From 13 July 2026, a revised set of court and tribunal fees took effect across England and Wales, following changes announced by the Ministry of Justice. For costs lawyers and costs draftsmen, this is a practical, working-level update rather than a change to legal principle, but it is one that touches almost every stage of civil litigation, from issuing a claim through to detailed assessment.

Firms that continue to file using superseded fee amounts risk rejected applications, delays, and additional administration, so it is worth taking stock of what has actually changed.

What Changed and Why

The changes were introduced by the Court and Tribunal Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2026 (SI 2026/642), with its commencement date subsequently adjusted from 6 July to 13 July 2026 by a further instrument, the Court and Tribunal Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Change of Coming into Force) Order 2026 (SI 2026/665).

Together, these amend a wide range of underlying fees instruments, including the Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008, the Family Proceedings Fees Order 2008, the Court of Protection Fees Order 2007, the Non-Contentious Probate Fees Order 2004, and the Magistrates’ Court Fees Order 2008, among others.

As with previous fee reforms, the changes were subject to parliamentary approval before taking effect. The Ministry of Justice has framed the purpose of the reforms as strengthening cost recovery within HM Courts and Tribunals Service, improving consistency in how and where fees are charged across different courts and tribunals, and maintaining fair access to justice.

The Help with Fees remissions scheme, which allows those on lower incomes to apply for a reduction or waiver of a court or tribunal fee, remains unaffected and continues to operate in the usual way.

The Scale of the Increases

The uplifts fall into two broad categories. Around 170 fees have increased by 2.6%, in line with the 2024/25 inflation rate, representing a routine annual adjustment. A smaller group of 27 fees has increased by a considerably larger average of 34%, reflecting accumulated inflation from earlier years in which those particular fees were not fully updated. In both cases, revised fees are generally rounded to the nearest pound, which explains why some of the increases appear as odd, non-round figures rather than clean percentage uplifts.

It is worth noting that the changes apply only to proceedings and applications issued on or after 13 July 2026. Anything filed before that date generally continues to be assessed under the previous fee regime, which has created a short window in which some practitioners chose to progress time-sensitive applications ahead of the change.

Costs-Related Fee Changes

For costs practitioners specifically, several of the increases sit directly within day-to-day costs work. The general pattern across these fees is a modest uplift, typically in the region of a few pounds, but the cumulative effect across a busy costs practice, dealing with high volumes of applications, can still be meaningful.

Costs-only proceedings and applications for a Solicitors Act costs assessment have both increased from £67 to £69. A request for a Default Costs Certificate has risen from £80 to £82, while an application to set aside a Default Costs Certificate has increased from £148 to £152. The fee for an appeal in detailed assessment proceedings has gone up from £283 to £290, and the fee for a Fixed Costs Determination has increased from £398 to £408.

The scale fees for requesting a detailed assessment, other than a legally aided assessment, remain banded according to the amount of costs claimed, but each band has increased. Assessments involving costs claimed up to £15,000 now attract a fee of £398, rising through the bands to a fee of £6,640 for costs claimed over £500,000. Practitioners regularly filing requests for detailed assessment should check the updated banding carefully, since filing at a superseded fee level within the wrong band can itself cause delay.

Legal Aid practitioners should note a more significant proportionate change: the fee for a legally aided detailed assessment has increased from £237 to £296. Firms with a substantial Legal Aid costs caseload will want to update precedent documents and internal billing guidance to reflect this promptly, given the scale of the increase relative to the standard 2.6% inflationary uplift applied elsewhere.

In the Court of Protection, the fee for a request for detailed assessment has increased from £99 to £102. The increase itself is modest, but firms regularly dealing with Court of Protection costs should still ensure fee schedules and application templates are updated, since an incorrect fee on submission can result in the request being returned for correction.

More broadly, general application fees have also moved. By way of illustration, the fee for a general application without consent, commonly used for matters such as an application to strike out a claim or defence, has increased from £313 to £321, while an application by consent, such as a Tomlin order or other consent order, has risen from £123 to £126. These general application fees sit alongside costs-specific fees in most litigation, so the two should be considered together when budgeting for a matter’s overall procedural costs.

Changes Beyond Civil Litigation

The reforms are not limited to civil proceedings. An increase affecting around 80 fees in the Residential Property Division of the Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal took effect as the second stage of a wider restructuring of fees for that jurisdiction, covering leasehold cases, most residential property matters, and park and mobile home cases. The new framework sets fees at one of five tiers depending on case type and access to justice considerations.

Most case types now attract a fee of £200 for an application and £300 for a hearing, or £114 for an application and £227 for a hearing, while a small number of case types carry further reduced fees, including £47 for an application to appeal a rent increase (with hearing fees waived) and £23 for an application to determine a pitch fee (also with hearing fees waived). No fee at all is charged for matters relating to urgent building safety issues.

A further change introduces an exemption from the court fee otherwise payable by local authorities applying to the family court under section 18 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, commonly known as Jade’s Law. This exemption will come into force once the relevant provisions of that Act are themselves commenced.

Practical Steps for Costs Practitioners

Given how routinely court and tribunal fees are used in day-to-day practice, we would suggest firms take a few practical steps to reduce the risk of avoidable delay:

• Update internal fee schedules and precedent documents to reflect the new figures.
• Review any automated billing or case management workflows that reference fixed fee amounts.
• Notify finance and accounts teams so that client billing reflects the correct disbursement.
• Double-check application forms against the current fee before filing, particularly for detailed assessment requests where the fee depends on the band of costs claimed.
• Keep any client-facing guidance or cost estimates up to date, since outdated figures can create an unhelpful discrepancy between an estimate and the fee actually charged.

What This Means in Practice

Individually, most of these increases are modest. Collectively, they touch a wide enough range of procedural steps, detailed assessment, costs-only proceedings, Solicitors Act assessments, Default Costs Certificates, general applications, that the risk of an oversight is real, particularly for firms with high-volume costs workloads.

Treating 13 July 2026 as a firm cut-off point for fee schedules, rather than assuming fees will remain broadly static between reviews, is likely to be the most reliable way to avoid unnecessary administrative delay.

FAQS

When did the new court and tribunal fees take effect? The revised fees took effect from 13 July 2026, applying to proceedings and applications issued on or after that date. Matters filed before then generally continue under the previous fee regime.

How much have court fees increased by?

Around 170 fees increased by 2.6%, in line with recent inflation, while a smaller group of 27 fees increased by an average of 34% to reflect accumulated inflation that had not previously been factored in. Fees are generally rounded to the nearest pound.

Has the fee for requesting a detailed assessment changed?

Yes. The banded scale fees for requesting a detailed assessment of costs have all increased, with the fee now ranging from £398 for costs claimed up to £15,000 to £6,640 for costs claimed over £500,000.

Is the Help with Fees remissions scheme still available?

Yes. The fees remissions scheme, which allows those who cannot afford a court or tribunal fee to apply for a reduction or waiver, remains available and has not been affected by these changes.

Speak to Greener Costs Today

If you need support ensuring your costs schedules, precedent documents, or detailed assessment applications reflect the current court and tribunal fees, contact Greener Costs’ costs lawyers and costs draftsmen on 01204 263047 or info@greenercosts.co.uk.