King's Bench Division Bundle Requirements (KB Guide 2025, paras 10.21 and 14.11)
The King's Bench Guide carries two different e-bundle regimes in one document, and which applies depends on what you are filing. Paragraph 14.11 reproduces the 2021 general guidance for trials. Paragraph 10.21 applies to bundles ordered or requested for applications and is stricter — no password protection, an index hyperlinked to the first page of each document, selectable text on every page, and a 200 to 300 dpi band. We apply the stricter 10.21 rules and flag which ones come from there.
Governing document
The King's Bench Guide 2025
King's Bench Division · April 2025
The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025)
Also relevant: General guidance on electronic court bundles (29 November 2021)
The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025)
Also relevant: General guidance on electronic court bundles (29 November 2021)
Checked against the published source on 15 August 2026.
The numbers, in one place
| Page limit | None No page cap in either regime. |
| Resolution | about 200 to 300 dpi A floor as well as a ceiling — unusual. |
| Pagination | Arabic, continuous from page 1 Para 10.21(4): the first page of the PDF, even a title or index page, must be page 1, so the PDF page numbers match the bundle pagination. |
| Filename must contain | short case name |
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Every rule, in the source's own words
Quotations below are verbatim. Where a rule is best practice carried from another regime rather than a requirement of the governing document, it says so in the row.
| Requirement | What the rule actually says | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A single PDF must |
“The document must be a single PDF.” | KB Guide para 10.21(1) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| Not password protected must |
“It must not be password protected.” | KB Guide para 10.21(2) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| Filename is the short case name should |
“The file name for the bundle should be the short name of the case not "hearing bundle" or similar.” This is the one regime where naming the file "Hearing Bundle" is expressly called out as wrong. |
KB Guide para 10.21(3) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| PDF page numbers match the bundle pagination must |
“The bundle must be paginated in ascending order. The first page of the PDF, even if it is a title page or index page of the bundle, must be numbered page 1 so that the PDF page numbers match the bundle pagination. The same pagination must be used in any hardcopy bundle.” | KB Guide para 10.21(4) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| Index hyperlinked to the first page of each document must |
“The index must be hyperlinked to the first page of the relevant document.” | KB Guide para 10.21(5) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| Labelled bookmarks showing bundle page numbers must |
“Bookmarks must be inserted and must be labelled indicating the document referred to (preferably using the same name or title as the document) and display the relevant bundle page numbers.” | KB Guide para 10.21(6) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| Bookmarks display bundle page numbers must |
“display the relevant bundle page numbers” | KB Guide para 10.21(6) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| Default display view 100% must |
“The default display view size of all pages must always be 100%.” | KB Guide para 10.21(8) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| Text selectable on all pages must |
“Text on all pages must be selectable to facilitate comments and highlights to be imposed on the text.” | KB Guide para 10.21(9) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| About 200 to 300 dpi must |
“The resolution on the electronic bundle must be reduced to about 200 to 300 dpi to prevent delays whilst scrolling form one page to another.” | KB Guide para 10.21(10) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| Legible, right way up, readable left to right should |
“All costs budgeting materials must appear in a legible format, the right way up so that they can be read from left to right without rotating the PDF or screen, and in single full pages” | KB Guide para 10.21(7) The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
| Trials use para 14.11 instead check yourself |
“If an electronic bundle is ordered and subject to any direction made in a particular case, the following guidance should be followed” Para 14.11 reproduces the 2021 general guidance. It is less strict than 10.21: no password rule, no dpi floor, no express selectable-text rule. If your bundle is for a trial rather than an application, the 10.21-only failures above are advisory. |
KB Guide para 14.11 The King's Bench Guide 2025 (April 2025) |
Where this court differs from the others
This is the part that causes wasted work: a bundle built correctly for one court can breach the rules of another. Applying the wrong court's rulebook is the most common way a compliant bundle gets called non-compliant.
Index links
| Family (PD27A) | Index entries must be "added to" the indexed document. Hyperlinking is best practice carried from other regimes, not an express PD27A requirement. |
| Administrative Court, King's Bench (10.21) | Hyperlinked index is mandatory. |
| Court of Appeal | Hyperlinks OR bookmarks, "as appropriate". |
| Chancery, Commercial | Hyperlinked "if possible". |
| SEND Tribunal | Hyperlinks "ideally". |
| Employment Tribunal | Index hyperlinked at the front, OR supplied as a separate PDF. |
Pagination
| Financial remedy | Arabic, continuous, and the computer numbering must match the PDF page labels. |
| Family, not financial remedy | Bates numbering: A1, A2 … B1, B2 … by section. |
| Employment Tribunal, SEND Tribunal | Sequential Arabic from 1. Sections must NOT be separately numbered. |
| Chancery, Commercial | Where a bundle is split across files, pagination begins afresh in each file. |
| Administrative Court, King's Bench | First page of the PDF is page 1, index pages included. |
Bookmark density
| Everywhere except the Employment Tribunal | All significant documents and all sections. |
| Employment Tribunal | Significant documents only — "Do not bookmark every single document". |
Resolution
| Nearly all of the regimes on this page | Not greater than 300 dpi — a ceiling only. |
| Administrative Court, King's Bench (10.21) | About 200 to 300 dpi — a floor as well as a ceiling. |
Page and size caps
| Family, financial remedy | 350 pages, court permission to exceed. In financial remedy, position statements and composite documents do not count towards it. |
| Court of Appeal | 350 pages on the supplementary bundle; 50MB split threshold. |
| Administrative Court, criminal | 20mb, with a core bundle above it. Core bundle required over 400 pages (PD 54A 16). |
| SEND Tribunal | Core bundle 100 pages; EHC plan part 150; further caps by appeal type. |
| Chancery, Commercial, King's Bench | No page cap. |
What we cannot tell you
- No Civil Procedure Rule anywhere mandates bookmarks, OCR or hyperlinks in an electronic civil bundle. Those requirements come from judicial guidance and court guides, which a judge may vary in your case.
- The enacted PD27A says index entries must be "added to" the indexed document, not "hyperlinked to". We treat hyperlinking as best practice for family bundles and label it as such. Published commentary usually says "hyperlinked" because it is quoting the 2021 guidance, which no longer applies to family proceedings.
- PD27A 4.8 promises further HMCTS guidance on bundles. As at 15 August 2026 it has not been published.
- The 50MB figure in the Court of Appeal and King's Bench guides descends from the revoked PD 51O. Treat it as guide-level practice, not law. CPR PD 5C sets a 100MB electronic filing cap and carves bundles out of the pilot.
- Employment Tribunal Presidential Guidance is something a tribunal must have regard to. It does not bind in the way a practice direction does.
- This tool checks the format of a PDF. It cannot tell you whether a document belongs in the bundle, whether a bookmark description is good enough, or whether your case is ready. Those are judgement calls and we report them as such.
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Other courts
FamilyFPR Practice Direction 27AFinancial remedyFPR Practice Direction 27AAdministrative CourtAdministrative CourtCourt of AppealCourt of Appeal (Civil Division) Guide 2025Chancery / CommercialChancery Guide 2022 (Business and Property Courts)Employment TribunalPresidential GuidanceSEND TribunalPractice Direction No 1 of 2025CriminalCriminal Practice Directions 2023, Part 12General civilGeneral guidance on electronic court bundles
This is a format check against published court rules. It is not legal advice, it does not tell you whether your case is ready, and no outcome is guaranteed. The rules are subject to any direction a judge gives in your own case. Rules and guides are updated by the courts without notice; this page records the position as at 15 August 2026 and links to every source so you can check it yourself.