How to use the small claims court

Going to small claims court

You can use the small claims process for most consumer contractual problems, ranging from unfairly issued parking tickets to retailers who refuse to take responsibility for their faulty goods.

There is a claim value limit that varies depending on where you are in the UK.

The maximum you can claim in England and Wales is £10,000. In Scotland and Northern Ireland it's £5,000.

There are a couple of exceptions to this - lower limits of £1,000 apply for housing disrepair and personal injury.

Even if your claim is within the limit, a judge may decide that the case cannot be heard as a small claim if it is deemed to be too complex.

Pursuing claims outside the small claims process can be more complicated, more costly and take longer. In addition, you'll normally need a solicitor to prepare your case.

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Small claims court fees

Using the small claims process should cost you relatively little in fees. This is partly because you put the case forward yourself, so you don't have to pay for a solicitor.

The total amount you'll need to pay depends on how much you're claiming and where. Use these links to find out the latest fees for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

It will also depend on how far your claim goes through the court process. 

1. Follow the small claims process

In England or Wales, you can visit the HM Courts & Tribunals Service (Her Majesty's Court Service) online or attend your local court to get a claim form and other documents that explain the process. 

Make sure you've complied with all the steps set out in the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct before you start court action.

If you've taken all the steps necessary to avoid court action but haven't been able to resolve the situation, then you'll need to complete the necessary claim forms.

Small claims procedure in Scotland and Northern Ireland

In Scotland, the small claims process is called Simple Procedure. A claim is made in the sheriff court by a claimant and does not require a solicitor.

Visit the Scottish Courts and Tribunals guide for more information on making a claim. 

In Northern Ireland, you can get an application form from the court office, Trading Standards Office, Citizens Advice Bureau, local advice centre or the Northern Ireland courts website to start your claim. The claim can be taken to any court office or posted to the Civil Processing Centre together with the appropriate fee.

This booklet explains how the small claims process works in Northern Ireland.

2. Fill in the small claim forms

You need to have the full name and address of the defendant. If the defendant is a company, you'll need to give the address of its registered office. 

You can use the gov.uk website to get details about a company for free, including its registered address.

You must set out in full the reason for your claim and the sum you're claiming from the defendant. 

When you've completed the form, the court will log the document and give it a claim number.

3. Wait for a reply

You must give the defendant a chance to send a defence – a brief explanation of why they're disputing your claim.

Alternatively, the defendant may accept your claim in full or in part. 

The person or business who owes you money must respond to your claim. You’ll be sent a letter or email telling you the date they need to respond by - usually it is within 14 days.

Within that time, they can either file a defence or file an Acknowledgement of Service. 

If they file an Acknowledgment of Service within 14 days, they have a further 14 days in which to file a defence.

4. Directions questionnaire

Following the receipt of a defence, a court official will send out a notice of proposed allocation together with a directions questionnaire. 

Only where a party is a litigant in person (eg acting for themselves) will the court send out the appropriate directions questionnaire. 

The term 'directions' refers to the things that the Court orders or directs the parties to do before the final hearing takes place. 

All parties will be required to serve a copy of the completed questionnaire and any other documents required by the notice on all other parties.

What to do if the other side doesn't file a defence

If the other side doesn't file a defence, you can ask the court to order the defendant to pay if they don’t respond to your claim.

You need to:

• Request a judgment if you made your claim online
• Use request for judgment form N225 if you claimed a fixed (‘specified’) amount using a claim form
• Use request for judgment form N227 if you claimed an unspecified amount using a claim form

The court may grant your claim in full or set a date for a hearing where it decides how much you should receive.

If the other side does file a defence, you'll have to wait until the court assigns a date. 

5. Court visit or mediation 

You might have to go to a court hearing if: 

• The defendant says they don’t owe you any money
• They disagree with the amount you’ve claimed
• You don’t agree with how they’ve offered to repay you

You’ll be asked if you’d like to use the court’s small claims mediation service to reach an agreement with the defendant.

6. Exchange evidence

Within the small claims court system it is a standard to exchange evidence between both parties 14 days before the hearing date, at which point it may be easier to settle the claim outside of court.

One thing to bear in mind, however, is that rules introduced in 2017 mean you can only cancel a hearing and get a full refund of your fees up to 28 days before your scheduled hearing date.

7. Resolution

If you win your small claims court case the judge will state how long the defendant has to pay the sum you've been awarded – this is often one month. Failure to pay after the stated terms mean the claim stays on the record for up to six years.

This amount can include expenses such as your court fees, reasonable travelling expenses, the cost of staying overnight if relevant, and up to £90 for loss of earnings if you had to take unpaid time off work to attend the court hearing. 

You can ask for the same for any witnesses you called, as long as it was necessary for them to attend the hearing. 

In Northern Ireland you can only claim the court fee.

If you lose your small claims court case you may have to pay the other side's costs, but only if the other side asks the court for them to be paid and the judge agrees. You'll also have to keep to the terms of any court orders that the judge makes against you. 

You do have the right to appeal the decision and try the case all over again before a higher court. Before you take this step it's essential that you seek professional legal advice.

8. Enforcement

If you win a court judgement but the other side still won't pay up, you can start enforcement proceedings. But this can be a tough and time consuming process.

You can instruct the court to enforce your case in different ways, including:

Warrant of execution

This is the most well know way of enforcing a court enforcement and usually involves an instruction to the court to send in enforcement officers or bailiffs to seize goods from the debtor. You have to pay a fee of £110 to the court for this service and fill out an N323 form to request enforcement.

With this option you have to supply the bailiffs with an address for the defendant. If when they go to seize goods at the address and find nothing there, you may have to reissue a warrant and pay a £121 fee. In this instance you would have to also fill out an N445 form as a formal reissuing of a warrant.

If the defendant is in the process of offering or making a payment they can ask the court for the warrant to be suspended. If you don't agree that this should be the case, you and the defendant will be asked back to court.

Attachment of earnings

If you're dealing with an employee of a company and they owe you more than £50, you can request the court to send an attachment of earnings order to their employer.  

The order will instruct the employer of the defendant to deduct a certain amount from the employee's wages on a regular basis until the debt is paid. This money then gets sent on to you. Like the warrant of execution there is a form to fill out and a fee to pay. 

An attachment of earnings order requires you to fill out form N337 and pay a £100 fee which is added to your debt.

The defendant can ask for the order to be suspended if they don't want their work to find out. Also, if the defendant is unemployed or self-employed, other means of enforcement will be necessary.

Winding up proceedings

When the debt is owed by a limited company who cannot pay its debts, you can instruct the court to issue a winding up proceeding against them. This instructs the court to try and close down the business, it is also known as compulsory liquidation.

To be able to 'wind up' a company you must be owed £750 or more and be able to prove that the company cannot pay you.

For this enforcement method a fee of £280 in court payments will be necessary and a £1,600 deposit will have to be paid to manage the liquidation of the company.

Charging orders

Charging orders stop the debtor selling assets such as their property without paying the debt. In this case you can instruct the court to force a sale of the assets but you will still have to wait to receive the money owed to you.

To instruct the court to issue charging orders you have to fill in form N379 after you have obtained a judgement.

Third party debt order

This order instructs the court to freeze money held in the debtor's bank or business account. The money you're owed is taken out of this account and paid into yours. 

There is still a fee and a form to fill out for this service though to make sure you apply correctly. The form for a third party debt order is a N349 form and the fee is £110 which is added to your debt.