Money Claim Online is a method of bringing legal action against someone who owes you a debt. It is an alternative to issuing a civil claim in the courts and is intended to make recovering outstanding money quicker and easier. For higher-value claims, it can also be a cheaper way of pursuing a debtor.
When Can Money Claim Online Be Used?
To make a claim using the government’s Money Claim Online service, the debt should be a fixed amount and less than £100,000. Only one claimant can issue the claim and it should be against no more than two defendants, which could be people or organisations.
You will need to be able to deal with the claim online and also have an address in the UK and an email address. The court fee is paid online by credit or debit card.
The claimant must be at least 18 years old and not eligible for help with legal fees. The claim cannot be for compensation for an accident or injury. It is not possible to issue a claim against someone who is currently in a breathing space allowing them time to pay.
A claim cannot be made against a government department or agency or to claim a tribunal award.
You may ultimately need to prove your claim in court, so it is important that you follow the correct procedure and that you have adequate evidence in support. An expert debt recovery solicitor will be able to check that your claim is in order and that you are compliant with the legal rules. A solicitor can enter a Money Claim Online on your behalf if this is the best way to seek payment of your debt.
A new money claims service is also available for claims of under £10,000.
What Do I Need To Do Before I Start a Money Claim Online?
It is a legal requirement that you take certain steps to try and settle matters amicably before trying to recover money using a formal process. A solicitor will be able to talk through possible alternatives with you and negotiate on your behalf. It is often the case that involving a solicitor will persuade the debtor to take the matter more seriously rather than face legal action.
If you are not able to reach an agreement by way of negotiation, then your case may be suitable for alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation or arbitration. A neutral mediator can work with you both to try and find an acceptable outcome that you are both able to agree on so that court can be avoided.
Issuing a Money Claim Online
You or your solicitor will need to write a letter before action to the debtor setting out details of the money owed and advising them that you intend to take legal action if payment is not received within a set period.
If payment is not received, you can register with the Government Gateway through Money Claim Online and fill in all of your details on the enrolment form.
The website will take you through the eight steps to issue a claim. You will need to fill these in and pay the issue fee. Once this has been done, a claim is automatically issued. It is important to ensure that this is accurate as any amendments can only be made by a judge or court-appointed legal adviser. If you prefer, you can ask a solicitor to deal with your Money Claim Online for you.
Step 1: Guidance
The first step is intended to give you all of the information you need before you issue a claim. You will be required to confirm that you have read and understand this before you proceed. You will also be advised of the court fee that you will need to pay to issue the claim.
Step 2: Claimant Details
You’ll have the choice to register as an organisation or an individual, and your details will be put into the form from the registration process you went through on enrolment. You can also add your reference number if you have one. You can only use this service as a single individual or as an organisation. If more than one individual wishes to make the claim, a different process will need to be used.
Step 3: Correspondence Address
You should bear in mind that your correspondence address should be accurate as some documents sent to you are likely to be time sensitive so it is important that you receive them as soon as they are delivered.
If your address on the enrolment was overseas, you will need to add an address within the UK at step 3, otherwise, the address from your enrolment will automatically be used.
Step 4: The Defendant’s Details
This is where you will enter the details of the defendant, which can be either one or two individuals or organisations. Each defendant should be entered separately.
It is important to identify who is legally responsible for the debt before you complete this section because you will not easily be able to amend the claim and if errors are made you may not be able to recover the money you are owed. You would also have to pay a fee if you needed to try and amend a claim.
Where your claim is against an organisation, you must make sure that you have the full registered name.
If you are claiming against a sole trader, you should add their details to the ‘individual’ box. You can put their surname followed by ‘trading as’ or ‘T/A’.
The full address of the debtor should be added, including the postcode. This must be an address within England or Wales only as Money Claim Online does not have jurisdiction elsewhere. The address used should be their usual or last known residential address, their place of business, their registered office, or the place where you have been dealing with them.
Step 5: Claim Particulars
This is the section where you will make a statement, known as the particulars of the claim, setting out how much money is owed to you and why.
You have up to 1,080 characters in which to set out your claim and you can use full stops, commas and pound signs but no other punctuation.
If you need to include more information, you can tick the box marked ‘you may also send detailed particulars direct to the defendant’. You will then have less space on the form to include your claim, as a statement is added advising the debtor or defendant that they will receive further particulars of the claim.
