While the public and legal community face a 967% fee jump to £16 for a copy Will, a specific clause in the Statutory Instrument appears to keep commercial bulk data access at the nominal £1.50 rate.
This isn’t an anomaly—it re-establishes a dramatic pricing disparity, raising serious questions about equitable access to public records.
The Precedent: The 2019 Fee Tumble
The impending £16 fee marks a full circle moment following the last major change. Before July 2019, the statutory fee for a copy Will or Grant was £10.00. That month, the government slashed the fee to £1.50 for all users. This dramatic reduction was a direct consequence of a decision to end a private, bulk-access arrangement with commercial data providers (like Smee & Ford), forcing them to pay the public statutory fee per document. The £1.50 was intended to cushion that change.
The £10 fee that was in place since 2017 this was double the previous change of £5 and was introduced in at the same time as the localized probate registries were closed. Had the £10 charge simply been adjusted for the RPI up to the current date (November 2025), it would be approximately £14.60.
The new £16 fee, therefore, not only exceeds the inflation-adjusted value of the old £10 fee but implements a two-tier system that severely punishes targeted public/solicitor access.
The Statutory Breakdown: Two Fees, Two Users
The key lies in the language used to define how the request is made:
Fee Type
- Fee 6(1)(a) General Public / Solicitors (Specific Orders)
- For a copy of a document of a named individual in the request.£16.00
- Fee 6(1)(b) Commercial Data Suppliers (Bulk Feed)
- Copies of documents of individuals not named in the request, made available in electronic form. £1.50
The £1.50 Loophole for Bulk Data
The £1.50 clause (Fee 6(1)(b)) is crucial. Firms like Smee & Ford, which receive an electronic feed of all Wills and Grants as they pass through probate (i.e., they are not asking for a “named individual”), appear to fall under this significantly reduced fee.
The Net Result:
- Public/Solicitor: Price increased 967% (from £1.50 to £16.00).
- Commercial Bulk Buyer: Price remains virtually unchanged at £1.50.
The 2019 change successfully forced all users to pay a per-document fee (correcting the pre-2019 policy), but has simultaneously created a disparity between those accessing a specific record and those accessing the entire data stream.
The Ethical and Commercial Debate
This two-tier structure demands discussion in the legal community:
- Transparency: Does this arrangement undermine the principle that public records should be equally accessible to all users, regardless of commercial status?
- Cost Recovery: If the true cost of search and archival is £16, why is the electronic bulk transfer fee kept at a nominal £1.50? Is this an indirect subsidy for the charity sector that relies on legacy notification services?
- Advocacy: Should legal societies and professional bodies lobby HMCTS for clearer justification of this price gap, or advocate for a fairer, single-tier fee for all digital access?
Neil Fraser is a partner at Fraser and Fraser
2 responses
i) the increase was not highlighted when I paid the other day- it should be made very obvious that it has been vastly increased at least for the next 6 months.
ii) I agree with “If the true cost of search and archival is £16, why is the electronic bulk transfer fee kept at a nominal £1.50?”
iii) the more recent documents are held electronically and no extra staff activity is required to provide the documents to the customer/requestor. Older records may require more.
iv) this appears to be a cynical revenue raising exercise.
I was just about to order a copy of a will and was absolutely appalled to see the staggering price increase from £1.50 to £16. I cancelled my order and cannot see myself making any more if kept at that price.