Scottish court fees 2025-2027: consultation

Section 1: Background and proposals

Background to this consultation

1. The Scottish Government, in consultation with the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), usually undertakes a review of the court fees raised in the majority of Scotland’s courts every 3 years and, as a result, new court fees are set for the following 3 years. The courts involved in such reviews are the High Court of Justiciary, the Court of Session, the Sheriff Appeal Court, the Sheriff Court including the Sheriff Personal Injury Court and the Justice of the Peace Court. The review also covers fees payable to the Office of the Public Guardian.

2. Following the consultation in October 2021, court fees were set for the period 2022 – 2025. The Scottish Government adopted a general rise of 2% to court fees with effect from 1 July 2022. This was to be followed by further increases of 2% in 2023 and 2024.

3. The rationale for setting the increases at 2% was to keep it in line with inflation. At the time of the previous increases, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) inflation forecast for 2021 (CPI) was 1.5% rising to 2% in 2025 with intervening years just below 2%.

4. However, inflation peaked at 10.7% in 2022—significantly higher than anticipated. In response, and due to budget constraints and rising operational costs, the Scottish Government conducted an out-of-cycle review in 2024. This led to a 10% increase in most court fees from 1 November 2024, aimed at restoring fee income value and supporting SCTS’s financial sustainability.

5. Preparatory work has now begun on a full review of the court fee structure, including the establishment of a Court Fee Working Group. This group will include SCTS analysts, court clerks, and Scottish Government officials, and is expected to report in late 2026 or early 2027. A public consultation on its recommendations will follow.

6. The Court Fee Working Group has been established to support a wider review of the court fee structure, with the aim of simplifying the system and ensuring it remains fair, transparent and financially sustainable. Given the complexity of this work and the time required to develop robust recommendations, interim measures are needed to protect the SCTS budget and maintain the value of court fee income in real terms.

7. This consultation seeks views on a proposal to apply a 3% inflationary increase to all court fees from 1 April 2026, followed by a further 3% increase from 1 April 2027. These proposed increases are intended to maintain the value of court fee income in real terms while allowing time for the Court Fee Working Group to develop recommendations for structural reform, which will be subject to a further public consultation.

8. These proposals are intended to provide a more measured and predictable approach to court fee increases, following the exceptional circumstances that led to the out-of-cycle review in 2024. The current proposals seeks to avoid the need for further large-scale increases by proposing modest, inflation-linked adjustments over the next two years.

9. The Scottish Government considers that consultation on the proposed changes to court fees and the level of fees set is important. We will take consultation responses into consideration when drawing up the Scottish Statutory Instruments that will provide for court fees in the financial years from 2026 to 2028.

10. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the Scottish courts are funded to deliver a justice system that is affordable and which provides a high-quality service to those who have cause to use the court system.

11. It is also committed to continuing to ensure that access to justice is protected through a well-funded system of exemptions from the requirement to pay court fees and the provision of legal aid.

12. Despite significant financial pressures, the legal aid system in Scotland maintains a wide scope of access to legal aid for both criminal and civil cases. Legal aid in Scotland is a demand-led system and all those who are entitled will receive it.

13. The Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 (“the 2018 Act”) increases access to justice by making the costs of civil action more predictable and by increasing the funding options for pursuers of civil actions. Part 1 of the 2018 Act imposes caps on the amount service providers can charge in success fee agreements. Further, the provisions also provide greater availability of “no win, no fee” success fee agreements as solicitors are now able to enter into damages-based agreements.

14. The 2018 Act also protects pursuers from the risk of having to pay their opponents’ costs in personal injury cases if the case is lost, provided they have acted properly.

15. In addition, from April 2022 we introduced fee exemptions for environmental cases within the meaning of the Aarhus Convention and reduced court fees for some family actions in the Court of Session.

16. Beyond this overriding objective of ensuring access to justice, the Scottish Government believes that those who make use of the services of the courts should meet, or contribute towards, the associated cost to the public purse where they can afford so to do, thus reducing the burden upon the taxpayer.

17. The responsibility for setting court fees is a matter that lies with the Scottish Ministers and is put into effect by statutory instruments laid before the Scottish Parliament. As these instruments establish statutory fee-charging regimes, which SCTS administer, the Scottish Government works closely with SCTS on its fees policy. The current statutory instruments (to be referred to collectively as “the court fee Orders”) are as follows:

• The Court of Session etc. Fees Order 2024
• The High Court of Justiciary Fees Order 2024
• The Sheriff Appeal Court Fees Order 2024 (as amended)
• The Sheriff Court Fees Order 2024
• The Justice of the Peace Court Fees (Scotland) Order 2024
• The Adults with Incapacity (Public Guardian’s Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2024

Overview of the consultation proposals

18. The purpose of this consultation is to seek views on proposals for a two-year inflationary increase to court fees, to take effect from 1 April 2026 and 1 April 2027. These proposals are intended to support the financial sustainability of SCTS while a broader review of the court fee structure is undertaken.

19. We are seeking views on the following change to Scottish court fees: a 3% increase to court fees in each April of 2026 and 2027.

20. The Scottish Government considers it vital that the extensive system of exemptions is maintained and special consideration is given to the parts of the court system that might give rise to particular concerns about access to justice for vulnerable people.