On 9 March The Ministry of Justice increased the court fees that are payable to kick off the legal process, in some cases by up to 600%, whilst disingenuously claiming “we want to make sure that access to courts and tribunals is available to all”. Now if you have a debt claim for say £100,000 the fee to issue the claim form will be £5,000. The aim, apparently, is for fees to cover the full cost of court proceedings but if the case settles early, before much court time has been expended the initial issue fee will certainly overcompensate the exchequer. There is certainly a question of access to justice, and the Law Society has started a campaign seeking a review, however there is another lesson to take from this change. The civil justice system is increasingly not there to be the cure for your problems, seek to prevent problems for there is no cure via the law.