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Litigant in Person Costs Calculator

Led by Diellza Nika Hyseni and Mentor Nika · Updated 21 October 2026

Work out the costs a self-represented party can claim: £24 an hour for time from 1 October 2025 and £19 before, proven financial loss, the two-thirds cap, and the small claims and fixed costs rules, each line with its rule. From DMD Costs, law costs draftsmen in Westhoughton, Bolton.

  • Free, with no sign-up
  • The October 2025 rate
  • Every line sourced
  • Nothing leaves your browser

For a party who acted without a lawyer and has a costs order in their favour. Enter the hours and amounts; the calculator applies the rate fixed by Practice Direction 46 and the limits in the rules. Nothing leaves your browser.

Who is claiming

The calculator applies CPR 46.5, Practice Direction 46 paras 3.1 to 3.4, CPR 27.14 and CPR 45.4 as they stood on 21 October 2026. The court decides what time was reasonably spent: check every figure against your records and the order. It is a guide, not legal advice, and it never estimates what a lawyer would have been allowed.

Key points

  • DMD Costs’ litigant in person costs calculator is a free online tool that works out the costs a self-represented party can claim under CPR 46.5, line by line with the rule for each item.
  • It is completely free, with no sign-up, and runs in your browser; nothing you enter is sent to DMD Costs.
  • A litigant in person who cannot prove financial loss is allowed £24 an hour for time reasonably spent on or after 1 October 2025, and £19 an hour for earlier time: the rate follows when the work was done, not when the order is made (PD 46 para 3.4; 186th PD Update).
  • The costs allowed, except disbursements, cannot exceed two-thirds of what a legal representative would have been allowed (CPR 46.5(2)); the calculator checks that against your own figure, and never estimates it.
  • On the small claims track a litigant in person recovers nothing for their own time unless the court finds unreasonable behaviour (CPR 27.14(2)(g)); lost earnings are capped at £95 a day and expert fees at £750 (PD 27A para 7.3).
  • A company acting without a lawyer counts as a litigant in person (CPR 46.5(6)(a)); a solicitor acting through their own practice does not, and recovers costs as if represented.

How to use the litigant in person costs calculator

  1. Say who is claiming. An individual, a company acting through a non-lawyer, or a lawyer acting in person outside their own practice.
  2. Choose the kind of claim. The general rule, the small claims track, or fixed recoverable costs.
  3. Enter the time. The hours spent before and on or after 1 October 2025, or the financial loss you can prove for the time spent.
  4. Add payments and disbursements. Legal advice paid for, expert help with the costs claim, counsel’s fees, court fees and travel.
  5. Check the cap. Optionally, enter your own figure for what a lawyer would have been allowed: the calculator applies the two-thirds cap to it.

The litigant in person hourly rate

Where a litigant in person cannot prove financial loss, the court allows an amount for the time reasonably spent at the rate in Practice Direction 46 para 3.4 (CPR 46.5(4)(b)). The 186th Practice Direction Update raised that rate from £19 to £24 an hour from 1 October 2025, and its transitional provision applies £24 only to time spent on or after that date. So a claim that spans the change is worked out in two parts, whatever the date of the costs order. Many guides still give £19, or even £18.

Time spentHourly rateSource
On or after 1 October 2025£24PD 46 para 3.4, as amended by the 186th PD Update
Before 1 October 2025£19PD 46 para 3.4, before the 186th PD Update

What a litigant in person can recover

The same kinds of work and disbursements a lawyer’s costs would have covered, payments reasonably made for legal services relating to the conduct of the proceedings, and the costs of expert help in assessing the costs claim (CPR 46.5(3)). Expert help counts only from a barrister, a solicitor, a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a Fellow of the Association of Costs Lawyers, or a law costs draftsman who is a member of the Academy of Experts or the Expert Witness Institute (PD 46 para 3.1). A litigant allowed costs for attending court to conduct the case cannot also have a witness allowance for that attendance (CPR 46.5(5)), and no VAT is allowed on the litigant’s own time (PD 44 para 2.12).

The two-thirds cap

The costs allowed cannot exceed, except for disbursements, two-thirds of what would have been allowed if the litigant had been represented (CPR 46.5(2)). That comparison is a judgment about a hypothetical lawyer’s costs, so the calculator asks for your figure and never estimates it. In Ziga v Yarnold [2026] UKUT 181 (LC) the Upper Tribunal applied the cap to the combined notional costs of joint litigants in person, not person by person, and allowed counsel’s fees into the comparison where counsel would have been instructed (at [32]–[35]). That decision persuades the civil courts but does not bind them. Payments for legal advice and for expert help with the costs claim are treated here as inside the cap, the cautious view: no case decides whether they are disbursements.

