L74 Response Not Accepted Self-assessed

Qualified One Way Costs Shifting

Recommendation

In the absence of the provision of an approved mechanism for dispute resolution, available through an independent regulator without cost to the complainant, together with an adjustment to the Civil Procedure Rules to require or permit the court take account of the availability of cost free arbitration as an alternative to court proceedings, qualified one way costs shifting should be introduced for defamation, privacy, breach of confidence and similar media related litigation as proposed by Lord Justice Jackson.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
According to the Government (27 February 2025), this recommendation was not implemented, and qualified one-way costs shifting for media-related litigation was not introduced. According to the Government (27 February 2025), the government did not formally respond to civil justice recommendations in the Prime Minister's statement of 29 November 2012, and the absence of both QOCS and Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 means that cost barriers to bringing claims against major publishers remain for most individuals.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 19 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Not Accepted
Not Accepted UK Government
29 Nov 2012

This recommendation was not implemented. The government did not formally respond to civil justice recommendations in the Prime Minister's statement of 29 November 2012. Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which would have created a costs incentive mechanism, was enacted but never commenced. On 1 March 2018, the Secretary of State announced that Section 40 would not be commenced and would be repealed. Section 40 was repealed by Section 50 of the Media Act 2024 (Royal Assent 24 May 2024). Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/leveson-consultation-response

Read Full Response
Note: PM David Cameron responded to all 92 recommendations with a single statement accepting them "in principle" or "in part". No per-recommendation response was published.
Published Evidence

Published assessments of implementation progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Check the source type badge to see whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Not Implemented
27 Feb 2025
Government Other

Qualified one-way costs shifting for media-related litigation was not introduced. The absence of both QOCS and Section 40 means the cost barriers to bringing claims against major publishers remain prohibitive for most individuals.

View detailed findings

Not implemented. Cost barriers to media litigation remain as they were before Leveson.

Access to justice in media cases View Source
Source
Inquiry Leveson Inquiry
Report An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press 29 Nov 2012
View Source
Responsible Bodies
UK Government Primary
Themes & Tags
Personal data privacy risks Discriminatory media reporting oversight Civil Law Costs Qocs Defamation
Recommendation age 13.3 yrs
Last formal update 4863 days ago