After you start a civil claim

This guide focuses on standard practice – what happens when a claim is well-prepared and issued in good time. There are special rules dealing with situations where you don’t or can’t follow standard practice for whatever reason. We cover some of these briefly, but you will probably need specialist advice to help you work out what to do in your particular situation.

After you start your civil claim and after the defendant files their defence, the court manages the next steps in the process (including the timetable) between then and the final hearing or settlement. This guide explains this process and shows you what you need to do.

This guide is for you if you:

• you have started a civil claim in either England or Wales, or are responding to one started by someone else, and
• your case involves a claim for £25,000 or less, and
• you are representing yourself (you are a litigant in person), and
• you are not eligible to have your case paid for by legal aid, a trade union, or insurance.

This guide is also for people supporting litigants in person, for example Support Through Court volunteers, Citizens’ Advice volunteers, housing support workers, advice workers and court staff, as well as relatives and friends.

This guide is not for you if you are involved in:

• a criminal case,
• a family case (such as an application for a domestic violence injunction or a divorce),
• a housing disrepair or housing possession case including mortgage possession,
• an injunction (including a court claim about anti-social behaviour)
• a medical accident case,
• a case involving defamation (that is libel or slander) or
• a tribunal case (such as a discrimination or employment case).

Legal language

We try to explain any legal language as we go along, but there is also a ‘What does it mean?’ section at the end.

January 2024

The first thing the court does if you used the N1 form or Money Claim Online (or 'MCOL'), is send you a copy of the defence and decide how to manage your case up until the final hearing. If you used the Money Claims (or OCMC) service (which only deals with small claims), you will receive email or text notifications to log in to your account to see the defence.    

There are four routes through the civil justice system that the court can transfer your case to. The law calls these routes ‘tracks’. They are the small claims track, the fast track, the immediate track and the multi-track. The process of deciding which track your case follows is called ‘allocation’. If you started your case using the Money Claims service  it will already be allocated to the small claims track.    

The choice depends on how complex your case is and how much money is being claimed. In many cases, the track your case follows affects the amount of work you have to do to get your case ready for trial, how formally you have to prepare your case and the evidence, and how much it could end up costing you if you lose. The full list of factors that the court will consider is found in Civil Procedure Rules Part 26.13 which states the court will take into account the:

• potential financial value of the case,
• type of remedy the claimant wants,
• complexity of the facts, law, or evidence of the case,
• number of claimants and/or defendants,
• potential financial value of the defendant’s counterclaim (if they have one),
• amount of oral evidence needed to support the case,
• importance of the claim to people who are not the defendant(s) or claimant(s),
• views expressed by the defendant(s) or claimant(s), and
• circumstances of the defendant(s) or claimant(s).

If the defendant defends your claim, the court sends both you and the defendant a notice of proposed allocation (or ‘notice of provisional allocation to track’) based on the value of the claim. This tells you:

• that a defence has been filed (the court will send you a copy),
• anything the court requires you to do by the date specified in the notice
• which route (‘track’) through the civil justice system the court plans to send your case on - small claims track, intermediate track, fast track, or multitrack, and
• what information you have to provide using a form called a ‘Directions Questionnaire’, who you must send it to, and the deadline for doing this.

If you are representing yourself, the court will also send you the directions questionnaire.

Small claims track

The small claims track is the usual track for:

• Claims with a value of £10,000 or less.
• Housing disrepair claims, where the cost of repairs is £1,000 or less and the financial value of any other claims (such as compensation) is not more than £1,000.
• Personal injury claims caused by a car accident that happened on or after 31^st May 2021 that are worth £10,000 or less in total, and where the personal injury element is £5000 or less.
• Personal injury claims caused by a car accident that happened before 31^st May 2021 that are worth £10,000 or less in total, and where the personal injury element is £1000 or less. Please see How to make a small claim about injuries caused by a car accident for more details.

• Personal injury claims not caused by a car accident that are worth less than £10,000 in total and where the personal injury element is worth £1,500 or less.

The small claims track provides a simplified and more informal system of resolving disputes and generally both sides represent themselves.

An important feature of this track is that, win or lose, you will usually only pay your own legal costs. It is very unlikely that you will have to pay anyone else’s legal costs (apart from any court fees they paid and their travel expenses and loss of earnings for attending court, and any expert’s fees) unless the court decides you have behaved unreasonably.

If you win, the other side will pay your court fees, travel expenses and loss of earnings caused by attending court and any witness and expert’s fees. (You need permission to have an expert witness in a small claim and if you get permission their fees will be capped at £750. This means that the court will only allow you to claim a certain amount towards the expert’s fees. If the fee is higher than that amount, you will be responsible for paying the difference.) You can find more information in the court rules about costs in the small claims track in Civil Procedure Rule 27.14 and Practice Direction 27A - Costs, including the limits for any recoverable fixed costs.

You may have heard talk about the ‘small claims court’. This is just another way of referring to the small claims track; it isn’t a real building or separate place.

See court leaflet EX306 for more information about the small claims track. The leaflet is available in English and Welsh.

Fast track

For all claims begun on or after 1^st October 2023, the fast track is the usual track for:

• Claims for which the small claims track is not the normal track (for example, personal injuries claims where the total amount or the personal injury element is worth more than the small claims limit).
• Money claims with a value of between £10,000 and £25,000
• Non-money claims, which may also include a claim for money for no more than £25,000.

Fast-track cases are allocated to one of four complexity bands.

In all fast track cases, the trial is unlikely to last more than one day. And any oral expert evidence is limited to one expert per side, per field - with expert evidence limited to two fields.

If your claim is allocated to the fast track, this is the sort of claim which is probably no longer eligible for legal aid, but where you may be able to source alternative funding (see the section on Legal costs in Things you need to know about court procedure before you sue someone).

See the court leaflet EX305  for more information about the fast track.

Intermediate track

Since 1^st October 2023, there is a new intermediate track for cases that are worth between £25,000 and £100,000. This will provide a quicker, simpler procedure to the multi-track. Cases allocated to the intermediate track are outside the scope of these guides. We recommend that you get legal advice to help you with cases with a value this high. For further information on finding legal help, see our short guide that explains how to get free legal advice on a civil claim and ‘Find a lawyer’ section in our Help directory.

Multi-track

The multi-track is for more complex claims that are not suitable for the small claims track, the fast track, or the intermediate track. These will largely be for claims worth over £100,000 or more complex claims. If your claim is allocated to the multitrack, it is advisable to get help from a solicitor, Law Centre or RCJ Advice (the Citizens’ Advice branch at the Royal Courts of Justice). For further information on finding legal help, see our short guide that explains how to get free legal advice on a civil claim and ‘Find a lawyer’ section in our Help directory.

‘Directions’ is the court’s word for the list of instructions it gives to both you and the defendant for the practical management of your case. These instructions tell you what you each need to do to get the case ready for the final hearing. Their purpose is to make sure that:

• the court and both sides know everything they are entitled to know about the case before trial,
• both sides know which parts of the case they agree on and which parts they disagree on (the judge will only be making a decision on the parts you disagree on)
• both sides fully understand each other’s case and can prepare their own case focusing on what they disagree about, and
• the court can make arrangements including working out how much time to allow for the trial.

Directions questionnaire

The court sends both you and the defendant a ‘Directions questionnaire’. This asks each of you for information to help the court decide:

• how to deal with the case,
• what directions to make, and
• which track and complexity band to allocate the case to.

Before completing this questionnaire, you and the defendant must contact each other to discuss how far you can agree your answers to it. In particular the court wants you to try and agree the directions you would like it to make.

Whether you can agree them or not, you must send a list of the directions you want the court to make to the court at the same time as returning the questionnaire. (You don’t need to send in this list if the court has provisionally allocated your case to the small claims track.)

When you have filled in the directions questionnaire you must send it back to the court and a copy to the other side within the time limit set by the court. If you don’t comply with the time limit, the court could ‘strike out’ your case - which means stop your case from continuing.

The court considers the answers to the directions questionnaires and decides which track is the right one for your case. The court will send you a notice of allocation. This tells you the judge’s decision.

