Who is exempt from paying court fees? 

You will only be able to get help with fees if you are on certain benefits or have a low income and have little in the way of savings.

Benefits

If you get any of the following benefits you can get help with court fees:  

• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Income Support
• Universal Credit (and you earn less than £6,000 a year)
• Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit)

You must also have less than the maximum amount of money in savings. This is usually up to £4,250, unless you are 66 years old, or older, when the limit goes up to £16,000.

The court checks with DWP to confirm that you are getting one of these benefits.  

Savings

Usually, you need to have less than £4,250 in savings to get help with fees, unless you are 66 years old or older. 

Income

You, and any partner you have, need to be on a low income to get help with court fees. The level on income you can have and still get help depends on if you have a partner or children or both. 

You can work out if you are likely to be entitled to help by using the online Fee Remissions Contribution Calculator (EX160C). You need to put in your gross income not your take home money. 

Apply online or on a paper form

You can do an online application, or you can fill in form EX160 and print it off. Either way you need to go to the GOV.UK – help with fees page. If you do the online application you will get a ‘help with fees reference’ that looks like ‘HWF-XXX-XXX’. 

You need to use the code in the court application you want to make. If you want to do a paper form but don’t have access to a printer you can ask your nearest court to send you a paper form.

If you do a paper form you can post or email it to the court that is dealing with your application

You need to complete a separate application for each court fee you want reduced or cancelled. This may mean you have to apply more than once during your case.

You will need:

• Your National Insurance number, or a Home Office reference number.
• The court form number – you will find this at the bottom of the form you are filling in to make your application or on the online application.
• Case number - if you have one.
• Details of all your income for example: wages, maintenance, benefits, pensions, financial help from other people like family.  
• if you have a partner, your partner’s financial details covering the same period – unless your court or tribunal case is against them (for example an application to get divorced or dissolve your civil partnership).

The court will assess your application and might contact you to ask you to provide evidence of your financial situation. It’s really important to respond quickly if they do this so that your application isn’t held up. 

I can’t get legal aid, so what’s the point of applying for help to pay my court fee?

The two schemes aren’t linked. There may be no legal aid available in your kind of case or even if there is, you might not be entitled to it. Or maybe your application was refused. Either way, that doesn’t stop you applying for help to pay your court fee.

I want to apply for help with court fees. Do I need to include my partner’s income? 

Yes – you need to include your partner's income unless the application is against them – for example in a dispute about where your children will live. 

What if my income changes month to month?

You can use your income from the last calendar month or an average of the last 3 months if that income is lower and more in line with your usual income. 

Can I get help with fees if I have already paid? 

Yes. You can apply for a refund for any court fee paid in the last 3 months, as long as you were entitled to get the help at the time you paid the fee. Use form EX160 and make sure you give the court evidence of your financial situation at the time you paid the fee. 

I applied for help to pay my court fee but was refused. Is there any more I can do?

You can appeal. If you decide to appeal make sure you do so by the date in the letter or email you get from the court refusing your application. You appeal by writing to the court explaining why you are unhappy with their decision and including any evidence that will support your appeal.

I am not able to get help with fees but I really can't afford to pay. What can I do?

If you believe that you really cannot afford the fee and will face exceptional hardship if you have to pay it, you can explain this to the court. They might ask for more information to help them decide in your personal case not to charge you. For more information about this see the section headed ‘If you are likely to experience exceptional hardship’ in the court leaflet called How to apply with fees EX160A.

Acknowledgements

This short guide was written and produced by Advicenow. 

It was reviewed and updated thanks to funding from the Ministry of Justice.