Points of Dispute and Replies for Claimant Firms

Points of Dispute and Replies

Points of Dispute served on your bill? We read them against the file, draft the Replies and negotiate the costs for claimant solicitor firms, while your firm keeps conduct of the claim.

DMD Costs is a law costs drafting firm based in Greater Manchester, instructed by claimant solicitor firms across England and Wales.

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Key points

DMD Costs works on the receiving party's side: we read the Points of Dispute served on your bill, draft the Replies and negotiate the costs for claimant solicitor firms.

Points of Dispute are due 21 days after service of the notice of commencement (CPR 47.9(2)), must follow Precedent G so far as practicable (PD 47 para 8.2) and come with an open letter stating what the paying party offers (PD 47 para 8.3).

A Reply is optional, may be served within 21 days after service of the Points of Dispute (CPR 47.13) and is limited to points of principle and concessions (PD 47 para 12.1).

Ward v Rai confirms that what happens to Points of Dispute that do not comply is a case-management decision for the Costs Judge, so take the objection early and answer a vague point on its merits too, within PD 47 para 12.1.

If a bill goes to a contested hearing, we arrange the advocate (counsel or a Costs Lawyer) and prepare the papers.

Across our settled files, average recovery is above 70% of the bill as drafted.

The fee is fixed and agreed before any work begins. Negotiation to settlement is part of it, alongside the bill and the Replies to Points of Dispute. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, our agreed fee is payable when your firm receives the recovered costs from the paying party.

Replies for Claimant Firms

Points of Dispute are the paying party’s answer to your bill: the reductions it wants and its reasons for them. We work on the receiving party’s side, instructed by claimant solicitor firms. We read the Points of Dispute you have been served against the bill and the file, work out which of them carry the money, draft the Replies and negotiate the costs for the instructing firm.

We prepare the costs documentation and support your team through the process. The instructing solicitor retains conduct of the matter.

What Points of Dispute Are and the Form They Must Take

The paying party, and any other party to the detailed assessment proceedings, may dispute any item in the bill by serving Points of Dispute (CPR 47.9(1)). They must be short and to the point and follow Precedent G so far as practicable. They must identify any general points or matters of principle that need deciding before the individual items are addressed, and then the specific points, stating concisely the nature and grounds of each dispute. A point once made should not be repeated; the item numbers where it arises are listed against it instead (PD 47 para 8.2).

With them comes an open letter stating what sum, if any, the paying party offers to pay in settlement of the total costs claimed, and the paying party may also make a Part 36 offer (PD 47 para 8.3). Our guide to Points of Dispute and Replies in detailed assessment sets out the procedure in full.

The Time Limits

Points of Dispute are due 21 days after the date of service of the notice of commencement (CPR 47.9(2)). The time can be extended or shortened by agreement or by the court (PD 47 para 8.1).
Late Points of Dispute: a party who serves them after that period may not be heard further in the detailed assessment proceedings unless the court gives permission (CPR 47.9(3)). If none have been served when the period expires, the receiving party may request a default costs certificate (CPR 47.9(4)), but the court may not issue one if Points of Dispute are served first, even late ones (CPR 47.9(5)).
Replies are optional, and may be served within 21 days after being served with the Points of Dispute they answer (CPR 47.13).

Points of Dispute that are vague or defective are not disregarded automatically. In Ward v Rai the Court of Appeal restored the Costs Judge’s decision not to strike out a point of dispute framed in general terms, holding that the consequence of non-compliance is a case-management decision within the judge’s discretion. Striking out remained open to the judge, and points that do not comply still risk being struck out or, at least, costs sanctions. So take the objection to the form early, and answer the point on its merits too, within the limits of PD 47 para 12.1.

What a Good Reply Does

A Reply must be limited to points of principle and concessions. It must not contain general denials, specific denials or standard form responses, and wherever practicable it is set out in the form of Precedent G (PD 47 paras 12.1 and 12.2). Within those limits, a good Reply:

concedes what should be conceded, which narrows the dispute and makes the rest of the Reply credible;
answers each point of principle with the evidence: the file entries, the fee notes, the orders and the correspondence that show why the work was needed; and
keeps the offers in view, because the Reply is also the firm’s case on what the costs are worth.