An order for directions

The court will also send you an ‘order for directions’ (may also be called ‘Directions Order’ or ‘Standard Directions’).  This is a list of instructions telling you what tasks to do and the deadline for doing them. The court makes the order for directions based on the information you and the defendant give in your Directions questionnaires.

In particular, an order for directions will deal with:

• Disclosure: this means providing and exchanging relevant information with the other side
• Witness statements: exchanging witness statements with the other side
• Expert’s reports (where they are used)

In most straightforward cases, and whether or not you managed to send the court agreed directions with your Directions questionnaire, the court will make this order without there being a hearing. So, don’t be surprised if an order for directions just turns up in the post.

If this happens to you, the first thing to do is to read the order carefully. If you aren’t certain what some bits mean, get some advice. For further information on finding legal help, see our short guide that explains how to get free legal advice on a civil claim and 'Find a lawyer' section in our Help Directory.

In more complicated cases, the court may arrange a case management conference (often referred to by lawyers and court staff as a ‘CMC’). This is a hearing where the court and the parties decide together how best to run the case. It can take place by video hearing, over the phone, at court, or a ‘hybrid’ meeting, with some people there in person and others joining by video. See more guidance on video hearings.

The court can review case progress at any time and may make more directions or fix a second case management hearing as a result of any review.

The instructions in an order for directions are listed in a particular sequence for a reason. So, for example, typically they will ask you to serve your witness statements after disclosure (the process for showing what evidence you have to support your case). This way each side gets the full picture of the other’s case and sees their evidence before they prepare their witness statements. This enables each side to comment on what they discover from each other's evidence in their statement. So, don’t get ahead of yourself by moving on to the next task until both you and the defendant have completed the previous one.

An example of an order for directions in a fast track case

What to do if the other side doesn’t obey the order for directions

You are encouraged to sort out interim problems without going back to the court to resolve them. It’s fine to contact the other side or their solicitor (if they have one) outside of the court process. So, you should try informal pressure, for example, phoning or emailing them to remind them what they were supposed to do and by when. Ask them to do it immediately, and explain that if they don’t you will have to go back to court. Tell them when you will do this. If you phone them, follow this up with a letter. Keep a record of every attempt you make to contact the other side in your efforts to resolve any interim problem. If you end up having to go to court you will need this information to show the court. 

If this doesn’t work, you may need to apply to the court (see Interim applications - how to ask a civil court to do something) for an order that unless they do the task within a certain number of days (for example, 7 days), the court will not allow them to continue with their defence and/or counter claim. You will often hear this kind of order referred to as an ‘unless’ order. This is because the basic format is always the same; unless you do x task by y date, then z will happen.

If you are the claimant and you don’t do something the order for directions tells you to do, the defendant can take the same action against you.

If you don't apply to vary the order for directions within 14 days of allocation, the court will assume that you will comply with the timetable to be ready for trial. This is why you need to have done all your preparation before you issue proceedings.

You can find the standard directions for cases in the Small Claims Track online.

You can also find the standard directions for cases in the Fast Track or Intermediate Track online.

What do I do if I can’t comply with part of the order for directions?

Courts are quite strict about sticking to time limits, so try and comply with deadlines and keep to the court timetable as much as possible. However, if you can’t comply, don’t ignore the problem because there is usually a solution. First, see if you can resolve the problem informally. Try explaining the problem to the other side and asking them to agree, for example, to an extended time limit for completing a particular task. If you can do this, there is no need to apply for an interim order and you don’t need to tell the court about the new arrangement.

If the other side won’t agree to the change you want to make to the order you can apply to the court (see Interim applications - how to ask a civil court to do something). But you must do this within the deadline – usually only 14 days from when you get the order and you must pay the £275 fee. If you miss the deadline, you may be able to make a late application. The rule in the box below explains how to make an application for a court order. If your application is unsuccessful then you may be ordered to pay what it cost the other side to deal with your application.

There are some dates that only the court can change, for example, the trial date.

