The Ministry of Justice have this week opened a consultation with a view of increasing Court Fees by roughly 8% throughout a number of Civil and Family jurisdictions. In total 133 types of fees are set to increase. Examples include the Multi track case hearing fee will increase to £1,174.00 and a hearing fee for a small claim that exceeds £3,000 will increase to £352.00
In addition to the increase in Court Fees, the Government also propose to increase the income threshold in relation to the “help with fees scheme” which will allow more people to obtain legal funding. The current threshold is £1,085 for a single person and under the new proposals, the new threshold for a single person will be £1,165.
The government propose to increase fees in line with inflation and believe this will generate an extra £17 million for HM Courts & Tribunal service. Court Fees are a major source of income for the Ministry of Justice and the increase will help deal with the ever increasing running costs of HM Courts & Tribunal service.
If the Government’s plan was to be implemented, the proposal will come into effect in September/October 2021. It is worth noting that at this juncture the following fees are excluded;
- Tribunal Fees;
- Probate Application Fees;
- Fees for judicial reviews in Civil Courts.
A full list of the proposed fee increases can be found here;
https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/increasing-selected-court-fees-income-thresholds/supporting_documents/increasedcourtfeesconsultation.pdf
If you require advice on whether you fall within the threshold for any relevant court fees, please do not hesitate to contact our legal experts by telephoning 0161 694 4176 for your free initial telephone discussion. If you prefer, you can fill in our online form or alternatively, you can email us on bromleys@bromleys.co.uk and we’ll call you back.