Courts
Lawyers have hit out at plans to hike civil court fees.
The plans, which would more than triple fees for many magistrates’ and other civil court matters, are set out in the Ministry of Justice consultation paper, Civil Court Fees 2008.
The fee for service by bailiff of an order to attend court would rise from £30 to £100. The fee for filing a request for detailed assessment where the party is legally aided would increase from £105 to between £300 and £5,000, and the fee for applying for a charging order would rise from £55 to £100. Commencement of committal applications in existing proceedings would attract a fee of £250 rather than the current £90.
Paul Marsh, Law Society President, says: “Civil Court fees are in danger of becoming unreasonable and preventing access to justice.
“Such increases would be more palatable if there was a visible benefit as, despite fee increases, courts continue to be under resourced. This leads to delay and that in turn results in court users facing increased solicitor’s costs.”
In 2007/08, court fees raised £472m, 78% of the £607m cost of running the civil and family courts.
The Ministry of Justice document says the underlying goals of full-cost recovery and raising income are “not in question”.
