Draft Civil Proceedings Fees (Amendment) Order 2021

Bambos Charalambous Excerpts

Tuesday 20th April 2021 General Committees

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Paisley.

As set out by the Minister, the purpose of the SI is a relatively simple one. When making civil money or possession claims, claimants have two choices—to make their claim online, or to submit a paper-based claim. To incentivise more people to make online claims, the Government discounted the online fees that claimants had to pay. Over time, and as more people started to make their claims online, the Government achieved their policy objective. At that point, the MOJ had two options —to continue discounted fees for those who make claims online, or to align the fees for online claims and paper-based claims so that all claimants pay the same. The Government have chosen the former option; effectively they will remove the discount applied to online claimants, so all claimants will pay the same, irrespective of how they lodge their claim.

From personal experience of issuing claims on the possession claims and money claims online portals, I know that the systems are easy to use and work well. Such claims are now most likely the norm, while paper-based claims in triplicate are now very much the exception. On that point, we can broadly agree with the Government. However, it seems unfair that claimants who either do not have internet access or are uncomfortable using it should be forced to pay more for the same service as anyone else.

Labour accept the larger point about the importance of having a properly funded justice system, so that courts and tribunals have the resources to deliver much needed services. Labour cannot accept, however, a measure that represents little more than a drop in the ocean in terms of the additional investment that HMCTS desperately needs.

The Government’s impact assessments set out that the SI will save the Ministry between £12 million and £35 million a year from 2022-23 onwards. Although all savings are welcome, they must be taken in context. Due to the closure of many court counters and difficulty in getting through to court staff, many vulnerable court users or people who have difficulty accessing justice are still disadvantaged by not receiving advice on how to pursue or defend a cause of action. Although the Minister has said that the money is set to be reinvested in the courts system, how much of the savings will be reinvested in providing early advice to people who have made applications to the court?

A decade of cuts has left the justice system on the brink of complete collapse. The crisis before us cannot be overstated, nor can it be exaggerated. There is an urgent need for investment in our justice system. As the Minister well knows, the backlog in the criminal courts now stands at a record high of more than 57,000, and in the magistrates courts it is close to 400,000. Victims of serious crime, including rape, are being forced to wait up to four years for justice. Meanwhile, violent offenders are being allowed to avoid prison because of delays. That is simply unacceptable and a disaster entirely of the Government’s own making.

Ten years of Conservative cuts to the courts and sitting days have allowed the backlog to grow to a staggering 39,000 cases, even before the pandemic began. Although covid has put a strain on the system, its foundations have already been eroded by systematic underinvestment.

As the Public Accounts Committee highlighted just last month, justice is—

[The Chair]

Order. I encourage the hon. Gentleman to make his comments relevant to the Order. I know that you want to get on to some other stuff, but it must be relevant to the issue of fees. I know that you are skilled enough to do that.

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[Bambos Charalambous]

Thank you, Mr Paisley.

The Opposition have no issue with the Government about the SI, and for that reason we will not divide on the matter.