The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has launched a consultation on plans to reintroduce fees for claims in employment tribunals (ETs) and the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). The consultation, which opened on 29 January 2024, contains proposals to charge a £55 fee for ET claims, with that fee set per claim rather than per claimant. The Help with Fees remission scheme would be available to eligible claimants, and the lord chancellor would have the power to remit fees if necessary. In the EAT, a fee of £55 would be payable for each judgment, decision, direction or order that is being appealed. ET proceedings in which claimants are attempting to establish their right to payment from the National Insurance Fund would be exempt.

The consultation closes on 25 March 2024.

Also on 29 January, the MoJ opened a consultation on crime lower fees. The proposals include:

the option of using £16m either to harmonise police station fees via uplifting the lowest fees or to harmonise the lowest fees and the lowest London fees (the latter being the government’s preferred option), with plans to amend the escape fee threshold for affected schemes; and

a separate youth court fee scheme, away from the magistrates’ court fee scheme, with an enhanced fee for all indictable-only and either-way cases.

The consultation closes on 28 March 2024.