Making a Small Claim: How the Process Works

Every civil money claim in England and Wales starts the same way — a claim form issued in the county court. What differs is the track the case is put on once the defendant files a defence. The small claims track is the lightest of the four tracks (the others are fast, intermediate and multi-track) and is designed for people without lawyers.

Allocation is a judicial decision, not your choice. After a defence is filed, both sides complete a directions questionnaire and a judge decides where the case belongs, looking at the amount in dispute, the complexity of the facts and law, the number of witnesses, and the likely length of the hearing. A modest-value claim raising a genuinely complex point of law can be moved up a track; a larger claim can only be heard on the small claims track if both parties consent and the judge agrees.

Once a case is on the small claims track, whole chunks of the Civil Procedure Rules switch off. CPR 27.2 disapplies the formal disclosure rules in Part 31, most of the evidence rules in Parts 32 and 33, the expert-evidence regime in Part 35, and the Part 36 settlement-offer machinery. In practice that means no lengthy disclosure exercise and an informal hearing — often around a table, with the judge asking questions directly rather than leaving it to advocates. Hearings are frequently listed for an hour or less, and many are heard remotely.

The headline figure is straightforward: under CPR 26.9, the normal track for a claim worth no more than £10,000 is the small claims track. The value is the amount you are claiming, ignoring interest and costs.

Two categories have much lower thresholds, and they catch people out constantly:

• Personal injury. A personal injury claim only belongs on the small claims track if the total claim is £10,000 or less and the damages for the injury itself (pain, suffering and loss of amenity) are no more than £5,000 for a road traffic accident, or £1,500 for any other personal injury claim. (A £1,000 figure exists under CPR 26.10, but it applies only to RTA claims involving a child or protected party, not to personal injury claims generally.) Above the relevant threshold the claim goes to the fast track — where the loser normally does pay the winner's costs.
• Housing disrepair. A tenant's claim against a landlord for repairs stays in the small claims track only if the estimated cost of the repairs is no more than £1,000 and the value of any other damages claimed is also no more than £1,000. Exceed either and the claim moves up.

If your genuine loss is above £10,000 you have a real decision to make. You can claim the full amount and accept that the case will be allocated to a higher track with full costs exposure, or you can abandon the excess to keep the case in the small claims track — but you cannot recover the abandoned part later. Splitting a single dispute into two claims to stay under the limit is not permitted and a judge can strike the claims out.

The limits are jurisdictional thresholds set by the rules, not fees. Do not confuse the £10,000 track limit with the fee cap that applies to very large claims.

The small claims track works well where the facts are narrow, the paperwork tells the story, and the amount is worth more than the effort. Typical claims that belong there:

• Unpaid invoices between small businesses, or between a sole trader and a customer.
• Faulty goods or bad workmanship where the trader will not refund or re-do the work.
• A deposit withheld without justification — a tenancy deposit, a holiday deposit, a deposit on a vehicle.
• Money lent to a friend or relative that was never repaid, where there is some written record.
• Damage to property — a neighbour's contractor, a delivery driver, a botched repair.

It suits these badly:

• Disputes about a legal principle rather than a sum. If what you actually want is an apology, an admission, or a change in behaviour, the court cannot give it to you.
• Claims against someone with no money. Winning is the easy half. If the defendant has no job, no assets and no traceable bank account, the judgment may never be paid and you will have spent the issue fee for nothing.
• Claims where a regulator or ombudsman already covers the ground. Financial services, energy, telecoms, letting agents, and many other sectors have free schemes with binding outcomes.
• Claims that turn on expert evidence. Expert fees are recoverable only up to £750.

In most civil litigation the loser pays the winner's legal costs, which is why ordinary court claims are so risky. On the small claims track CPR 27.14 removes most of that exposure. The only costs the court will normally order the losing party to pay are:

• The fixed costs of issuing the claim, and the court fees actually paid — so a successful claimant usually recovers the issue fee and hearing fee on top of the debt.
• Reasonable travel and overnight accommodation costs for attending the hearing.
• A sum for loss of earnings or loss of leave caused by attending, capped at £95 per day for each party or witness.
• Expert's fees, capped at £750 for each expert, and only where the court gave permission for the expert evidence.
• Up to £260 for legal advice, but only on a claim that includes an injunction or an order for specific performance.

There is one important exception. Under CPR 27.14(2)(g) the court can order a party who has behaved unreasonably to pay further costs, assessed summarily. Unreasonable behaviour means things like pursuing a claim you know to be hopeless, ignoring court directions, failing to turn up, or refusing every attempt at settlement without explanation. It is not simply losing. Nevertheless it is a real risk for anyone who treats the process casually.

The sequence is the same whether you issue online or on paper:

1. Send a letter before action. The Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols requires you to set out the claim and give the other side a reasonable time to reply before issuing. Skipping this step can result in a costs sanction even if you win.
2. Issue the claim. Online through Money Claim Online, through the newer HMCTS money-claims service, or on paper using form N1 at the Civil National Business Centre. You pay the issue fee at this point.
3. Service. The court serves the claim on the defendant and notifies you of the deemed date of service. The clock for the defendant's response runs from that date, not from the date you pressed submit.
4. The defendant responds. They have 14 days from service to pay, admit, or file a defence — or to file an acknowledgment of service, which extends the deadline for the defence to 28 days. If nothing arrives, you can request judgment in default.
5. Directions questionnaire. If a defence is filed, both sides complete form N180. This is where you confirm whether you agree to free mediation, how many witnesses you have, and any dates to avoid.
6. Mediation. Where both sides agree, the free HMCTS Small Claims Mediation Service will offer a telephone appointment. A large proportion of claims settle here without a hearing.
7. Allocation and directions. A judge allocates the case to the small claims track and gives directions — usually to exchange all documents you intend to rely on at least 14 days before the hearing.
8. Hearing fee. A separate fee falls due before the hearing. Miss it and the claim is struck out.
9. The hearing and judgment. The judge normally gives a decision on the day, with brief reasons. If you win and the defendant does not pay, enforcement is a further, separate step.

Court should be the last option, not the first. Before you pay an issue fee, work through these:

• A sector ombudsman. Free to the consumer and binding on the business if you accept the decision. The Financial Ombudsman Service covers banks, insurers and lenders; other schemes cover energy, telecoms, property agents and motor traders. You normally need to complete the firm's own complaints process first.
• Chargeback or a section 75 claim. If you paid by card, your bank may be able to reverse the payment, and a credit card provider can be jointly liable with the seller for a breach of contract or misrepresentation. Both are free and far faster than court.
• Free mediation. The HMCTS Small Claims Mediation Service is available once a claim is defended, and independent civil mediation is available before that.
• Statutory late-payment interest. Between businesses, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 adds interest at the Bank of England base rate plus 8% and a fixed sum for recovery costs — £40 on debts under £1,000, £70 up to £9,999.99 and £100 at £10,000 or more. Adding those figures to a demand often prompts payment.

If none of that works, the small claims track is there. Just go in knowing what it can and cannot deliver.