Step one: the letter before claim — most fights end here
Courts expect you to try to settle first, and frankly it works: a properly written letter, showing you know the route to court, gets a remarkable number of people paying within days.
- Say what happened, what you’re owed and why, list your evidence, and give a clear deadline to pay — 14 days is typical between individuals; a business chasing an individual for a debt must give at least 30 days under the Debt Pre-Action Protocol.
- State plainly: “If I do not receive payment by [date], I will issue a claim in the county court without further notice.”
- Send it so you can prove it arrived, and keep a copy — the court will want to see it. Sorted’s letter writer drafts it from one paragraph.
Add the interest
You can usually claim statutory interest (8% a year) on top of the debt from the date it was due — businesses chasing other businesses can have contractual or late-payment rates instead. Mention it in the letter; it concentrates minds.
Step two: claim online — the fee table
The official Money Claims service on GOV.UK handles claims up to £10,000 online — it calculates the fee, adds the interest and serves the claim for you. These are the issue fees, read directly from the live GOV.UK table:
| You’re claiming | Issue fee |
|---|
| Up to £300 | £35 |
| £300.01 – £500 | £50 |
| £500.01 – £1,000 | £70 |
| £1,000.01 – £1,500 | £80 |
| £1,500.01 – £3,000 | £115 |
| £3,000.01 – £5,000 | £205 |
| £5,000.01 – £10,000 | £455 |
- A hearing fee can apply later if it doesn’t settle — and if you win, you normally claim your fees back from the other side on top of the debt.
- Low income or qualifying benefits? The Help with Fees scheme can wipe the fee entirely — apply online first and take the reference into your claim.
- The defendant gets a deadline to respond: pay, admit and offer instalments, or defend. Ignore it entirely and you can request judgment by default.
Before you spend a penny — can they pay?
A judgment against someone with no money, no job and no assets is a piece of paper. If the person or company looks like a ghost,
check the firm first (Companies House + FCA register) — suing a dissolved company wins you nothing. And anyone demanding upfront “court fees” by text or email to RELEASE money owed to you is a scam —
check it.
Step three: free mediation, then an informal hearing
- For most money claims under £10,000 in England & Wales, a free telephone mediation with the HMCTS Small Claims Mediation Service is now a required step — about an hour, mediator speaks to each side separately, and a large share of cases settle right there with a binding agreement.
- No settlement? The hearing is nothing like TV court: often by phone or video, a district judge asks questions, you explain in plain English and show your evidence (messages, photos, invoices, the letter before claim, bank statements).
- Each side normally bears its own legal costs in small claims, win or lose — the rule that makes the track safe for ordinary people against companies with lawyers.
The quiet superpower
You don’t need legal language. Judges in small claims deal with unrepresented people all day — clear dates, clear evidence and a calm story beat jargon every time.
Step four: won but still not paid? Enforce it
A judgment (CCJ) gives you teeth — each route has a fee that’s usually added to what they owe:
- Warrant of control — court enforcement agents collect payment or take goods.
- Attachment of earnings — taken straight from their wages.
- Third-party debt order — frozen and paid straight from their bank account.
- Charging order — secured against their property, paid when it’s sold.
And the quiet pressure: the CCJ sits on their credit file for 6 years unless they pay within a month — for many debtors, that alone unlocks the wallet.
Do this now
Tonight, free: gather the paper trail (messages, invoices, photos, dates) and draft the letter before claim — give the deadline, mention the 8% interest and the court route.
Deadline passes? Claim online at GOV.UK — and check Help with Fees first if money is tight. Save it all as a case in My Sorted so the dates track themselves.
Scotland & Northern Ireland
Scotland: money disputes up to £5,000 use Simple Procedure through the sheriff court (forms + guidance on scotcourts.gov.uk). Northern Ireland: its own small claims process runs through the NI Courts and Tribunals Service (nidirect). The England & Wales fees above don’t apply there.