Consultation on Increasing Selected Court Fees and Help with Fees income thresholds

17 May 2021 may be an important date in the Government’s ‘roadmap’ of measures to ease Coronavirus restrictions, but it also marks the deadline for responses to the Ministry of Justice’s (MOJ’s) consultation on proposals to increase selected court fees and Help with Fees income thresholds.

The proposals affect the civil courts, courts hearing family proceedings, the Court of Protection and the civil jurisdiction of the Magistrates' Courts.

Many litigants in the civil court are now used to paying substantial issues and hearing fees. The current proposal aims to increase some 133 fees, including the court fee payable on issue of a bankruptcy petition and some fees for enforcement action, in line with historical inflation dating from August 2016 to April 2021, or the year the fee was last amended (capped at August 2016).

The courts and tribunals system runs on the principle that the users should pay towards the cost of the service they use, if they can afford to do so.The proposals aim to ensure an efficient and effective courts system and access to justice, by ensuring that courts and tribunals are properly funded and sustainable through fees which better meet the running costs of HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).

The consultation document, which can be viewed here says:-

• The income received from court fees was £725m in 2019/20 against running costs for courts and tribunals of £2bn in 2019/20, with the rest subsidised by the taxpayer. The proposal will not remove the need for the taxpayer to subsidise the system in part, but will reduce the taxpayer contribution.
• The proposed increases would "ensure that those who can afford to pay for the service continue to do so at a rate that is more comparable with the increased costs of providing these services",
• The proposed increases "reflect historic inflation and therefore do not amount to an increase in real terms".
• The proposed fee increases will raise an estimated additional net income of £11-£17 million a year (after fee remissions are applied).
• The inflationary uplifts to Help with Fees income thresholds will still ensure that any user who may not be able to afford fees "can still access these services with the help of a full or partial fee remission".

The MoJ seeks views from users of the affected jurisdictions of HMCTS, the legal profession, the judiciary, the advice sector, the voluntary sector and all those with an interest in the work of HMCTS.

Responses can be submitted by completing the questionnaire in the consultation document, or through an online survey by 17 May 2021. The MoJ is due to publish its response to the consultation by July 2021 and, if implemented, the proposal is intended to take effect in late September or early October 2021.

CONTACT US

To discuss any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact our Commercial Litigation team by email at info@ramsdens.co.uk or by calling us on 01484 821 500.