Chancery Division must keep increased court fees, Briggs LJ says

Increased court fees for high value commercial cases must stay in the Chancery Division and be used to stem the backlog of trials, Lord Justice Briggs has said.

In his provisional report on the division, he said the "single biggest anxiety" facing the Chancery Division was that it would not be able to keep waiting times for trials at an "acceptable level".

Briggs LJ said waiting times for trials in London now "exceed one year", having increased from an average of almost 39 weeks in 2008 to 47.5 weeks in 2012.

He said that although waiting times were still "generally competitive internationally", the increase had "accelerated sharply" in the last two years.

The lord justice said a number of respondents to the consultation on the review had indicated that they would be prepared to pay "much higher fees than are currently charged" provided that the money was ring-fenced.

"At present the absence of any ring-fencing means that the payment of court fees by business users of the Chancery Division could simply be used within the general budget of the Ministry of Justice to fund those aspects of its work which are indeed a burden on the taxpayer, such as prisons and the provision of criminal justice."

Briggs LJ said the government was aware of the "very real contribution to UK plc" made by the work done in the Rolls Building, of which the Chancery Division was the "largest, but perhaps not the most conspicuous part".

He said the work done by regional trial centres in cities such as Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds and Liverpool, provided "critical underpinning to the legal and accountancy businesses and the general economic health in those cities".

The lord justice said the "very real threats" facing the Chancery Division could, with or without implementation of his proposals, "sensibly be addressed by a determination on the part of those responsible to ring-fence increased fee income from chancery court users by the provision of resources necessary to bring about its modernisation and to apply the Jackson reforms, without an unacceptable increase in waiting times".

Briggs LJ said there had been an "inexorable and continuing" increase in the Chancery workload, so that between 2008 and 2012 the number of claims issued had increased from 3,779 to 4,999, and trials from 953 to 1,146.

The impact of the Jackson reforms, the lord justice said, was likely to double the length case management conferences, and increase 'box work time' per case by a factor of four.

"No additional resources have, thus far, been allocated to meet this concern, nor has the IT which Jackson LJ regarded as necessary for the implementation of these reforms yet been provided."

Briggs LJ added that there was "some scope" for an increased transfer of work from London to the regional centres, but they have "their own funding constraints" and "if the consequence would be significantly to increase waiting times there (as seems likely) those centres would lose their main attraction, as against instituting proceedings in London."