Make a Court Claim for Money

How to make a claim 

You can apply to a county court to claim money you are owed by a person or business. 

This is known as making a court claim. It often used to be known as taking someone to a 'small claims court'. 

A mediation service could be quicker and cheaper than going to court. Mediation is when an impartial person helps both sides to work out an agreement.  

Make a claim  

You can make a claim online, unless: 

  • you do not know how much money you want to claim 
  • your claim is for more than £10,000 and you want to get help to pay the court fee 
  • your claim is for £100,000 or over 

Claim by post if you cannot claim online. 

Claim online 

You will be asked for the name, address and email address of the person you are claiming against. 

You will also need either:

If you still need to apply for help with fees, you can do this while you make your money claim online

Claim by post  

To claim by post, download and fill in paper claim form N1

Send the paper form to the Civil National Business Centre with a cheque or postal order for your court fee. If you are applying for help with fees send the paper form with either:

  • the 'help with fees' reference number you will get when you apply for the help online 
  • your completed 'help with fees' application form, if you are applying for help by post

Civil National Business Centre 

St Katharine's House 

21-27 St Katharine's Street  

Northampton 

NN1 2LH 

Help claiming by post 

Contact the Civil National Business Centre.

Civil National Business Centre

Telephone: 0300 123 1372

Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm

Find our about call charges.

What happens next 

You might have to go to a court hearing if the other people or business (the 'defendant') denies owing the money and you disagree with their response.

You can get the court to order them to pay if they:

  • do not respond to your claim 
  • admit they owe you but do not pay

If they still do not pay, you can ask the court to go to take further steps to collect the money - for example, by using bailiffs. 

See also: