MoJ proposes further court fee increases

The government has proposed a further increase in court fees following a hike in March, but the Law Society has said the move amounts to a further curtailing of access to justice for members of the public and small businesses.

In March, the maximum court fee for a claimant was raised to £10,000, with the Ministry of Justice ignoring consultation responses giving reasons against the move. The government is now proposing that the fee be raised again to “at least” £20,000, meaning that court fees could increase by 1,000% in six months for cases valuing £200,000 or more. This could mean that the courts will be run at a profit, with the fees more than making up for the costs of justice. However, with the previous fee increase only months ago, no time has been taken to see what impact it has had. And whether justice should be a for-profit enterprise in a democratic country is another question.

Jonathan Smithers, president of the Law Society, said: “The government introduced dramatic hikes to court fees just months ago. These latest proposals will increase fees by more than 1,000 per cent for claims of £200,000 or more. They will deny individuals and small businesses access to justice, crippling anyone trying to recover monies owed to them. All civil cases, from divorce to landlords trying to get their property back, are affected by these punitive increases which are tantamount to treating justice like a commodity. Justice will be out of reach for many ordinary people. This will only serve to widen the access to justice gap in our two tier justice system. The civil courts are the backbone of a fair society and a prosperous economy. I urge the government to look at the wider impact of the Ministry of Justice’s increased fees."

The maximum court fee payable by a claimant was increased to £10,000 in March this year - an increase of nearly 600 per cent for claims of £200,000. The government is now proposing that this fee be doubled, to 'at least' £20,000, which would represent an increase of over 1,000 per cent in under six months. The government will profit from those who can afford to go to court for these cases as the fees charged will far outstrip the cost to the justice system.