Inflation linked court fee rises proposed in new consultation

Court fees for Scottish civil cases would increase to reflect expected inflation over the next three years, under new proposals put out to consultation by the Scottish Government.

After steep fee rises last year, averaging 24% (though with big variations) as ministers sought to achieve full cost recovery for Court of Session and sheriff court business, a further general increase of 2.3% is planned with effect from 1 April 2018 to reflect inflationary pressures. This would be followed by further increases of 2% with effect from 1 April 2019 and again from 1 April 2020.

The present consultation returns to the three year cycle adopted for court fees before last year's rises. It also lists the circumstances where exemptions from paying court fees apply and seeks views on these.

Noting the recent Supreme Court decision annulling the fees charged in employment tribunals as a barrier to access to justice, the paper states that the Scottish Government "is carefully considering the judgment and believes that maintaining access to justice must be a paramount consideration in developing and revising fee charging regimes such as the system for court
fees... it [is] vital that the extensive system of exemptions is maintained and special consideration is given to the parts of the court system that might give rise to particular concerns about access to justice for vulnerable people".

In that connection the paper notes the provisions in the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Bill to provide further protections for people bringing personal injuries actions.

It also suggests that more substantial reforms might be considered in future, as modernisation of court procedure proceeds, but that further time is needed to allow the most recent changes such as the introduction of simple procedure to bed in. "Opportunities to be further explored in future would include a simpler structure of single ‘front-loaded’ fees to replace a complex system of staged, small fees being triggered throughout a case."

Click here to access the consultation. The deadline for responses is 12 January 2018.