A mandatory (save for limited exceptions) Disclosure Pilot Scheme (DPS) (under what was Practice Direction (PD) 51U) operated in the Business and Property Courts from 1 January 2019 until 1 October 2022. The DPS was a "living pilot" which evolved in response to feedback from practitioners. This note provides a summary of the various tranches of changes implemented while the DPS was in operation.

On 15 July 2022, it was announced that the DPS had been approved (see Legal updates, Disclosure Pilot Scheme approved and to become permanent in the B&PCs from 1 October 2022 as PD 57AD and Civil Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2022 (SI 2022/783) and 149th Practice Direction Update).

PD 57AD ("Disclosure in the Business and Property Courts") took effect on 1 October 2022, replacing PD 51U, and implementing, on a permanent basis, the procedures that applied under the DPS.