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How long does a small claim take?

A realistic, stage-by-stage timeline for a county court small claim in England and Wales, from the letter before claim to actually being paid, using the latest official HMCTS figures.

Checked against official sources on 30 September 2026. Court fees from 13 July 2026; enforcement agent fees from 1 May 2026.

The short answer

The timetable depends almost entirely on what the defendant does. If the defendant ignores the claim, a judgment can follow within a few weeks of issue. If the defendant files a defence, the claim goes through a directions questionnaire, free telephone mediation and, if it does not settle, a hearing, and the wait to a trial is usually the best part of a year. Getting a judgment is not the same as getting paid: enforcement adds its own timetable.

The figures below come from the Civil Procedure Rules, HMCTS processing times for the Civil National Business Centre (23 September 2026) and the Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly for April to June 2026.

Stage 1: before you issue

The court expects a letter before claim. Where no specific protocol applies (for example one individual claiming from another), the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct says the defendant should reply within a reasonable time, which is 14 days in a straightforward case. Where a business (including a sole trader) is claiming a debt from an individual, the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims applies instead: the debtor has 30 days from the date at the top of the Letter of Claim, and if they reply asking for documents or time to get advice, proceedings should not start until at least 30 days after the reply form or the documents were provided, whichever is later. Where the debtor has responded but no agreement is reached, the creditor should give at least 14 days’ notice before issuing.

So the pre-action stage takes at least two weeks, or six weeks or more for a business claiming from an individual. See letter before claim.

Stage 2: issue and service

Claims started through Online Civil Money Claims (the gov.uk ‘Make a money claim’ service) or Money Claim Online are issued automatically. A paper N1 sent to the Civil National Business Centre waits about 4 working days before processing begins. The court then serves the claim by post and tells you the date of issue.

• Paper claim served by post: deemed served on the second business day after posting (CPR 6.14).
• Money Claim Online: deemed served on the fifth day after issue, whether or not that day is a business day (PD 7C 5.7).
• Online Civil Money Claims: the defendant’s deadline runs from the date of issue rather than from service (PD 51R 5.1).

If you serve the claim form yourself, you have four months from issue to do so (CPR 7.5) and must file a certificate of service before asking for a default judgment.

Stage 3: the defendant’s deadline

• Paper and MCOL claims: 14 days after service of the particulars of claim to file a defence, or 28 days if the defendant files an acknowledgment of service first (CPR 15.4). The parties may agree an extension of up to a further 28 days, which the defendant must notify to the court in writing (CPR 15.5).
• Online Civil Money Claims: the defendant must respond by 4pm on the 28th day after issue. The parties may agree an extension of up to 28 days in total, recorded on the online service before the deadline expires.

Allow a month to six weeks from issue before you know whether the claim is defended. See what happens after you issue.

Stage 4a: if the defendant does nothing

Once the deadline passes with no response, you can request judgment in default. Requests made through Online Civil Money Claims or MCOL are processed automatically. A paper request on form N225 or N227 waits about 27 working days at the Civil National Business Centre before processing even begins, so the online route is materially faster. See default judgment.

Stage 4b: if the claim is defended

1. Directions questionnaire. The court sends a notice of proposed allocation. For a small claim the return date must be at least 14 days after the notice is deemed served (CPR 26.4(6)); a party who ignores it gets a further 7-day notice and then has their statement of case struck out.
2. Mediation. Under the PD 51ZE pilot (running to 6 April 2027), a defended claim for a specified sum is referred to the free HMCTS Small Claims Mediation Service once all questionnaires are in. In the online service the claim is stayed for 28 days for this purpose. HMCTS reports that settlement agreements in Online Civil Money Claims are reached in an average of 24 calendar days from issue. See mediation.
3. Allocation and directions. A claim referred to mediation that does not settle must be allocated to a track no later than four weeks from the date the last directions questionnaire is filed (CPR 26.7(3)).
4. Hearing. The court must give at least 21 days’ notice of the final hearing date unless the parties agree to less (CPR 27.4(2)), and each side must file and serve its documents at least 14 days before the hearing. See the hearing.

The overall picture: the median time from issue to trial for small claims was 41.0 weeks in April to June 2026 (0.7 weeks longer than the same quarter in 2025), and the mean was 48.5 weeks. Those figures count only cases that reach a trial, and waits are longer in London and the South East. HMCTS’s fact sheet for the online service reports an average of 44 weeks from receipt to first hearing, against 53 weeks on paper.

Stage 5: after judgment

A judgment orders payment but does not collect it. If the debtor does not pay, enforcement has its own timetable (court fees from 13 July 2026):

• Warrant of control (£96): a paper request waits about 14 working days before processing begins; requests through MCOL are automated. Once the warrant is issued, the enforcement agent (bailiff) must give the debtor at least 14 clear days’ notice before taking control of goods, and HMCTS says the agent will call at the address if the debtor has not paid within 15 working days of the warrant being issued.
• High Court writ of control (£82): about 13 working days for the certificate of judgment, then the same 14 clear days’ notice.
• Third party debt order (£139): final hearing not less than 28 days after the interim order.
• Charging order (£139): about 13 working days to issue; the debtor then has 28 days from service to object; final orders take about 17 working days to draw up.

See enforcing a judgment and bailiffs and High Court enforcement, or use the enforcement chooser.

The timeline at a glance

Use the deadline calculator or ask ClaimsBot to apply these to your claim.

Sources

• Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly: April to June 2026 (Ministry of Justice)
• HMCTS civil business centres performance information
• CPR Part 15: Defence and reply
• Practice Direction 51R: Online Civil Money Claims Pilot
• CPR Part 26: Case management, preliminary stage
• CPR Part 27: The small claims track
• Fact sheet: Online Civil Money Claims (HMCTS)
• Apply for a warrant of control (HMCTS guidance)