The usual reductions differ by claim type. We set them out for housing disrepair Points of Dispute and for clinical negligence Points of Dispute and Replies.

Negotiation and Offers

The receiving party is entitled to the costs of the detailed assessment proceedings unless an Act, a rule or a practice direction provides otherwise or the court makes some other order (CPR 47.20(1)), and Part 36 applies to the costs of those proceedings with modifications (CPR 47.20(4)). So a well-pitched Part 36 offer can decide who pays for the assessment itself. An offer made “without prejudice save as to costs”, a Calderbank offer, does not carry Part 36’s consequences; the court takes it into account as an admissible offer when it decides the costs (CPR 44.2(4)(c)) and, on our reading, as one of the circumstances it weighs in deciding who pays for the assessment (CPR 47.20(3)). Either kind should say whether it includes the cost of preparing the bill and VAT, and an offer outside Part 36 whether it includes interest; if it does not, it is treated as including all of them (PD 47 para 19). How we use both is set out on our costs negotiation page.

If It Does Not Settle

Where Points of Dispute have been served, the receiving party must file a request for a detailed assessment hearing within 3 months of the expiry of the period for commencing detailed assessment proceedings (CPR 47.14(1)). The request is made in Form N258 and goes with, among other documents, the Points of Dispute annotated to show which items are agreed and which remain in dispute, and their value, and a copy of any Replies (PD 47 para 13.2). Only items specified in the Points of Dispute may be raised at the hearing unless the court gives permission (CPR 47.14(6)). A bill at or below the figure in PD 47 para 14.1 is normally assessed provisionally, on the bill, the supporting papers and the Points of Dispute and any Reply in Precedent G (CPR 47.15). Our free N258 request builder fills in the form. If a bill goes to a contested hearing, we arrange the advocate (counsel or a Costs Lawyer) and prepare the papers.

Who Leads This Work

Clinical negligence files are led by Diellza Nika Hyseni, law costs draftsperson and Managing Director, with more than 15 years’ experience in legal costs. Housing disrepair and MoD NIHL files are led by Mentor Nika, law costs draftsman and Head of Housing Disrepair Costs, with more than six years’ experience in claimant legal costs. Both draft Replies and negotiate the costs to settlement.

We do not publish case results we have not produced. Across our settled files, average recovery is above 70% of the bill as drafted. Beyond that, what we offer as evidence is named responsibility for the work and published guidance you can check against the rules yourself.

Fixed Fee Agreed Before Instructions

Frequently asked questions

No. The receiving party may serve a Reply, within 21 days after being served with the Points of Dispute (CPR 47.13). A Reply is limited to points of principle and concessions (PD 47 para 12.1). It is the receiving party's written answer on those points, and where the bill is provisionally assessed the court decides on the papers, which include the Points of Dispute and any Reply (CPR 47.15(4)).

A party who serves Points of Dispute after the 21 days may not be heard further in the detailed assessment proceedings unless the court gives permission (CPR 47.9(3)). If none have been served when the period expires, the receiving party may request a default costs certificate (CPR 47.9(4)), but the court may not issue one if Points of Dispute are served first, even late ones (CPR 47.9(5)). Points of Dispute that do not follow PD 47 para 8.2 are not struck out automatically. In Ward v Rai [2026] EWCA Civ 816 the Court of Appeal held that the consequence is a case-management decision for the Costs Judge: striking out remains open, and points that do not comply risk being struck out or, at least, costs sanctions. Take the objection early, and answer the point on its merits too, within the limits of PD 47 para 12.1.

21 days after service of the Points of Dispute (CPR 47.13(2)), so the time starts to run when they are served. Send us the Points of Dispute, the open offer letter, the bill and the file as soon as they arrive, with the date they were served.

The Points of Dispute and the open offer letter that came with them, the date they were served, the bill and the notice of commencement, the file and the fee notes behind the bill, and every offer made in either direction with its date.

Your firm. We analyse the offers, draft the Replies and negotiate on your instructions, but the instructing solicitor retains conduct of the matter and decides whether an offer is made, accepted or rejected.

Unless we agree otherwise in writing, our agreed fee is payable when your firm receives the recovered costs from the paying party.