Increasing court fees? Now do the same for legal aid

After consulting on hiking court and tribunal fees by 10%, the Ministry of Justice confirmed this week that it was pressing ahead with most of the proposed fee increases (29 have been taken off the list as they require ‘additional analysis’ and the £593 divorce application fee will remain the same).

‘The government believes that there is a strong justification to increase fees by 10% to partially reflect changes in the general level of prices,’ the consultation response document said.

‘Court and tribunal fees were last updated in September 2021, an increase which was based on inflation as at March 2021; but from then until March 2023, CPI [consumer price index] increased by 17.8%.’

The government believes the hike is justified because the cost of subsidising services with low or no fees to protect vulnerable users has gone up.

Fair enough – but why, then, can’t the government apply the same logic to legal aid fees?

Court and tribunal fees were last updated in 2021. Get this: civil legal aid fees haven’t increased since 1996. And not only have civil legal aid fees not been adjusted for inflation, they were… wait for it… cut by 10% in 2011-12.

‘Fee increases will enable a more sustainable funding model for the courts, without which HMCTS cannot facilitate access to justice for those who require its services,’ the government said in its court fees consultation response.

Fee increases will enable a more sustainable model for legal aid lawyers – who HMCTS also need to facilitate access to justice for those who require its services.

The higher court fees, which the government consulted on last November, will come into force in May. A consultation on whatever the government decides to do about civil legal aid fees following conclusion of the civil legal aid review, which began in January 2023, won't appear until July.