1. Party owed money (Claimant) completes Claim Form with details of their claim and sends this to the court.
2. Court issues the claim and the claim is served on the person who it is claimed owes the money (Defendant).
3. The Defendant has 14 days to:
- Complete the Defence Form and provide information in defence of the claim (which must be sent to both the person making the claim and the court); or
- Complete the Acknowledgment of Service Form and send this to the court, which gives a further 14 days to complete step i. above (total 28 days to prepare and send defence)
4. The court will send to both of the parties a form confirming that the claim is now defended and asking each of them to complete a further form called a Directions Questionnaire. This form will ask each of the parties if there are any dates that they will not be available in the next 3 months to deal with a mediation (the court offers a free mediation service of up to 1 hour), or the next 9 months, for any trial of the issue. The form also asks for details of any witnesses and if there are any special arrangements that need to be made for any of the parties or their witnesses.
5. The court will initiate the free mediation service, usually being a series of telephone calls over the course of an hour and, if it is not possible to settle the claim through that mediation process, the case is then referred back to a Judge.
6. If the Judge deems it appropriate, and both parties have indicated their agreement, the Judge may deal with the claim on the papers, and provide his Judgment. If not, the court will issue directions, being steps that need to be taken to prepare the case for trial.
Directions may include:
- Dates by which each party needs to provide to the other (and sometimes to the court) documents on which they intend to rely as evidence supporting their claim/defence;
- Date by which witness statements need to be sent to the court and to the other party;
- The date for any hearing, and if it is to be an in person, telephone or virtual hearing.
7. If the Claimant is successful, then the court will order that the Defendant pay the amount which was in dispute (or a proportion of it), interest on that amount (if claimed), the court fee or fees which have been paid, and fixed costs, unless the court’s discretion is exercised, and greater costs are awarded (this is rare).
8. The court will usually order a period of 14 days for these sums to be paid. If these are paid within 30 days of the date of judgment, application can be made to remove the judgment from the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines. Otherwise, the County Court Judgment (CCJ) will remain on the register for 6 years.