Small claims and fixed costs

On the small claims track the court can order only the items in CPR 27.14(2). The main ones for a litigant in person are court fees, reasonable travel, lost earnings or leave of up to £95 a day for each person, experts’ fees of up to £750 each, where the claim includes an injunction or specific performance up to £260 for legal advice (PD 27A paras 7.2 and 7.3), and on an appeal an approved transcript. A litigant in person’s own time is recoverable only as further costs where a party has behaved unreasonably (CPR 27.14(2)(g)). Where fixed recoverable costs apply, a litigant in person throughout is limited to two-thirds of the fixed costs (CPR 45.4); the fixed costs on issue, judgment and enforcement under CPR 45 Section II are a legal representative’s charges, which a litigant in person cannot claim (CPR 45.16(1)): unless the court orders otherwise, only the court fee is added. No case decides the point; it is the natural reading of the rule.

Who is a litigant in person

A party acting without a legal representative, including a company or other corporation acting without one (CPR 46.5(6)(a)), and a barrister, solicitor or other authorised person acting for themselves (CPR 46.5(6)(b)). A solicitor acting through their own practice, whether a sole practitioner, a partner or an LLP, is not treated as a litigant in person and recovers profit costs as if represented (Halborg v EMW Law LLP [2017] EWCA Civ 793 at [35]). A solicitor acting in person as a company director or employee is a litigant in person (Wilson v Emmott [2023] EWHC 816 (KB)).

Sources

Frequently asked questions

£24 an hour, for time reasonably spent on or after 1 October 2025, where the litigant cannot prove financial loss (PD 46 para 3.4, as amended by the 186th Practice Direction Update). Time spent before 1 October 2025 stays at the old rate of £19 an hour: the new rate applies only to work done on or after that date, whenever the order is made.
Costs for the same kinds of work and disbursements a lawyer’s would have covered, payments reasonably made for legal services relating to the proceedings, and the costs of expert help in assessing the costs claim (CPR 46.5(3)). Time is paid at the amount of any financial loss the litigant can prove, or otherwise at the hourly rate in PD 46 para 3.4 (CPR 46.5(4)).
The costs allowed cannot exceed, except for disbursements, two-thirds of the amount a legal representative would have been allowed (CPR 46.5(2)). The Upper Tribunal has applied the cap to the combined notional costs of joint litigants in person, not person by person, including counsel’s fees where counsel would have been instructed (Ziga v Yarnold [2026] UKUT 181 (LC) at [32]–[35]); that decision persuades the civil courts but does not bind them.
Not the fixed costs on issue, judgment or enforcement in CPR 45 Section II: they are a legal representative’s charges (CPR 45.16(1)), so a litigant in person cannot claim them and, unless the court orders otherwise, only the court fee is added (CPR 45.16(4)). No case decides the point; it is the natural reading of the rule. Where fixed recoverable costs apply (Sections VI to VIII of Part 45), a litigant in person throughout is limited to two-thirds of the fixed costs a represented party would have been allowed, plus disbursements (CPR 45.4).
Only the items in CPR 27.14(2). The main ones for a litigant in person are court fees, reasonable travel, lost earnings or leave of up to £95 a day for each person, expert fees of up to £750 each and, where the claim includes an injunction or specific performance, up to £260 for legal advice (PD 27A paras 7.2 and 7.3), and on an appeal an approved transcript. Nothing for the litigant’s own time, unless the court finds unreasonable behaviour (CPR 27.14(2)(g)).
By producing written evidence of the loss to the court and serving a copy on the party against whom costs are sought at least 24 hours before the hearing at which costs may be decided (PD 46 para 3.2), or, for a detailed assessment, with the notice of commencement (para 3.3). Without proof, time is allowed at the hourly rate.
Yes. A company or other corporation acting without a legal representative is a litigant in person for costs (CPR 46.5(6)(a)). A company acting through its own in-house solicitor is not: it is represented (Halborg v EMW Law LLP [2017] EWCA Civ 793 at [45]).
A solicitor acting for themselves through their own practice, including a sole practitioner or an LLP, is not treated as a litigant in person and can recover profit costs as if represented (Halborg v EMW Law LLP [2017] EWCA Civ 793 at [35], reading CPR 46.5(6)(b)). A solicitor acting in person outside their practice, for example as a company director or employee, is a litigant in person (Wilson v Emmott [2023] EWHC 816 (KB)).
Not on their own time (PD 44 para 2.12). On payments and disbursements, VAT is recoverable only if the litigant cannot reclaim it as input tax.
Generally no. Fees for help in or out of court, or for conducting litigation, cannot be recovered from the other side. Fees for exercising a right of audience the court has granted are, in principle, recoverable from the other side as a disbursement (Practice Guidance: McKenzie Friends, 2010, paras 27 to 30).
Yes. It is completely free, with no sign-up, no paywall and no limit. It runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to DMD Costs.

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