Simple Procedure Expenses Scotland: Caps, Cabot v Walls and How to Claim

One of the biggest surprises for people filing a Simple Procedure claim in Scotland is the expenses system. Unlike England where the "no costs" rule for small claims is blanket, Scotland has a sliding scale of caps — and since May 2025, a mandatory expenses form that catches people who don't know about it.

The Statutory Caps

Expenses recovery in Simple Procedure is governed by the Sheriff Court Simple Procedure (Limits on Award of Expenses) Order 2016, made under Section 81 of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014:

These caps apply to both sides. If you lose a claim worth £1,000, the maximum the respondent can recover from you for expenses is £150. For claims under £300, neither side pays the other's expenses at all.

Exception: the caps don't apply if the respondent stated no defence, abandoned a defence, or acted in bad faith. In those cases, expenses are uncapped regardless of claim value. Court filing fee outlays are always recoverable on top of the caps.

The Cabot v Walls Game-Changer

On 21 May 2025, the Sheriff Appeal Court issued Cabot Financial (UK) Ltd v Walls [2025] SAC (Civ) 13. This ruling fundamentally changed how expenses work in undefended claims — and many claimants still don't know about it.

Before Cabot v Walls, claimants in undefended cases routinely asked for expenses when submitting Form 7A (Application for a Decision) without providing any itemised breakdown. The court just granted what seemed reasonable.

Now, every claimant — represented or not, defended or undefended — must lodge the official SCTS Expenses Claim Form pro-forma before the court grants a decision. This form goes alongside your Form 7A (or Form 5B for time to pay cases).

If you don't attach the pro-forma, the Sheriff Clerk rejects the decision application outright. Your Form 7A gets sent back.

The Percentage Reductions

The Cabot v Walls ruling also confirmed that Rule 3.7 of the Act of Sederunt (Taxation of Judicial Expenses Rules) 2019 applies to all Simple Procedure claims. When the Sheriff Clerk assesses your expenses, they apply mandatory reductions:

• A 10% baseline reduction on all allowed charges
• A further 50% reduction for claims under £1,000
• A further 25% reduction for claims between £1,001 and £2,500

These stack. For a £900 claim, your allowed charges get cut by 10%, then by another 50%. For a £2,000 claim, it's 10% then 25%.

What You Can Actually Claim

On the pro-forma, list your recoverable outlays:

• Court filing fee (£23 or £127)
• Sheriff Clerk service fee (£15) if applicable
• Sheriff Officer fees for service
• Postage and copying costs

For claims above £3,000 where the cap lifts, you can also claim solicitor fees if you used one, though the percentage reductions still apply to the assessment.

Practical Impact

For most smaller Simple Procedure claims, the expenses you actually recover are modest. On a £1,200 claim, the cap is £150, then the Clerk applies a 10% baseline cut and a 25% reduction (since the claim is between £1,001 and £2,500). The filing fee is recoverable separately as an outlay.

The real risk of Cabot v Walls isn't the amount — it's the procedural trap. If you don't lodge the pro-forma with Form 7A, your decision application is rejected. That rejection eats into your two-week Form 7A window, and if you miss the window entirely, the Sheriff dismisses the claim.

Our Scotland Simple Procedure guide includes an Expenses Claim Calculator worksheet that runs the cap and reduction arithmetic for you, plus the pro-forma template.

See more Scotland guides →