Court fees are going up. In the past this hike has bypassed family fees, but this time it hasn’t. The fee for filing an application (petition) for a divorce, nullity or civil partnership dissolution will increase from £550 to £592, a rise of a little under 8%. An application for (among others) a parental order, parental responsibility or financial provision for children in Children Act 1989 proceedings goes up by £17 from £215 to £232, again a shade under 8%.
The new fees will apply from autumn 2021 once the relevant statutory instruments have been laid. They were published on 31 August 2021 in the document titled: Court and Tribunal Fees: The Government response on ‘Increasing selected court fees and Help with Fees income thresholds by inflation'. It is submitted that the rise is well above the current annual level of inflation.
The opened on 22 March 2021 and 61% of the 89 responses disagreed with the proposal to apply inflation to selected fees, with many arguing that this is the wrong time to increase costs due to the impact of Covid-19. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) acknowledged that Covid- 19 has had an impact on individuals and businesses, but that this would be offset by offering help with fees
Respondents also felt that increases were unjustifiable owing to the quality of service provided by HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS). In something of an understatement, the MoJ replied that some court users ’might sometimes be frustrated by the service they receive’ from HMCTS.
The Government response states:
’The proposed increases reflect historic inflation and are therefore not an increase in real terms. The income generated from these proposals will go towards the running cost of HMCTS and will ensure that the courts and tribunals can continue to deliver access to justice for all.’
Other changes
The Help with Fees remissions scheme remains in place for those in receipt of certain benefits or on a lower income and cannot afford fees. The proposed monthly income threshold for court users to be eligible for help with fees will change from £1,085 to £1,170 for a single person and from £1,245 to £1,345 for a couple.
In addition:
Other family fees are also subject to increase. For example, local authorities (with already tight budgets) will have to shell out an additional £160, making the fee for care and supervision order proceedings £2,215. Adoption fees will rise from £170 to £183.
Responses to the consultation
The Law Society responded that a blanket increase across court jurisdictions was an inappropriate solution. It argued that, highlighting the significant change to family justice as an example, any proposed fee increase should reflect the work needed at each stage of proceedings by HMCTS and that fee increases should also be based on the impact on individuals’ ability to bring claims.
Resolution submitted a response to the consultation saying, ’..the case for setting court fees purely on the basis of cost of service has not been made in relation to family proceedings. There is no justification for charging the public more than the actual cost...of the service to pursue a legal remedy which is their right under statute’. With no fault divorce being introduced on 6 April 2022, Resolution argued that the costs of an undefended divorce, an almost entirely administrative matter, are due to fall yet further.
Resolution also said, ’We are particularly concerned about the women and victims of domestic abuse of a further increase in the divorce fee’, adding ‘...there can be no justification for any increase to the divorce fee or any other court fees where the introduction of digital services reduces the cost of the service’. This is now even more the case with all divorces going entirely online as of 13 September 2021.
As mentioned, a concern for Resolution was the disproportionate impact on women and victims of domestic violence. This is despite the Government concluding in its equalities impact assessment that an increase in divorce fees would indeed disproportionately affect women regardless of whether they are in an opposite or same-sex couple. Resolution pointed out that, in terms of age, when looking at opposite-sex couples, younger age groups, both men and women are disproportionately affected.
It is useful to note that the last time the divorce fee was increased was only in 2016, when the increase represented a 60% increase since 2013.
In 2015, the then government agreed that it was wrong in principle to seek to increase the cost of court proceedings associated with the breakdown of family relationships. It agreed that the fee should not deter people from seeking a divorce which could result in people being trapped in unhappy marriages, sometimes in circumstances of domestic violence or abuse, or unable to form new relationships which benefitted from the full protection of the law and was potentially discriminatory against women.
The total 129 fee increases will raise an estimated gross income of between £23m and £29m, falling to £20m to £25m once fee remissions are accounted for.
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