How are fees and payments for amendments handled when government changes fees?

When government changes planning application fees, our priority is to ensure the updated values are applied to try and minimise submissions where fees are invalid.

This means that there may be instances where the updated fee values are carried into applications that were originally submitted before the change, but opened for amendment after the updated values are in place. 

Because amendments sometimes require an additional fee, the system will apply the updated fee values regardless of when the original application was submitted. 

To ensure customers are not overcharged in this scenario, they will be able to select a specific ‘procedural’ exemption that will allow the amendment to be submitted without an additional payment.  

The local authority will then inform the customer if any additional fee is due when the amendment is received and reviewed. 

For applications originally submitted before 1 April 2025, while this issue persists, we would recommend not using the amendment functions on the Planning Portal to correct fee issues. 

This is an interim solution to enable us to update the fees in line with legislative timetables and we will look to improve it going forward.