The latest update to the Practice Directions of the Civil Procedure Rules is now allowing for a “Small Claims Paper Determination Pilot”. Rule 51.2 allows the Court to decide that a Small Claim can be determined without a hearing and without needing the agreement of all the parties (their agreement is currently required under Rule 27.10). The aim is to speed up proceedings for low value claims, as Courts are struggling to deal with case loads.
A Small Claim is one which has a value of less than £10,000.
The Pilot Scheme is running from 1 June 2022 for two years and those Courts currently taking part are Cardiff, Manchester, Gilford, Bedford, Luton and Staines. The Court has identified suitable cases as those where no oral evidence is required, for example a claim of less than £1,000 where there is no significant factual dispute or complexity that requires oral evidence or advocacy; flight delay compensation and issuing of a parking ticket on private land.
The parties to the claim will be given 21 days to raise an objection to a paper determination, and if one of the parties is not happy and objects a Judge will decide if a hearing is required or a determination on paper can still be given.
I think this is a really good idea for those claims which are straight forward and low in value. The primary reason is it removes the costs of attending a hearing. Even a claim which is relatively modest in value can still attract a hefty attendance fee. So, I think in terms of streamlining the process and making it more user friendly and cheaper for those parties involved, it is about time we saw some fundamental shift from everybody having to turn up at court for a determination.
Toby Joel, Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution and Debt Recovery
