The Ministry of Justice has announced that from 22 April 2014 court fees will rise significantly.
The rise will be particularly steep for compensation claims.
For claims valued between £5,000 and £15,000 the court fee will increase by 81% from £245 to £445. Fees for cases of greater value will also increase by £200. Only smaller claims will escape these large increases.
The increase in fees follows a period of consultation by the Government with various interested parties, including the Civil Judicial Council and the Law Society. The Law Society warned against increasing fees but the Government has not listened to that advice.
In addition to an increase in court fees for personal injury claims there has also been a marked increase in the fee to apply for judicial review which has increased from £60 to £135. The fee for provision to proceed with a review has risen by 216% from £215 to £680.
There is no increase in court fees for certain family law matters. These include child contact cases and adoption applications. There will actually be a reduction in fees for local authorities to apply to take a child into care and the £75 fee for domestic violence injunctions is going to be scrapped.
The increase in the court fees for personal injury claims comes at a time when the fees received by solicitors representing Claimants have been slashed by around 60%. It is also against a backdrop of Claimants experiencing a reduction in their compensation to reflect the reduction in fees payable to their solicitors.
The Courts Minister, Shailesh Vara, justified the increase in fees by saying “We are making sure our courts are properly resourced so that they can continue to build on their excellent reputation. These fee changes will make sure hard-working tax payers are not having to subsidise those using our civil courts”.
Anthony McCarthy, Director and Senior Litigator at Macks Solicitors, was not impressed by the announcement. He said “An increase of up to 81% in court fees at a time when solicitors and clients are seeing a reduction in costs and compensation is staggering. The increased fees will only hinder access to justice and will mean that some genuine claims cannot be brought”.
