MoJ proposes court fees of up to £20,000 for Rolls Building

The Ministry of Justice has proposed charging court fees of up to £20,000 for high value commercial cases at the Rolls Building.

However, the £75 fee for domestic violence injunctions would be abolished and the fees reduced for public law applications reduced.

In a consultation on court fees launched today, justice minister Shailesh Vara said the civil courts were not fully self-funding, leaving more than £100m to be raised from "hard-working taxpayers" which "cannot be right".

The MoJ said litigants in the Rolls Building should be charged £1,000 a day to reflect the cost of their hearings, in line with other jurisdictions such as Singapore.

Fees would be based on estimates supplied by the parties and subject to a cap of £20,000.

Court fees for 'specific money claims' outside the Rolls Building would be increased to 5 per cent of the value of the claim, capped at £10,000. The maximum fees for 'unspecified money claims' would be £5,000. There would be discounts for those who issued claims online or through the Claims Production Centre.

Under the new regime some court fees for sensitive cases would be cut. The £75 application fee for domestic violence injunctions would be abolished and the fee paid by local authorities for public law applications reduced from up to £5,475 to a single fee of £2,000.

"The government is keen to ensure that any steps we take to increase court fees do not discourage litigants from using our courts nor damage the competitive position of our legal services," officials said in the consultation paper.

"The UK legal services sector makes a valuable contribution to the economy, generating an estimated £20bn year, including £4bn in exports and a trade surplus of £3.3bn in 2011.

"The intention is to ensure that these cases make a fair, but not excessive, contribution to the efficient and effective system of justice in this country.

"We are confident that our proposals are unlikely to damage the international position of our legal services. The initial assessment of evidence which we have undertaken suggests that the cost of litigation is a secondary consideration in decisions about where to litigate."