Consultations and Research
Consultation papers and responses | Research
Consultation Papers and Responses
When a policy area would like to make a change, amendment, and addition or introduce a new policy, a consultation will normally be published.
Consultation papers contain proposals setting out changes or amendments to policy, or the details of a new policy. They are published to seek views on the proposals and to allow the opportunity for comment. Anyone can respond to consultation papers within the time given for reply.
Once a consultation paper has closed, replies are considered and analysed. A response paper will be published setting out the respondents, a summary of their comments, a conclusion on the proposals that were consulted on, and the next steps for the policy.
Court fees have been the subject of three recent consultation papers, namely;
Civil Court Fees 2008 [CP31/08]
Open date: 10 December 2008
Close date: 04 March 2009
This Consultation Paper sets out the proposals for changes to civil fees in the county court, High Court and magistrates' court. The proposals have a particular emphasis on enforcement processes and simplifying the magistrates' court fees order. Views are sought on these suggestions.
Public Law Family Fees [CP 32/07]
Open date: 19 December 2007
Close date: 11 March 2008
Responses published: 11 June 2008
This Consultation Paper described the Government's strategy for developing the fees system in the civil and family courts of England and Wales. It set out for consultation proposals to make changes to court fees in relation to Public Law Children Act process and make changes to fees charged for Adoption proceedings. Views were also sought on how fees could be structured in relation to Care Proceedings.
Open date: 02 April 2007
Close date: 25 June 2007
Responses published: 02 November 2007
The purpose of this consultation was to seek views on proposals to introduce a revised exemption and remission system following the Access to Justice Review and re-balance the fee structure to achieve a much closer match between income and cost drivers within the system.
Civil and Family Court Fee Increases [CP 24/05]
Open date: 23 September 2005
Close date: 18 November 2005
Responses published: 30 June 2006
This consultation sought to identify whether the package of proposed fee increases is the most suitable given the financial imperatives it seeks to meet. It also sought views on whether a particular increase in an individual fee might have specific, untoward consequences.
Consultation papers and responses, if published, can be view at the Ministry of Justice website, under consultations.
Research Papers
Research papers are produced where a particular policy area or department wants to find out about the impact, feeling or opinion on a particular policy area.
Court fees have been the subject of a recent research paper, namely;
What’s Cost Got To Do With It? The Impact of Changing Court Fees on Users
This report examined the impact of changing court fees on users of civil and family courts in England and Wales. It looked at factors considered when proceeding to court; relative importance of fees; and provided evidence on the impact of incremental increases in fees on decisions to proceed to court.
Further research will be carried out on court fees in the near future and will be announced on these pages and on the Ministry of Justice website