budget and agreeing budgets: in Precedent H’s CMC phase, but coded T36 Budgeting – between the parties (our reading).
  • Applications for witness summaries: in Precedent H’s Witness Statements phase, but an application about evidence is T29 (our reading).
  • Permission to rely on expert evidence: in the CMC phase (T8) or a separate application (T29), not Expert reports.
  • Applications for specific disclosure, and applications and requests for non-party disclosure: excluded from the Disclosure phase; T28 (our reading).
  • Drafting an amendment is T7 in Issue / Statements of Case; an application to amend is a contingency, T26.
  • A combined case and costs management conference: P3 excludes costs management, which points to T37 for that part (our reading).
  • Budgeting (P13) and a costs management conference (P14) have no Precedent H phase. Save in exceptional circumstances, the recoverable costs of initially completing Precedent H, and of the rest of the budgeting and costs management process, are capped (CPR 3.15(5)).

Recording time so the bill can be built

Precedent S is meant to be completed automatically from electronic time records (SCCO Guide 2025, section 9.3), so the codes are easiest to apply when each entry is recorded with its task and activity as the work is done. Routine letters out, emails out and telephone calls are allowed in general on a unit basis of 6 minutes each, the charge for letters and emails out including reading routine ones in (PD 47 para 5.22(1)). Time spent preparing the budget is not claimed in any budget phase (Practice Direction 3D para 8), and the bill itself must not claim costs relating solely to the detailed assessment proceedings, other than preparing and checking the bill (PD 47 para 5.19). Assembling or copying bundles is not fee earners’ work (Practice Direction 3D). See also our notes on a clinical negligence bill of costs in Precedent S and costs budgets in Precedent H.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

J-codes are the codes of the EW-UTBMS civil litigation code set for England and Wales, endorsed by the LEDES Oversight Committee in 2014 at the judiciary’s request. They code 13 phases (JA00 to JM00), 41 tasks (JA10 to JM40) and 29 activities (A101 to A129), so that time recorded against them can be turned into an electronic bill or a budget. The set also has its own expense codes, numbered from X101, which are not listed here and are not the same as Precedent S’s X1 to X15.
Precedent S is the model electronic bill of costs annexed to Practice Direction 47. It codes the Schedule 2 phases P1 to P15, the tasks T1 to T41, the activities A1 to A10 and the expenses X1 to X15, and its reference worksheets describe each phase, task and activity.
Neither is compulsory as such. Where an electronic bill is required, it may be in Precedent S or any other spreadsheet that reports and aggregates costs by the phases, tasks, activities and expenses in Schedule 2 to Practice Direction 47, gives summary totals comparable to Precedent S and performs its other functions (PD 47 para 5.A2). Recording time with the J-codes, or with codes that map to them, makes that straightforward.
Settlement work, including Part 36 and other offers, is task T25 Other Settlement Matters (J-code JD20) in phase P10 ADR / Settlement, whose Precedent S description covers them. Before proceedings, Precedent H budgets settlement discussions and Part 36 offers in its Pre-action phase (Practice Direction 3D), so the code and the budget phase can differ. Offers to settle costs are T39 (JM20).
Counsel’s fees are an expense, X1 Counsel’s Fees, and communicating with counsel is activity A2 (J-code A129). In Precedent H, counsel’s brief fee for trial is budgeted in Trial preparation, not Trial (Practice Direction 3D).
Task T38 Preparing costs claim (J-code JM10), in phase P15 Costs Assessment, which is outside the Precedent H phases. Points of dispute, replies and negotiations are T39 (JM20), and assessment hearings T40 (JM30).
A10 Plan, Prepare, Draft, Review is Precedent S’s activity for planning, preparing, drafting and reviewing. Its Precedent S description also covers organising the file. The J-code set records these separately, as A101 Plan and prepare for, A103 Draft/Revise, A104 Review/Analyze and A110 Manage Data/Files/Documentation.
Phases P12 Funding, P13 Budgeting, P14 Costs Management Conference and P15 Costs Assessment have no Precedent H phase (Schedule 2 to Practice Direction 47). Save in exceptional circumstances, the recoverable costs of initially completing Precedent H, and of the rest of the budgeting and costs management process, are capped instead (CPR 3.15(5)). Interim applications, P11, are contingencies in Precedent H.

An electronic bill to prepare?

We prepare electronic bills of costs in Precedent S for claimant firms in housing disrepair, clinical negligence and military hearing loss claims, from your time records and the file. The fee is fixed and agreed before any work begins.

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