The Ministry of Justice hopes to raise around £37m a year through the fee increase, which will lift fees in the first-tier tribunal from £80 to £490 for applications for paper decisions and from £140 to £800 for applications for an oral hearing. Additionally, the MoJ will introduce a new £455 fee for applications for permission to appeal to the upper tribunal. When such permission is granted, a £510 fee will be charged for appeal hearings.

'No longer reasonable'

Announcing the plan, justice minister Dominic Raab said that the MoJ had originally considered a fee hike which would cover around 25 per cent of the £84m cost of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, but a reassessment of the ministry's finances have demanded going 'much further'. While public funds previously covered around 75 per cent of the costs associated with immigration and asylum proceedings, the MoJ has concluded that this is 'no longer reasonable.' Instead, the fee change has been calculated to cover the entire cost of proceedings.

Pushback

Law Society president Jonathan Smithers has criticised the MoJ plan, arguing that such a dramatic fee increase threatens the rule of law and the status of justice in the UK. 'There is a serious risk that a fee increase of 500 per cent will prevent many people from challenging often incorrect Home Office administrative decisions about their right to enter or remain in the UK,' he said.

Source: Law Society Gazette; Herald Scotland