You can also opt to claim interest on the payment at 8% by the County Court Act. This also reduces the space available for your claim as a statement in explanation is added. Alternatively, you can include details of the interest you will be claiming along with the main particulars of the claim.
The total amount of your claim should be added in the ‘Claim amounts’ section, which should include interest. Your claim must be for a fixed amount.
The court fee will be added when you click the ‘calculate’ button. If you are using a solicitor, they will have the option to add their costs to the claim.
Step 6: Summary and Statement Of Truth
Step 6 is an opportunity to check through the details and make sure they are correct. If you are not sure, then you can save the document as a draft for 28 days, after which time it will be deleted from the system. It is important to ensure that everything is right the first time because of the difficulty and expense of amending a claim.
Once you are happy to proceed, you can enter your name in the signature box and click next.
Step 7: Payment and Confirmation
You should enter an email address so that a receipt can be sent to you. The fee will depend on the amount of your claim and will automatically be added to your claim before it is sent to the debtor.
Payment should be made by credit or debit card. If your claim is marked ‘Prepared for payment’ after you attempt to pay, you should wait 24 hours and log in again, by which time it will either be marked as ‘issued’, meaning the payment was successful, or ‘continue’, which means that the payment did not go through and you will need to try and pay again.
If you have additional particulars of the claim that did not fit onto the form (Step 5), then these must be sent to the defendant within 14 days of your claim being issued with a letter quoting the claim number and explaining that these are the extra particulars. You must then send to the court an N215 Certificate of Service confirming that you have sent the documents.
Once Your Money Claim Online Has Been Issued
The court will send the defendant a claim pack explaining the process. Once this has been issued, the debtor has 14 days in which to file a response. If they choose to send an acknowledgement of service to the court, they will be allowed 28 days to respond.
How The Defendant Will Deal With A Money Claim Online
The other party can submit an online response to your claim. You will be able to see whether they have opted to do this, but you will not be able to see what they have included. This will be sent to you in the post by the court.
The defendant can also choose to file an acknowledgement of service if they wish to defend the claim or admit only part of it. Where part of the claim is admitted, you will be advised of how much they are willing to pay to you and you will have the chance to respond.
Alternatively, they could notify the court that they have paid the claim and you will have the opportunity to discontinue the action.
The debtor can also opt to raise a full defence and a counterclaim, in which case you will be provided with this and your case will be moved to a County Court Hearing Centre.
Should I Make A Money Claim Online Or Use The County Court Money Claim Centre?
A Money Claim Online is generally cheaper, although only slightly for smaller claims.
The maximum you can claim using the Money Claim Online service is £100,000 and the amount you are claiming must be specified. If you need the court to assess the amount you should be paid, you can choose the County Court Money Claim Centre.
The Money Claim Centre also has a wider scope for the inclusion of more details, although there is an option to send extra details separately using the Money Claim Online service.
Enforcement
One of the main differences is in the enforcement of the debt. Money Claim Online does not allow the claimant to use high court enforcement but only county court bailiffs. The bailiffs will attend to the defendant’s property and attempt to take goods to the value of the debt. Where this is not successful, it is not possible to simply switch to a high court enforcement officer. Instead, the case must be moved to the high court.
Professional Help With Debt Recovery
It is important to choose the correct method of debt recovery for your situation and ensure that the process of claiming goes smoothly. An expert debt recovery solicitor will be able to advise you of the best route for your claim and will draft sound particulars of the claim including all necessary evidence.
The New Civil National Business Centre
The Ministry of Justice has recently amalgamated the Count Court Money Claims Centre with the original Online Money Claims centre to create the new Civil Nation Business Centre (CNBC). In addition to this change of name, they have also condensed the two centres into one address in Northampton. But, its worth noting all telephone numbers have remained the same.
For online money claims, very little has changed but it is also worthwhile knowing which centre is dealing with your application.
For Debt Recovery Services, Contact Our Civil Litigation Solicitors
At Witan Solicitors, we help clients recover money that is owed to them in a full range of situations. We can discuss your potential claim and advise you of the most efficient way of claiming and enforcing your debt.
If you need advice or you have any questions, email us at info@witansolicitors.co.uk, or fill in our contact form and we will be happy to help you. We have offices in Birmingham and Northampton.
