Response to ‘Introducing fee Charges for appeals in the immigration and asylum chambers of the first Tier tribunal and the upper tribunal’

Whilst we welcome the opportunity to respond to this consultation and the specific questions posed, we should say at the outset that we do not as a matter of principle agree that migrants, nor indeed other tribunal users, should be required to pay fees for the use of tribunal system. 

The  tribunals system serves an  essential public  function- the provision of an  independent mechanism through which individuals are able to seek redress in relation to alleged mistakes by government departments and public bodies. In our view it should therefore be financed in the same way as many other public goods  i.e. through  the general system for  taxation on a progressive basis.