www.district-courts.org.uk

Small claims cases

In England and Wales, a case will, if defended, be dealt with in one of three ways. The court will decide which of these applies and then allocate the case to the corresponding ‘track’, which if the claim is generally £5,000.00 or less, will be the small claims track.

The procedure in the small claims track is simpler and generally faster than for other claims but the law is still the same. the advantage of a small claims case is that it eliminates the risk on costs but as against this, there are many case with a value of less than £5,000.00 where the law and evidence are complex and if the claimant has a strong but complicated case, that claimant may want to instruct a solicitor but will not recover his/her/their legal costs incurred.

The Claim Production Centre (CPC) and the County Court Bulk Centre (CCBC) have become increasingly popular. They are technically part of the County Court System, but deal specifically with straightforward debt collection work which is undefended.

Advantages

The main advantages are :-

• redution of burden on the geographical County Court system
• faster, guaranteed service
• discounts on the standard county court fees
• submission of claims electronically

A number of County Courts are being closed to cut the costs of the English Legal System.

In a recent House of Commons statement, the Justice Minister,  Jonathan Djanogly said changes to the court system would mean a “better, more efficient and more modern” system of justice, with premises modernised. Critics however say that the cuts will create big problems for an alreadty stretched system.

County Courts deal with by far the majority of cases brought under civil law. These include divorce, family disputes, business cases, housing issues, accident claims and small claims. Currently, the County Courts under threat of closure are :-

North West – Northwich, Southport, Penrith, Runcorn, Whitehaven, Rawtenstall, Chorley, Salford

North East – Bishop Auckland, Consett, Goole, Pontefract, Keighley, Dewsbury

Midlands – Rugby, Stourbridge, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Newark, Worksop, Melton Mowbray, Wellingborough, Grantham, Skegness, Tamworth, Oswestry, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Evesham, Redditch, Burton-Upon-Trent, Kidderminster

South West – Cheltenham, Penzance, Trowbridge, Poole

South East – Ashford, Gravesend, Haywards Heath, Epsom, Huntingdon, Harlow, Lowestoft, Newbury, Hitchin

London -  Ilford

Wales – Chepstow, Aberdare, Rhyl, Pontypool

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, in 2010 the number of County Court Judgments (CCJs) against businesses in England and Wales reduced to their lowest level since 1989. In 2010, 27.1% fewer debt judgments were recorded against businesses compared with 2009.

According to the Registry Trust which officially records such data, a total  of 150,900 CCJs were issued, which is  56,200 fewer than the figure for 2009 of 207,100.

In terms of the overall value of County Court Judgments these also show a decrease from £899m in 2009 to £613m in 2010. The current year total is the lowest total for a calendar year since 2005.

Taking also into account judgments against consumers as well as business, the total value of CCJs in 2010 fell 24.9 percent from £3.5bn to £2.6bn. Some 580,000 of these judgments are aginst individuals out of the total of some 730,600 judgments.