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Also an employment lawyer. Many issue and hearings fees have been paid by Respondents to Claimants in settlements. They'll not be repaid unless the MOJ scheme reimburses them direct on proof a) of the COT3 and b) they did actually pay the monies. R won't be able to claim the fee off C unless the COT3 had the unusual foresight of providing for it (ie in the future event fees were declared unlawful.) So those Claimants may get a windfall.
Agreed, there must be scope in some cases for time extensions. Clearly for some it wasn't feasible to bring a claim because they couldn't afford fees. In practice I suspect there'll be relatively few of these claims. But we'll see.
We should all remember that a key reason for fees was political. Following the 2010 general manifesto commitment to reduce perceived burdens on small business. Cap on the unfair dismissal compensatory award to a year and increasing the qualifying period to two years. I just wonder if the government will even try fees v2. Not only were so many restrictions placed on them by the SC, the current government a) has bigger priorities with Brexit, b) may struggle to get it though. If it happens, I suspect it'll need a new election victory mandate. Something far from certain.