The start of November 2025 has brought with it two increases in the Northern Ireland claims jurisdiction; an increase to County Court Costs and an increase to Bereavement Damages.
The County Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2025 introduce revised scale costs and fees, effective from 26 November 2025. These changes come 8 years after the last updated County Court Scale Fee legislation. They impact solicitor and counsel costs across various case bands, with notable increases in personal injury and debt recovery matters.
The increases to the costs were anticipated following on from the Department of Justice’s Consultation on the County Court Scale Costs launched in July 2024. Keoghs Northern Ireland returned a response to the consultation and continue to liaise with the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) in respect of changes to the County Court landscape. Our Partners Rachel Kennan and Megan McBrien are active FOIL members sitting on special interest groups.
The increases to the costs are widely in line with what was anticipated being a 23% percentage increase in the Ordinary Civil Bill fee category. Unlike the 2017 rules they do not provide incremental increases and therefore provide at least some certainty in relation to the costs for the foreseeable future.
We note that the new costs bands do not account for the impending increase in the County Court jurisdiction to £60,000. If the County Court jurisdiction is valued at up to £60,000, we consider new bands should be introduced to avoid inequities and ensure proportional costs. We anticipate that this might, however, be dealt with in conjunction with the overall review of Access to Justice.
The Justice Minister has advised that her officials would present a revised Delivery Plan in respect of her Enabling Access to Justice Reform Programme to the Justice Committee on Thursday 20 November 2025. Details will be published shortly thereafter. The Justice Minister has agreed to the Law Society of Northern Ireland’s proposal to establish an Enabling Access to Justice Liaison Group which will meet quarterly and will provide a point of contact between the department and the legal profession.
Alongside this there has been work going on in the background in Northern Ireland in respect of legal aid funding. It has been announced that following the publication of the Burgess Review the Justice Minister has confirmed a 16% increase for most criminal, civil and family legal aid fees. The rules introducing the new fees are expected to come into operation at the end of this year.
Turning to the second increase this month; bereavement damages. When a person dies as a result of negligence, a small category of people is entitled to claim a statutory bereavement award under the Fatal Accidents (Northern Ireland) Order 1977.In mid-October 2025 it was announced that there would be a proposed increase to the amount of statutory bereavement damages under Article 3A(3) of the 1977 Order. It has now been confirmed that the Damages for Bereavement (Variation of Sum) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025 (S.R. 2025, No. 173) has been made and will come into operation on 1 December 2025. This will increase the statutory amount of the award from £17,200 to £19,700.
For more information on any of these issues please contact our Belfast Office.
Michelle McCullough - Partner
Rachel Keenan - Partner
Megan McBrien - Partner
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