Government announces that it will go ahead with immigration tribunal fee increases

The Government today published its response to the consultation on proposals to reform the fees charged in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal. It said it will go ahead with the fee increases.

You can access the consultation response documents from here.

As we reported in April, the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, Dominic Raab, announced a consultation proposing increasing fees in immigration and asylum proceedings so that the fee would meet the costs of the proceedings in full.

In May, a group of leading immigration lawyers warned that the proposals were likely to breach the European Convention on Human Rights and may be unlawful.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission warned in its submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that "[t]he fees are likely to place people from ethnic minorities at a particular disadvantage, so the proposals will be unlawfully indirectly discriminatory, unless they can be objectively justified."

The Ministry of Justice said today that it received 147 responses to its consultation, with 142 respondents disagreeing with the proposal and just 5 respondents agreeing.

Nevertheless, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice said the fee increases would go ahead.

Those exempt from the fees will be:

• those who qualify for legal aid or asylum support;

• those who are appealing against a decision to deprive them of their citizenship; and

• those children bringing appeals to the tribunal who are being supported by a local authority.

In addition, exemptions will be extended to include:

• those people appealing decisions to revoke their refugee or humanitarian protected status;

• those with parental responsibility for, children receiving support from local authorities under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 (or any equivalent legislation in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland); and

• children who are being housed by a Local Authority under section 20 of the Children Act 1989 (or any equivalent legislation in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland).

The Government response stated: "In conclusion, the Government believes that this proposed package of fee increases will enable us to secure the funding of the Immigration and Asylum Chambers of both the First-tier and Upper Tribunal. Whilst, at the same time protecting, access to justice and the most vulnerable appellants through extension of the fee exemption scheme and further guidance around the Lord Chancellor's exceptional power to reduce or remit fees.

"We will aim to implement our proposals in respect of the fee increases in the First-tier Tribunal and the changes to the exemptions scheme in that tier as soon as possible. However, our proposals for new fees in the Upper Tribunal and permission to appeal applications will be implemented on a slightly longer timetable. This is to allow sufficient time to seek the necessary procedural rule changes referred to in the consultation document and also enable us to make sure that we ready for a smooth operational transition."

The fees will be as follows: