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Find out about the online Small Claims Court

The Small Claims Court and its online cousin, Money Claim Online, are not services provided by or associated with Grumbletext.

However, they can be very effective routes in dispute resolution which many consumers will not be aware of and this page is designed to give you an introduction as to what they entail, and links to the relevant sites/pages.

The Small Claims Court and Money Claim Online are similar in a number of ways but differ in important aspects. The following is my own analysis; I hope it's helpful but is just designed as an introduction and if you proceed you should use the guidance information provided by the relevant court websites leading off this page.

NB: In this document, I talk about the 'Small Claims Court'. In fact, although you will often hear people talk about the 'Small Claims Court', what they really mean is the special procedure for handling smaller claims in a county court.

NB (2): Generally in a small claims situation, you will be expected to have tried other avenues of settling the matter. I do not know what is seen as reasonable, but if it were me, and I had tried the phone route a couple of times, I would consider filing a claim. I don't normally bother with letters, as a) you have to rely on companies to respond, usually weeks later and b) if they do respond they normally give you a stock answer which is unsatisfactory.

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Common advantages of The Small Claims Court and Money Claim Online

Quick and cheap compared to formal court proceedings
Designed for relatively straightforward cases
You pay a modest fee to register your claim and that is in most cases your maximum cost
i.e. If you lose you do NOT pay the costs of the other side's solicitors etc which is the single issue which normally stops people going to court in the first place
There is not the same requirement for watertight legally rock-solid evidence (in lawyer's terms), "beyond all reasonable doubt" etc. In the case of the Money Claim Online system, there is in fact no judge, but the defendant knows you are serious, knows they have to respond to avoid a judgement by default and knows that the next step is a small claims action in the County Court. In the case of the Small Claims Court itself, essentially, the judge listens to each side, looks at the paperwork and comes to a view as to what he/she thinks probably happened, is probably fair...
If the defendent fails to respond within 14 days in either one, a judgement is entered against the defendent by default as a matter of public record

There is a caveat to the above similarities and it is this; the claim limit for the Small Claims Court (or 'Small Claims Track' as it is now known) is £5,000. For the purposes of our discussion here on Grumbletext, consider the limit for a Money Claim Online also to be £5,000, even though it is much higher. The reason for this is that if your Money Claim Online is contested by the defendent, then your claim comes off the Money Claim Online system and is passed to the relevant court. As long as your claim is below £5,000 and it has the characteristics of a normal small claim, then it will almost always become a normal 'offline' small claim, and remains quick, easy and cheap. If it doesn't become an offline small claim then there is the danger that it turns into a normal court case, with the usual risks and money involved, in which case many people would abandon their claim.

Here is a comparison of the Small Claims Court and Money Claim Online:

	Small Claims Court	Money Claim Online
Maximum claim amount	£5,000	£99,999.99
Where	Your local County Court	Online
Cost of issuing claim	min £30	min £30
Cheap, quick and easy compared to formal court proceedings	Yes	Yes
Do you pay the other side's legal claims if you lose?	No	No
Is there a limit to the written length of the description ('particulars') of your claim?	Yes, TBC - a couple of pages max	Yes - you are allowed 1080 characters on upto 24 lines. (ie not much, about 10 lines of full text in a Word doc) - also if you are claiming interest you have to insert a special notice provided which chews up about 6 lines
Can you use supporting documentation - ie letters, invoices	Yes	No
Does a judge actually rule on the claim?	Yes	No - effectively MCOL is just a document clearing system offered by the court. If the defendant does not, or only partly, agrees your claim, the case will normally become a small claim in your local court (if the defendant is a business) where you a judge will preside
Will it drag on an on? (ie months and months/years)	No - defendent has 14 days to respond	No - defendent has 14 days to respond
Do you and the defendent have to be able to be corresponded with in England or Wales?	Yes	Yes
Do you need to hire a lawyer?	No	No
Can you have an expert's help in court?	Yes	Not relevant
Can you claim your own legal/expert witnesses costs?	A tiny amount, basically 'no'	A tiny amount, basically 'no'
If you win, will you get back your own costs of issuing the claim and enforcing it?	Yes	Yes
Illustrative cost of claim for £1,000	£80	£80
Illustrative cost of claim for £3,000	£120	£120

Should you choose the Small Claims Court or Money Claim Online?

This is just my opinion based on having registered a test claim on Money Claim Online, found out as much as I reasonably can about it and personally having used the Small Claims Court successfully some years ago:

My opinion is consider using Money Claim Online if:

either you think there is a good chance that the defendent will accept your claim which they might do if a) they know you are right b) they don't want the hassle
or if you think that there is a good chance they won't even respond - be aware that in this case you may need to go the extra leg of enforcing your judgement which has an additional fee (which you can get back)
AND you think you can get enough of your evidence into the 24 line 'claim particulars' field

otherwise, you should probably consider using the Small Claims Court in the first instance. Remember that if your claim is defended it will move out of the Money Claim Online system typically back to your local Small Claims Court.

TIPS:

Remember that you cannot submit copies of documentation with Money Claim Online, although of course you can refer to invoice numbers etc. To use physical documentation and evidence you would have to use the Small Claims Court
Before using Money Claim Online use the links to the Small Claims Court below to find out about Small Claims - the reason is that the Money Claim Online site makes frequent mention of using rules which apply in the Small Claims Court but directs you to that site to find out more - it's better to read up a bit on it before you start
If you have a good experience with either the Small Claims Court or Money Claims Online why not come back to Grumbletext and post up your experiences to encourage others

LINKS TO GET STARTED :

Money Claim Online - the place where you can find out about Money Claim Online and issue your claim online - I've tried a test claim; it's pretty straightforward
The Small Claims Court (County Court) - starting point for everything you need to know about Small Claims
The Small Claims Court - schedule of fees - this is actually a schedule of fees for the County Court as a whole of which small claims are simply those under £5,000
The Small Claims Court - claim form pdf - only 2 pages long! gives you an idea of what is involved

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