The Scottish Civil Justice Council has today issued a public consultation on the methodology it intends using in future to determine the regulated fees that can be charged by a sheriff officer, or a messenger at arms.

The courts historic approach had been to provide multiple Tables of Fees that would specify each individual ‘fee amount’ (or range of differing amounts) that could be charged for these regulated services.  The proposal being made within this consultation is to change the methodology that is used when drafting those fee tables to ‘unit based charging’. In practice exactly the same fee amount would be charged, it would just be broken down into its two component parts: the 6 minute ‘units of work’ that would generally remain constant over time; and the baseline ‘monetary amount” that would be charged for a standard 6 minute unit of work.  That change in method will simplify the maintenance of these fees rules, facilitate more timely adjustments for inflation, and most importantly provide potential users of these services with greater transparency on the fees they can expect to be charged. 

The Council would welcome feedback from all those with a general view on the way these fees are regulated, or a more specific view on whether this change to ‘unit based charging’ should be adopted.

Notes for Editors

1. The consultation paper, and accompanying impact assessments, can be viewed via the consultation page on the Councils website:

https://www.scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk/consultations/scjc-consultations

2. This consultation will be open for 12 weeks. The closing date for responses is 22 August 2025.