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Your Small Claims Documents

The Letter Before Action

Explain in plain English the following four points:

Send by email to the bailiff company and the creditor or council, and take a screenshot of the sent email.

The defendants have 14 days to acknowledge the claim and a further 14 days to defend it.

If no defence is given after 28 days, apply to the court for a judgment in default.

The Claim Particulars

On a form N1.

This outlines the grounds of the claim, giving how much is owed along with your expenses and costs you are claiming. You can recover £19 an hour for your work administering and researching your claim. You can get about 15 to 20 hours as a non-trained person.

If you qualify for free court fees, you complete an online court fee remission application.

The Witness Statement

A first-person account of the history of the debt and the events leading up to the claim.

The Evidence Bundle

Where possible, you must support your claim with evidence. For example, if you moved and the bailiff took enforcement steps at your new address using a warrant showing your previous address, you must show evidence of the date you moved.

You file the witness statement and evidence bundle at court when the court sends you a form N150 allocation questionnaire to complete and return. On the form N150 you allocate the claim to the Small Claims Track.

The Skeleton Argument

You must assist the court with the legal grounds giving rise to your claim. This document sets out all the breaches of law and regulations. It also covers any special damages you can claim along with your costs and expenses.

On the day of the hearing, if the defendants give you a skeleton argument, you hand your skeleton argument to the defendant or their solicitor. Otherwise, you only need to give the skeleton argument to the court.