Commentary on Sections: Part 1
Section 42: Fees
203.Section 42 has been designed to cover in part those tribunals which currently charge a fee for their services and in part the possibility that at some point in the future it may be appropriate to charge fees in other or new jurisdictions.
204.Under subsection (1) the Lord Chancellor will have a power to prescribe, by order, fees to be paid for anything done in the new tribunals, in the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and in any other statutory tribunal added to the list by order (under subsection (3)), subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. The corresponding power in respect of court fees under section 92 of the Courts Act 2003 can be used to recover running costs of the courts. Similarly, it is considered that the power under section 42 could be used to set fees at a level designed to recover from users of tribunals some or all of the running costs of (or of a part of) the tribunals concerned.
205.Subsection (5) stipulates that before making an order under section 42, the Lord Chancellor must consult the Senior President and the AJTC.
206.Treasury consent will not be required for changes to existing fee levels (subsection (6)). Where a fee is introduced in an area where a fee has not previously been payable, section 49(6)(c) requires that the order is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. Section 42 also confers power to set fees for the conduct of mediation by tribunals staff appointed under section 40(1) but, since this section establishes the principle of fees being set for this, the negative resolution procedure will be used when setting them.
