Act of Sederunt (Fees of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers) 2026

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

This Act of Sederunt consolidates and revokes the Act of Sederunt (Fees of Messengers-at-Arms) (No. 2) 2002, the Act of Sederunt (Fees of Sheriff Officers) (No. 2) 2002 and the Acts of Sederunt which have amended these instruments.

This Act of Sederunt also introduces a new charging model in which fees by officers of court (sheriff officers and messengers-at-arms) are charged in units. It establishes the value of a single unit. This value has been adjusted for inflation and will increase by 2% up to and including financial year 2028/29. This Act of Sederunt also changes how work carried out by officers of court, which is calculated on a time basis, will be charged. Fees for certain types of work which take an officer of court more than one hour to complete will be charged in 6 minute intervals. This charge only applies to the portion of that work which exceeds one hour until it is complete. It also makes changes to the reductions which can be made to the fees of sheriff officers and sets out what surcharges apply to fees for officers of court.