You may have already shown some or most of your documentary evidence to the other side in an effort to settle (or resolve) your dispute. You may have done this more than once- before you started your claim and afterwards. But there is a stage when the court will usually expect you to show everything in an organised fashion. The order for directions will tell you what to do and by when.

This process is called ‘disclosure and inspection’. ‘Disclosure’ means letting the other side know what evidence you have. If you started your claim using the Money claim online service you will already have told the other side what evidence you have. ‘Inspection’ means being able to look at it. The word ‘inspection’ is left over from the days before photocopiers, when you had to go and look at the other side’s original documents. These days you can just look at copies or scans of the originals, unless there is anything suspect about the original. There is a section about this in court leaflet EX305.

You tell the other side about a document by stating that a document (for example, a tenancy agreement) exists or has existed and allowing the other side to see it. The way you do this varies, depending on which track your case has been allocated to.

‘Document’ means anything in which information of any description is recorded. This includes, for example, emails, letters, invoices, photographs, medical records, mobile phone texts, social networking messages or video clips.

Unless your case has been allocated to the small claims track, you don’t actually allow the other side to see the documents or send them copies until the other party asks you for specific documents or groups of documents listed on the form unless your case has been allocated to the small claims track.

You might think a form called a ‘List of documents’ would ask you for one list; in fact it asks for 3 different lists. You have to decide which of your documents goes where.

The chart below helps explain what type of document you must list under each heading. Witness statements and experts’ reports are not included in the List of documents. The order for directions will give separate instructions about when these are shown to the other side.

When you get the other side’s List of documents you must decide what you want copies of. You may decide some items on the list are not relevant. You may already have copies of others. The other side will do the same and tell you what they want to see. If there are a very large number of documents, you may want to arrange to look at them in person.

If they have not listed all the documents that they should have done, ask for them. If they don’t provide them, you can apply to the court for an order that they produce them within a set time limit. (See ‘What to do if the other side doesn’t obey the order for directions’ above for a reminder about interim applications.)

You must also search out relevant documents to include in your own list going back to the time when the story of your case began.

You are expected to include any document that is relevant where it existed before you started your claim (for example, payslips, work rotas, repair records) whether they support your case or the other side's. So, even if you have a document which undermines your claim and which you would rather not show the other side, you still have to tell them about its existence. After that it is up to them to spot its significance and ask to see it or not.

Equally the defendant may have a document which supports what you say. If so, they must tell you that it exists – but they don’t have to tell you what’s in it. This is why you must inspect – ask to see copies of - their documents and carefully check if there is anything in them that helps or hinders your case.

If a document only came into existence for the purposes of your claim after you started your case, for example a medical report, you still have to tell the other side about it. 

You are breaking the law if you make a false disclosure statement, unless you honestly believe it to be true. You could be taken to court for ‘contempt of court’. The punishment for this offence can be a fine or time in prison, or both.

Your obligation to allow the other side to see the documents in your control continues until the court proceedings are over. So, if you find a new document at any time during the proceedings, you must let the other side know immediately. If you can, get some advice on how to do this from a solicitor, Law Centre or RCJ Advice (the Citizens’ Advice branch at the Royal Courts of Justice). See How to get free legal advice about your civil case. 

There are documents you don’t have to allow the other side to inspect (see/have copies of). These documents are known as ‘privileged’. This means no-one, not even a court, can compel you to show them to the other side.

Privileged documents include:

• letters and emails between you and a solicitor,
• notes recording interviews and telephone conversations between you and a solicitor,
• written advice from a solicitor or barrister about, for example, the strengths and weaknesses of your case, and
• some witness statements. For example, if you are not going to use a witness’s evidence or ask them to come to the trial then you do not need to show their statement to the other side.

You still have to list the documents you object to the other side seeing in your List of documents and explain your objections. In many cases it is usually enough to write in ‘They are privileged’ in this section.

It’s often tricky to decide which documents you should or should not list and/or allow the other side to see. It’s important to get this right as it can damage your case to show the other side privileged documents unnecessarily or by accident. This is a good moment to get some legal advice to help you get through this stage successfully. See How to get free legal advice about your civil case.

