Advisory: Fee changes

They have just issued a change of plan to the 'fee stakeholders'.  I'm not too sure who the 'fee stakeholders' are, but I have passed the letter and FAQ on to Debbie and John.

At first blush, nobody here *should* be alarmed, but I'll leave that for Debbie and John to assess (and where the bloody hell is John anyway?).  No matter.  I'm interested in the 'deep implications' of this from a policy point of view rather than the immediate effects.  And there's absolutely wheels within wheels going on here. 

Whether it affects us or not, we need to keep an eye on fees all across the board.  Why?  Because history tells us that whenever fee mongering is afoot sooner or later they go after family formation.  So eyes wide   

At first glance (forgive me I've not had my 2nd cup of coffee yet) it looks like that those persons whose applications have been refused if they chose to appeal the decision beyond the AR (Administrative Review) phase will have to pay a fee to offset the cost of the appeal the fee will be based on to what level the appeal is resolved at. The fee's are to alleveiate the burden on the UK taxpayer that has been historically responsible for covering the cost of appeals.

So moral of the story is make sure you get your applications right the first time, don't waste the governments time with friviolous appeals and follow the rules so you won't be refused in the first place.

The Public Consultation is being managed through the Ministry of Justice and can be found here: http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/fee-charges-appeals-consultation-211010.htm