Immigration Tribunal fees as a barrier to access to justice and substantive human rights protection for children

This article argues that children’s access to justice, as a method of protection for their substantive human rights, is undermined by the government’s recent and substantial increases to tribunal fees. In the context of the UK government’s ongoing commitment to reducing public spending, it has engaged in a process of shifting the financial cost of maintaining the justice system from the state to individual litigants. Although court fees for criminal defendants were withdrawn, in the civil justice system fees for courts and tribunals have been either introduced or increased. It is in this context that the government has increased appellant’s fees for access to the Immigration and Asylum Chambers (IAC) of the Tribunal, including an increase of 471% for oral hearings at the First-tier Tribunal.