Complaints about court costs increasesSolicitors and their clients are not getting value for money from the courts and see the increases in court costs as 'a real cause for complaint', according to the latest findings of the Law Society's Woolf network.The members of the network - a group of 31 law firms nationwide - found that the benefits of the Woolf reforms are being lost because of failures in the administration of justice.'Orders are taking an inordinate length of time, staff shortages and computer problems are reported, and faxes appear to take a long time to move from machine to file,' a summary of the results stated.The announcement in February this year that court fees were to be increased brought bitter opposition from leading legal groups including the Law Society, the Advice Services Alliance, the Consumers Association, and the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.The increases were implemented last month anyway.

The groups have called on the government to rethink the policy, claiming the increases were introduced without the proper public or parliamentary debate.Law Society President Robert Sayer said: 'Court fees already act as a barrier to justice for people, especially for those on low to middle incomes, and this latest increase in court fees will make the situation worse.'Jeremy Fleming