Local authority solicitors have welcomed a government decision that could lead to the ending of court fees for child care proceedings. A review of fees is one of 58 recommendations in Lord Laming’s report into the protection of children commissioned following the 2007 death of London toddler ‘Baby P’.

The review, to be carried out by Francis Plowden, a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission, could lead to the ending of fees for public law child care applications.

Suzanne Bond, chair of Solicitors in Local Government, said the group ‘wholeheartedly’ supports the review.

Fees for public law child care applications rose from £150 to £4,825 last May, a move opposed across the legal profession.

Desmond Browne QC, the Bar Council’s chairman, said that higher fees would inevitably deter some authorities from acting. ‘It is wrong in principle that in cases where a child’s safety is at risk, the government should be trying to recover court costs from litigants.’

Lord Laming’s report said when a council intervenes the level of court fees may ‘sometimes present a barrier’. In the absence of ‘incontrovertible evidence’ that the fees do not act as a deterrent, he wants them to be scrapped from 2010/11.

The Ministry of Justice said it would act on Plowden’s recommendations due this autumn but stressed: ‘There is no evidence that the fee increases have made a difference to the statutory duty that children’s services have to protect children. Local authorities were given more than sufficient funding to cover the increase, £40m in all.’