Articles
The Freddo Test: Has Inflation Forgotten Legal Costs?
Tuesday 5th May 2026
Sonny Welsh
There are many ways to measure inflation.
Economists rely on indices. Governments publish data. But in the UK, there is a more familiar benchmark: the Freddo.
It is often used half-jokingly, but it serves a useful purpose. It highlights, in a very simple way, how the cost of everyday items has changed over time.
A Simple Comparison
In 2013, when provisional assessment was introduced following the Jackson reforms and formalised within CPR 47.15, a Freddo cost around 20p. Today, that same chocolate bar is typically around 35p - that represents an increase of approximately 75%.
Over the same period, the recoverable costs for provisional assessment have remained fixed at £1,500 plus VAT (and court fees). No increase. No adjustment. No movement with inflation.
A Question of Proportionality
This comparison is, of course, light-hearted. But it raises a more serious point. The objective of the Jackson Reforms was to promote proportionality and control costs. Fixed caps were part of that wider framework. However, proportionality is not a static concept. It is influenced by the economic environment in which it operates.
Over the last decade:
• The cost of doing business has increased
• Professional time has become more expensive
• The expectations placed on costs drafting and compliance have grown
Despite this, the cap on provisional assessment has remained unchanged. The result is a widening gap between the work required and the level of costs that can be recovered.
The Practical Reality
The issue is not that the cap exists. It is that it has remained entirely static in a period where almost everything else has not. If the cap had moved in line with even modest inflation, it would now sit materially higher than £1,500. Instead, practitioners are required to deliver the same (or greater) level of detail, within a framework that has not kept pace with economic reality.
A Fair Question
This leads to a simple, and perhaps uncomfortable, question - can a system designed to ensure proportionality continue to do so if it does not evolve over time?
How Smart Costs Can Help
At Smart Legal Costs Solutions, we deal with these practical challenges every day. While the rules may be fixed, the way in which costs are prepared, presented, and argued can make a significant difference. Our focus is on ensuring that recovery is maximised within the current framework, without taking a generic or ‘one size fits all’ approach.
If your firm is finding that the realities of costs recovery are becoming more challenging, we are here to help.