Around eighteen months ago, the Ministry of Justice coughed that some litigants had been overcharged the court fees they were being made to pay for taking certain steps in civil and insolvency cases. I told you about it in this blog and and what to expect at -
On the basis that it is better late than never, the promised refund scheme was announced a few days ago and is now up and running. If eligible, you can make your refund claim on a special form which you can access along with guidance at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-court-fee-refund Interest on the amount refunded will be paid at the grand rate of 0.5%.
The relevant fees must have been paid between 22 April 2014 and 31 March 2018 and the most common overcharges are likely to have been on issuing certain insolvency applications and asking for Court of Protection bills of costs to be assessed.
But in so far as the overcharge in issuing a county court claim for the stage 3 procedure under either of the two pre-action protocols for low-value personal injury cases is concerned, the refund scheme notably overlooks these. They are still being considered. Don't hold your breath.
