Naughty MoJ
They’ve done it again. Two years ago the MoJ announced it had been overcharging on a series of court fees and would be operating a refund scheme which is still open (see ‘Civil way‘, 168 NLJ 7802, p19). It has now reviewed fees charged for 2018/19 against actual cost and concluded that there has been more overcharging. The good news is that loadsafees are being reduced without the need to wear a mask as from next Monday 3 August 2020—so hold the post—by the Courts Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2020 (SI 2020/720). The bad news is that there will not be another refund scheme, on the shaky grounds that the MoJ has taken prompt action to reduce for the future and that the overcharged fees were set on the basis of a predictive estimate of what the cost would be which is claimed to have been reasonable. The MoJ says it is continuing to make improvements