A pre-trial checklist is a form you use to tell the court how the case is progressing in the run up to trial. It is also called a ‘listing questionnaire’. It’s how the court finds out, for example:

• whether you have any preparation tasks left to do,
• how many witnesses you have,
• whether any experts have been able to agree their evidence,
• whether you are going to be representing yourself, and
• how long you think the trial is going to take.

It’s not easy estimating how long a trial is going to take. Even lawyers who are in the courts regularly get this wrong. Think about:

• how long you think it’s going to take you to say what you need to say to the court,
• how many witnesses are coming and the length of their statements, and
• whether you are asking an expert witness to give evidence.

As a rough rule of thumb, a fast track case is usually expected to last one day or less. You don’t have to file a pre-trial checklist if your claim has been allocated to the small claims track. Small claims cases are often listed for 1 or 2 hours.

There is a section on the pre-trial checklist in court leaflet EX305.

You might find it helpful to prepare a short chronology for yourself, setting out a timetable of events. (If you have used the Money claim online service, you will have done this already.)

You will probably also find it helpful to write down exactly what is still in dispute between you – for example, does the defendant dispute that you had an accident at work at all? Or does the defendant agree you had a tripping accident on Monday 12^th September but says you got your bad back from hanging curtains over the previous weekend? Or accepts that you had an accident at work which injured your back, but says it wasn’t serious and you should have been off work for 2 weeks not 2 months?

Allocation - the process of deciding which track the case should follow.

Case management conference - a hearing where the court and the parties decide together how best to run the case. It can take place over the phone or at court.

Control (in the context of disclosure of documents) – A document that is or was in your physical possession, you do or did have to right to possess it, or you have or had a right to inspect or take copies of it.

Directions – instructions for how a case will be dealt with.

Directions questionnaire - a questionnaire that helps the court decide how to deal with your case and which track to allocate your case to.

Disclosure - the process of showing all your relevant evidence to the other side.

Expert evidence - this is evidence of an expert’s opinion, of what they think or believe about something.

Indexed bundle of documents - a pack combining both parties’ documents with a list at the front showing what is in it. See How to prepare a trial bundle and index for more information.

List of documents – the form you use to list the documents and any other evidence you have that is relevant to your case.

Notice of discontinuance – the form you use to tell the court that you want to stop (discontinue) your claim.

Notice of Issue – this tells you that your claim has started and the date it began. It also tells you the case number, the date of service, the method of service and the defendant’s deadline for responding.

Notice of proposed allocation – a notice is a bit like a letter. This notice tells you which track the judge thinks is suitable for your case. This could be the small claims track, the fast track, the intermediate track or the multi-track. It also tells you to complete a directions questionnaire.

Particulars of Claim – a concise written statement of the facts and law on which your claim is based and what you want from the defendant.

Pre-trial checklist/listing questionnaire - a form you use to tell the court how your case is progressing in the run up to the trial.

Trial window – the particular period of time during which your case is likely to be heard. The court may ask you for information about when you can and can’t attend during that period.

Request to inspect - this refers to your right to ask to see and check the original documents supporting the other side's case.

Settled - you reach an agreement with the other side which concludes the case.

Simultaneous exchange - this is when the parties to a case exchange their witness statements at the same time on the same day.

Strike out – to stop an application, claim or defence from continuing with the result that you are unsuccessful.

Unless order – this is a court order that says that unless you do X, Y will happen. Often, if you don’t comply with an ‘unless order’ your claim or defence may be struck out.

Witnesses of fact - any witnesses who are providing evidence in support of the case who are not experts.

Witness statement - a document in which someone explains what they saw, did or heard.

The information in this guide applies to England and Wales.

The law is complicated. We have simplified things in this guide. Please don’t rely on this guide as a complete statement of the law. We recommend you try and get advice from the sources we have suggested.

Acknowledgements

This guide was written and produced by the Advicenow team at Law for Life.

We would like to thank everybody who
commented on the guide including editorial teams at Thomson Reuters  who kindly peer reviewed this updated version. This guide was updated thanks to funding from the Ministry of Justice. 

January 2024