Civil Money Claims will go through a series of iterations following national launch
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has launched a new online service to start an action in a county court for claims of up to £10,000.
Named Civil Money Claims, it replaces the Money Claim Online service that has been in operation since 2002. It has been launched after a year of development with members of the judiciary, representatives for the advice and legal community and users.
A spokesperson for HMCTS said there have been a number of improvements in the user experience, such as the simplification of language used, and that the new service will be subject to a series of iterations as it receives feedback from the public.
More than 1,400 people have already used an earlier pilot of the system launched in August last year. HMCTS said that over 80% of those early users, including individuals and small businesses, found the service very good and easy to use.
Justice Birss (pictured), chair of the sub-committee of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee dealing with the Civil Money Claims pilot, said: “This is an important step in the modernisation of our courts and tribunals system. For too long the perceived delays and complexity of the system have put off too many people from using the civil courts to make a small claim.
“When it is complete this new online route will give members of the public and small businesses a more user-friendly way to access justice. The system now being made available to the public is the first stage in that new route.”
The initiative is a step in the modernisation of the civil justice system, and begins the response to the call by Lord Briggs in his 2016 report on the structure of civil courts to handle claims for up to £25,000 in an online court.
Image from Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, Open Government Licence v3.0
