WIREDGOV

The Ministry of Justice plans to make a series of changes to court and tribunal fees payable in HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

These changes will take place on 13 July 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. The purpose of the changes is to strengthen cost recovery, improve consistency in how and where fees are charged, and maintain fair access to justice for all.

The Help with Fees remissions scheme remains available for those with lower financial means who are unable to afford a court or tribunal fee. More information on the scheme can be found on GOV.UK. 

The changes are:

• The introduction of an exemption to the court fee otherwise payable by local authorities applying to the family court under Section 18 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (more commonly known as ‘Jade’s Law’). This change will be in force from the date the provisions in the Act are commenced.
• Increases to fees in HM Courts and Tribunals Service to account for inflation. These include 170 fees which will increase by 2.6% in line with inflation for 2024/25 and 27 fees which will increase by an average of 34% (equivalent to £6.19) in line with accumulated inflation. Four fees will be reduced to reflect reductions in their underlying costs.
• An increase to the probate application fee to £526. This recovers the cost of an ever-improving service, and the new cost accounts for rising inflation as well as investment in delivering an efficient and modern service.
• Creating a separate, reduced fee for when someone requests copies of probate documents concurrently with their probate application, so that, instead of £16, the fee will only be £2. This will better reflect the cost of that service.
• An increase to 80 fees across the Residential Property Division of the Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal, including for leasehold cases, most residential property cases and park and mobile home cases. This is the second tranche of changes in a wider programme of reform to introduce a new fees framework to cases in the Property Chamber.
  • The new framework sets fees at one of five tiers, depending on case type and access to justice considerations. Most case types will attract fees of £200 for an application and £300 for a hearing, or fees of £114 for an application and £227 for a hearing.
  • A small set of case types have further reduced fees: £47 for applications to appeal a rent increase, with hearing fees waived; £23 for applications to determine a pitch fee, with hearing fees waived; and no fees at all for matters relating to urgent building safety matters.
  • These July changes apply this new framework to most cases in the Property Chamber. Fees for Electronic Communications Code and building safety cases will remain free of charge until early 2027.
  • This framework was extended to cases impacted by the Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) on 1 May 2026.

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