Alex Williams is specialist commercial, chancery and employment barrister. Here, he considers the amendment of the summary judgment provisions contained in CPR Part 24.

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From 1st October 2023, a new CPR Part 24 will be in force and the Practice Direction to Part 24 will be no more.  

The ‘new’ Part 24 largely mirrors the existing provisions, but some of the rule numbers will change and parts of the old Practice Direction have been moved into Part 24 itself.

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There are modest changes to the wording of some provisions, but they appear to be aimed at improving clarity rather than effecting a substantive change to the operation of the rules.  There has, thankfully, been no change to the “no real prospect of success” or “no other compelling reason” tests.

The key points to note when drafting an application notice under the new rules are:

• An application for summary judgment will now be an application under r.24.3, not r.24.2.  
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• The application notice must draw the respondent’s attention to “their right to rely on evidence opposing the application” rather than “to r.24.5(1)” as most of us will be used to drafting.

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The table below is intended to act as a quick reference guide: