Filing your small claims court claim online
Filing your Claim using Money Claim Online
The Claim Menu
Once you have logged in, you will see the screen below asking
you whether you want to start a new claim, or continue with an
existing claim. Money Claim Online allows you to save your details
at any stage of the process, so you can leave a claim half finished
and complete it at a later stage.
Because you are starting a new claim, select "Start a
new Claim"
Step 1 - Claim Notes
The first step in the process of submitting your claim is to
read the Claim Notes, which explain how the site works and the
process of submitting your claim.
At any stage you can click the "Save" button to
save your claim and you can go back and edit or add to it any time
in the next 28 days until the claim is submitted.
Once you have submitted your claim and have paid the court fee
with your debit or credit card, a unique claim number will be
allocated to you, which identifies your claim. You will need to
include this number on any future correspondence with the court
regarding the claim.
Step 2 - Claim Description
The second step is to enter a description of the claim, so you
can identify the claim in your account.
This reference is purely for your own use, so you can enter
whatever text you like, but a good idea is something like
"Claim against XXX", where XXX is the
name of the party you are claiming against.
Step 3 - Claimant Details
The next step involves entering your own details. As you are the
one making the claim, you are the
Claimant.
The first option allows you to select the Type of Claimant, you
need to select Individual.
Next, you need to enter your Surname and then
your First Name.
Finally, enter your Address. If you are away
from your normal address for some reason, you can enter another
address which all the court documents will be sent to, which is
called the "Service Address". You need to tick the
box to confirm that your service address is within England and
Wales.
Click "Next" to continue.
Step 4 - Defendant Details
The next step is to enter the details of the
Defendant, i.e. the company you are
claiming against.
For the Type of Defendant, select
"Organisation". Leave the first section for
"Individual" blank, as shown above. Enter the full name of the
company in the "Organisation's Name"
field.
Next, you need to enter the company's address. It's important
that you give the address of the company's Registered Office; this
can usually be found on their web site. Once you have entered the
address, you need to press the "Lookup" button to
verify the address is recognised.
If you are claiming against two parties then check the
"Second Defendant" box to fill in their
details.
Step 5 - Entering the Claim Details
This is the most important section, as you are entering the
details of your claim against the defendant.
Particulars of Claim
The first section is for the Particulars of claim. In
the text box you need to enter the full claim. This has a lot of
restrictions, as you can only enter a maximum of
1080 characters, and a maximum of 24
lines in the text box. Even though your claim may be
only 10 lines or so in a word processor or text editor, when you
enter it in the text box, because it's not very wide it spans many
more lines. Don't worry about trying to format your claim nicely;
as if you do it won't fit within the parameters imposed on the text
box.
Claim Amounts
The next section deals with the Claim Amounts. For the
"Amount Claimed", enter the total amount of the
compensation you are claiming for. This needs to match exactly the
amount in your claim in the first section.
Click the "Calculate" button to automatically
enter the correct Court fee for the amount you are claiming.
Leave the "Solictor's costs" field at
£0.00 as you are not using a Solicitor.
Finally, click the bottom "Calculate" button to
automatically work out the total amount of your claim.
Statement of Truth
The final step is so electronically "sign" the statement,
stating that all the facts in the claim are true.
Select "I am the claimant - I believe that the facts
state in this claim form are true" and enter your initials
and surname eg J Simmons. Obviously this is legally
binding, so make sure that all the facts are correct and the
information is true.
Submit your Claim
Before you submit your claim, DOUBLE CHECK that
all the details are correct. If you make a mistake it's not easy to
get it rectified.
You can then click "SUBMIT" to submit your
claim!
Step 6 - Pay the Court Fees
Once you have submitted the claim, you will be asked to pay the
Court fee detailed in step 5 above, which you can do by credit or
debit card.
Once the payment has gone through, the claim will be filed on
the next working day. Should you wish to cancel the claim for any
reason, you need to contact the court by 9am using
the contact details on the Money Claim Website.
What happens after
your claim is filed
Claims Financial