Court fees set to increase by 10% from May 2024

We reported in November 2023 on the Ministry of Justice (“MoJ”) consultation (“the Consultation”) which sought views on the proposed increase to hundreds of court fees.

The MoJ have now published its response to the Consultation, confirming that 172 court fees will increase by 10% from May 2024. Despite 62% of the 52 consultation respondents opposing the proposed fee increases the MoJ have justified the increase based on:

• The need to align court fees with the increasing administrative and judicial costs incurred by HMCTS resulting from the changes in the general level of prices.
• The increase in funds being raised will be between an estimated additional £34 million and £42 million a year and thereby support HMCTS to continue delivering its services efficiently and effectively.
• Since the last rise in court fees in 2021 CPI has increased by 17.8% but fees have not been updated accordingly. This has meant that cost recovery levels from fees have continued to decrease over time, requiring greater reliance on taxpayer subsidisation and causing the current funding model for HMCTS to become progressively less sustainable.

The cases affected by the fee increases include:

• Civil claims (including the County Court and High Court) – with application fees increasing.
• Magistrates’ Courts matters.
• Those matters proceeding in Family Courts, Court of Protection and the Probate Registry.
• Tribunals (including the General Regulatory Chamber in relation to gambling, the Lands Chamber, the Immigration and Asylum Chamber (Upper Tribunal only) and the Property Chamber)

Moreover, there will be routine updates to fees to account for changes in cost and CPI every two years, with the next review taking place in 2025/26. There will not be any consultation on the increased fee structure every two years before implementation.

Commentary

Following the increase in damages awards recommended in the new edition of the Judicial Studies Board Guide for civil claims, this comes as another ‘blow’ in the ever increasing costs of claims, particularly for insurers.

It is also surprising to see the extent of the fees affected by this not insignificant rise given the direction of travel with digitalisation of the court process, in particular the Damages Claims Portal and Online Civil Money Claims Portal. Both of these Portals aim to decrease the costs of litigation whilst delivering a streamlined on-line process.

This increase also comes at a time when HMCTS’ data for the calendar year 2023, released on the 11 March 2024, revealed that a total of 61,272 personal injury proceedings were issued last year compared to 81,481 in 2022 — a fall of almost 25 %. Despite the reduction in personal injury cases issued by the courts, it took an average of almost 7 weeks longer for a case allocated either to the Fast Track or Multi Track to reach trial in 2023 compared to the previous year. From the date of issue of proceedings to trial, the average period now stands at 86 weeks, which is almost six months more than the pre-covid base line figure in 2019.  

Going forward, it will be necessary when considering reserves to factor in any pending increase in court fees and have at the forefront of your mind that this will be a bi-annual issue.

A full list of the increased fees can be found here