Civil Court fee alignment is a stealth tax on consumers

The Civil Court Users Association (CCUA), whose members issue around 85% of Civil Money Claims in the Courts in England & Wales has said that it is appalled at the latest government consultation to align online civil money claims fees with ‘paper application’ fees, on the basis that it is a further extension of an already harmful fees structure.

The proposal states that the fee alignment is to address the gap following the annual net fee income of £724 million against the £2 billion running costs of HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), which the CCUA says is misleading, those figures relate to the whole of the service, including family and criminal courts, whereas this proposal is only in respect of an increase in Civil Claim Fees.  HMCTS has previously confirmed to the CCUA that in 2018/19, Civil Claim Fees produced an income of £561m whereas only £475m was spent providing the service.

Court users are happy to pay a fair price for the service they use. However, it is not right that they currently pay more than the service costs, only to then receive a sub-standard service, whilst the additional sums are spent elsewhere.

The proposal states that “The Lord Chancellor has a personal, statutory and constitutional duty to protect access to justice” The CCUA says that there needs to be a wider understanding of what access to justice means. It does not just include parties who do not physically have the money to commence or defend a court claim.  It includes where the fee structure renders legal action so expensive that it deters potential parties from exercising their legal rights.

The highest fee for simply issuing a Claim Form stands at £10,000, calculated upon the size of the claim. However, the size of the claim has nothing to do with how much work will be required by the courts. Fees of this size for such a simple procedural step are simply unjustifiable on any basis.

The CCUA warned that such fees would impact access to justice, during successive consultations of fee increases. The figures now clearly show that Claimants are issuing cheaper, lower value claims, but that they are frequently denied justice on higher value claims as they are too expensive.

The losses due to this restriction on access to justice is a burden on UK business. That cost will ultimately have to be passed on. This essentially represents a stealth tax on UK consumers.

Court fees are often added by the court to Judgments to ultimately be paid by the Defendant. These court fees are thereby as unfair on the Defendant as they are to the Claimant.

Justice itself is a victim. This fee structure effectively encourages legal action to be taken against somebody who owes a small amount of money, following which they can receive a County Court Judgment against their name for 6 years. At the same time somebody who owes a far larger amount might escape legal action altogether, as it is too expensive. That is not right or fair.

In summary, not only is the CCUA says it is entirely against the proposals to align fees, and will call for a full fee review. There should be a reduction in the higher existing fee levels. Justice should be affordable. It should not place such a burden upon both Claimant and Defendant.

The current fee structure is harmful to all court users, damages UK business, burdens consumers, denies access to justice and potentially damages the reputation of the Court system itself. The current proposals only make that worse.