Goodbye to the County Court – Well, sort of

Further to a recent amendment to the County Court Act 1984, from 22 April 2014 individual County Courts will no longer exist; so to speak. Those individual County Courts are to be re-named "Hearing Centres" and we are to collectively refer to those Hearing Centres as the County Court, rather than a County Court.

By way of example, we will no longer refer to "the Kingston-Upon-Hull County Court" but instead refer to it as "the County Court sitting at Kingston-Upon-Hull".

Also coming into effect on 22 April 2014 are a number of changes to Court fees. Including:

• An increase in the issue fees in both the High Court and County Court for claims exceeding £300,000; currently £1,670, increasing to £1,920.
• For claims issued through Money Claim Online in excess of £50,000 but below £100,000, the fee is increasing from £595 to £815.
• Fees for Judicial Review are increasing to cover the cost of the process, with permission to apply for Judicial Review increasing from £60 to £140 and permission to proceed leaping from £215 to £680.
• For civil non-money claims, a standard fee of £280 will replace the current mixtures of fees.
• A standardised fee implementation across all Courts; Applications on Notice are increasing from £80 to £155, Applications without Notice or by Consent are increasing from £45 to £50 and copy documents are increasing from £5 to £10.

On a more positive note, the fees previously payable on filing a Directions Questionnaire, receipt of a Notice of Allocation and filing a Pre-Trial Checklist are all to be abolished.

This article is for general guidance only. It provides useful information in a concise form. Action should not be taken without obtaining specific legal advice.