Council wins Court of Appeal case on translation costs in public law proceedings

The cost of translating court documents served in family public law proceedings may fall on one or other party depending on the circumstances and cannot be decided in a blanket manner, the Court of Appeal has said.

In the case of Z (A Child) [2017] EWCA Civ 157 the court set aside an order made by HHJ Oliver that the party 'relying on' or 'producing' the original document in support of their case should bear the translation cost.

Z’s parents were Polish nationals and required translation of documents at a total cost of some £14,120.

Reading Borough Council later became aware that HHJ Lynne Roberts had ordered in another case that translation costs be borne by the parents as the parties requiring the translation, and so applied to vary HHJ Oliver’s order, which he dismissed.

Macur LJ said: “There can be no criticism of any judge who determines that, bearing in mind the circumstances of a particular case, the party bearing the burden of proof shall be responsible for translation costs of a relevant document.

“The circumstances of other cases may reasonably inform a view that the party which requires the translation should bear the cost. Both of these views may be reasonable in the context of the case in hand, but cannot be considered as determinative of the issue across all cases.

“To deal with an issue of translation costs devoid of context does not connote a reasonable exercise of judicial discretion. Whilst the promulgation of a court's usual practice on the question creates certainty and may save some court time it could also lead to unfair demands upon either public (local authority and legal aid) or private financial resources.”