How to Make a Small Claim in England and Wales

If someone owes you money and will not pay, you can make a small claim yourself, without hiring a solicitor. The small claims track of the County Court exists precisely for this. Judges expect you to be unrepresented. The rules are deliberately simple. And in most cases, you cannot be ordered to pay the other side’s legal fees, even if you lose.

This guide walks through the whole process of making a small claim, from your first letter to enforcement. It covers England and Wales only. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate systems.

What counts as a small claim

A small claim is a civil claim allocated to the small claims track. In practice, that generally means a claim worth £10,000 or less.

Typical examples of a small claim include:

• Unpaid invoices
• Refunds for faulty goods or poor service
• Unreturned deposits
• Loans to friends or family that were never repaid
• Minor property damage

The £10,000 figure is the general limit for a small claim. Personal injury and housing disrepair claims have lower limits, so check the position first if your claim involves either.

You can still bring a claim above £10,000. However, it will usually move to the fast track or intermediate track instead, where the costs rules change and losing can mean paying the other side’s legal costs too. For that reason, some people choose to cap their small claim at exactly £10,000 to stay on the cheaper, lower-risk track. It’s a tactical call worth thinking through properly.

Before you make a small claim: the letter before claim

You cannot simply issue a small claim out of nowhere. The courts expect you to follow pre-action conduct rules first. That means writing to the other side, setting out your claim, and giving them a fair chance to respond before you sue. Skip this step, and the court can penalise you later, even if you go on to win.

A proper letter before claim should say:

• Who you are
• What happened
• How much you are owed, and why
• The date you expect payment by
• That you will issue a small claim if you are not paid

Fourteen days is a reasonable deadline for most letters. If you are claiming a debt from an individual rather than a business, though, the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims applies. In that case, you must give 30 days and include the prescribed information and reply forms.

Keep a copy of everything you send. In our experience, the letter before claim is often the single most persuasive document in the whole bundle. It shows the judge you acted reasonably from the very start.

Step 1: Work out exactly what your small claim is worth

Your small claim is not just the headline debt. You are usually entitled to statutory interest too, calculated at 8% per year from the date the money fell due, added up daily.

If your small claim is a business-to-business debt, the rules are even better for you. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 lets you add 8% above the Bank of England base rate, plus fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the size of the debt. You don’t even need a contract term to claim it.

Work this figure out precisely before you issue. Your court fee is based on the total amount claimed, interest included.

Step 2: Pay the court fee

The fee for issuing a small claim depends on its value. Current fees for claims issued in the County Court:

Claim value	Fee
Up to £300	£35
£300.01 to £500	£50
£500.01 to £1,000	£70
£1,000.01 to £1,500	£80
£1,500.01 to £3,000	£115
£3,000.01 to £5,000	£205
£5,000.01 to £10,000	£455

If your case reaches a hearing, a separate hearing fee applies later. Good news, though: if you win, the court usually orders the defendant to repay your court fees on top of the judgment. So these fees are recoverable in most cases.

And if you’re on certain benefits or a low income, you may not have to pay court fees at all. Ask us about help with fees (form EX160) before you pay anything.

Step 3: Issue your small claim

There are two ways to do this.

Online, through HMCTS’s money claims service. This is the fastest route for straightforward claims, and it’s ideal if the defendant has an address in England or Wales. The fees match the paper route, and the online form guides you through each question.

On paper, using form N1. Some claims can’t go online, including unspecified amounts, claims against multiple defendants in some setups, or claims needing detailed particulars attached. The N1 looks short and simple, but every box matters. The most common mistakes we see: suing the wrong legal entity, understating interest, or writing particulars that describe a grievance without disclosing an actual legal cause of action.

The particulars of claim are the heart of the form. This is where you set out the facts and the legal basis for your small claim. Keep it factual. Keep it chronological. Keep it short. You’re telling the judge a simple story: what was agreed, what happened, what’s owed.

Step 4: What happens after your small claim is served

Once the court issues your claim, it’s served on the defendant. From that point, they have 14 days to respond. Five things can happen next.

1. They pay. A real claim number focuses minds. You can then discontinue.
2. They admit the claim, fully or partly, sometimes with an offer to pay by instalments.
3. They file an acknowledgment of service, buying them another 14 days, 28 in total from service.
4. They file a defence. The case now becomes contested and moves toward allocation.
5. They do nothing. Miss the deadline, and you can request judgment in default, winning without a hearing at all.

Step 5: Allocation and the directions questionnaire

If your small claim is defended, both sides receive a directions questionnaire, form N180. It asks about mediation, your availability, and whether you need witnesses or experts.

It looks like a formality. It isn’t. Your answers shape the whole timetable, and whether you get a free shot at settling through the court’s mediation service.

That free HMCTS mediation service is genuinely worth considering. It’s a one-hour phone call, confidential, and a large share of small claims settle right there, saving you the hearing fee and months of waiting.

Step 6: The hearing

If your small claim doesn’t settle, the court lists a hearing. A separate hearing fee becomes payable in advance.

Small claims hearings are informal by design. Usually they take place in a meeting room, not a courtroom. Strict evidence rules don’t apply, and the judge leads the questioning directly. So your job is preparation, not performance: a clear timeline, tidy documents, and honest, direct answers.

You’ll normally exchange documents and witness statements before the hearing. A witness statement doesn’t need legal jargon, but it does need the right structure and a signed statement of truth.

On costs, here’s the key point: on the small claims track, the loser typically pays only fixed, modest amounts, court fees and limited expenses, not the winner’s solicitor bill. That’s exactly what makes bringing a small claim low-risk if you’re representing yourself.

Step 7: After judgment, actually getting paid

Winning your small claim and getting paid are two different things. A judgment is just an order. If the defendant ignores it, enforcement becomes a separate step, with its own forms and fees.

Your main options:

• A warrant of control (court bailiffs)
• An attachment of earnings order (deductions straight from wages)
• A third party debt order (freezing money in their bank account)
• A charging order (securing the debt against their property)

Each suits a different kind of defendant. Pick the wrong one, and you can waste months.

Time limits for making a small claim

Most contract and debt claims must be issued within six years of the money falling due. Leave it later than that, and your claim becomes statute-barred. That gives the defendant a complete defence, regardless of how strong your case is otherwise. If your debt is old, check this before spending anything on court fees.

Common mistakes that sink a small claim

We see the same handful of errors again and again:

• Suing a trading name instead of the actual legal entity behind it
• Issuing without a compliant letter before claim
• Particulars that describe a grievance, not a legal cause of action
• Missing the hearing fee deadline, leading to automatic strike-out
• Winning, then assuming the money will simply turn up

Every one of these is avoidable with an hour of proper preparation.

Where we come in

Most people handle a small claim entirely on their own, using guides like this one. Some reach the particulars of claim, or receive a defence they don’t know how to answer, and decide they want a professional draft at that point.

That’s exactly what we do: fixed-fee drafting and document review for people making a small claim on their own. We never go on the court record, and we are not solicitors. You stay in full control of your own case, with documents that say precisely what they need to say.

See our fixed fees, or get in touch for a free initial look at your situation.

Frequently Asked Questions