It has happened, the Government has, as promised, introduced an increase of up to 600% on court fees in civil cases. As a result of this access to justice has been effectively thrown under the bus.
The only hope now is that enough opposition to the changes can force the Government’s hand and cause a u-turn as soon as possible. Without that people with genuine claims will continue to be discouraged from attending court to gain the compensation they deserve and there will be a rise in negligent actions that goes unpunished.
How do the Court Fee Increases affect you?
Obviously, in an ideal world, the increases wouldn’t affect anyone, as it would be preferred that nobody suffered injury as a result of negligence in the first place. Unfortunately his isn’t the case and should you be unfortunate enough to suffer a significant injury, you could suffer as a result of the court fee increase.
For example should you have the temerity to suffer an injury, whereby your claim’s deemed to be worth £190,000, your court fee would come in at a staggering £9,500, representing an increase of 622% from £1,315.
The Government has unbelievably taken the view that the higher-value your claim is, the higher your court fee should be, as if there’s a correlation between wealth and the severity of the injury you might suffer.
Large companies will now be given the opportunity to deny liability in what are usually straightforward cases. Why not when it’s likely that the employee who’s claiming against them will not be able to continue the claim to court to fight for their justice?
What Can You Do to help reverse the court fee increases?
Signing the petition to reverse the decision to increase court fees by over 600% is a fantastic place to start. It’s also an incredibly vital one at the same time.
We’re in the 800th year of the Magna Carta and this Government is effectively taking the famous Bill, using it as toilet roll and in the process flushing away the opportunity to gain access to justice.
In the famous Charter it states in Clauses 39 and 40 that ‘to no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.’ The Government have completely contradicted this with the latest fee increases and it has to be stopped.
The Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling has in recent weeks told delegates from around the globe, who have also come to pay homage to the Magna Carta, of his pride in the legal industry, yet all the while he continues to turn the knife in the industry, all to increase cost savings for the Government he serves.
What’s ironic with all of this is that the changes have been implemented to provide financial gain to the government when in fact it’s likely to have the exact opposite effect.
Small businesses will also suffer as members of the public increasingly become forced out of the courts, leaving insolvency as the only option.
This simply can’t be allowed to continue and the Government has to be forced into reversing their decision, at all costs. Remember it could be you that one day needs legal advice or support and if the Government continues to impose such increases, you might find you‘re priced out of it.