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Civil court fees
06/06/2008
The Scottish Court Service (SCS) has today laid Fees Orders proposing increases to civil court and Public Guardian fees which would halve the current level of public subsidy.
The fees proposed are lower than those set out in the consultation document earlier this year, and would rise in 2009 and 2010 only to allow for the effects of inflation. Responding to other concerns raised, SCS has also accepted that to help ensure access to justice, people making small claims for up to £200 should be charged only £15 and that resubmission fees should no longer be charged for Powers of Attorney.
The consultation document sets out the principle of full-cost pricing - recovering the full operating cost apart from fee exemptions. Although there were only a small number of responses to the consultation, the majority challenged this principle and argued that full cost pricing was not appropriate for court or Public Guardian business.
However, as set out in the consultation document, the levels of cost recovery for civil court business were substantially higher 10 years ago than they are now. SCS has not accepted that the principle of full-cost pricing is inappropriate or that there is a strong case for maintaining cost recovery at no more than its current level.
Chief Executive Eleanor Emberson said:
"In 2006-07, the taxpayer subsidised 47 per cent of the total cost of civil business in Scotland (£13 million subsidy and £1.3 million exemptions). If the Fee Orders laid today are accepted by Parliament we will move to cost recovery in 2011 of around 80 per cent for Public Guardian and Sheriff Court business and around 60 per cent for the Court of Session.
"This will mean an average fee increase of around 49 per cent for the Court of Session, where fees currently cover only one-third of actual costs. Like many of the consultation respondents we believe it is unfair for actions in the Court of Session, including many raised by large companies, to be benefiting from higher levels of subsidy than the day-to-day users of the Sheriff Courts. The average increases proposed for Sheriff Courts is 31 per cent and for the Office of the Public Guardian, 8 per cent.
"SCS is committed to ensure that Scotland has a cost efficient civil justice system and we are working on changes to our procedures that make better use of technology and that will give better service to our users. Where we are able to reduce our costs, we will, and those using court and Public Guardian services will benefit.
"The SCS budget for 2008-11 was set in the expectation that we would substantially increase our fee income."
fees charging regime has, at its heart, a well targeted series of exemptions. This means that those who qualify for legal aid for a civil case or those who are on certain means-tested benefits are exempt from fees. That link will be maintained and strengthened by more vigorous promotion of the exemptions scheme.
Whilst the fee for the lowest category of small claims is proposed to increase from £8 to £15, the limit for the size of these claims will be raised from £50 to £200 which is likely to encourage more people to make claims.
The proposals are contained in the following Orders which have been laid before Parliament for consideration.
The Court of Session etc. Fees Amendment Order 2008 The High Court of Justiciary Fees Amendment Order 2008 The Sheriff Court Fees Amendment Order 2008 The Adults with Incapacity (Public Guardian's Fees) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2008