Taking somebody to the Small Claims Court in the UK will cost you money, there is a sliding scale of costs depending on how much you claim, for example, if you are claiming £1000 from a person or business, it will cost you £140* in Court fees. If you are claiming for £4000, the fees will be £465*.
(*These are the total Court fees to take a Small Claims case, in England & Wales, through to a Judgment, figures correct as at April 2012).
There are three separate sliding scale Court Fees that make up the figure(s) quoted above, each fee is payable separately. You pay one fee up-front to start your claim and the other fees are then payable as the Case progresses through the Court system, if you win the case you’ll get your fees back, e.g. if you claim £4000 and win the Case, the defendant will be ordered to pay your claim + costs, i.e. £4465.
Small claims court fees are detailed on the justice.gov.uk website in Form EX50 (see below for the link and more on navigating EX50), they are as follows:
- A Fee to Start your Claim (sliding scale: £25-£100)
- A Fee to Allocate your Claim to a Court Track (£40) only payable if your claim is for more than £1500
- A Hearing Fee (sliding scale: £25-£325) payable if/when your case goes to a Hearing.
HM Courts Form EX50 has details of Court Costs /Fees. It's a large document and IMO a difficult one to navigate as it contains details of fees for all Courts (High Court, County Court, Small claims etc). To work out the Court costs applicable to your case, search the EX50 document, for the following terms:
Starting your claim
Allocation to Track
Hearing Fees
Small claims court costs are (only) payable by the Claimant, and are paid as the case moves through the court system; there are no equivalent court fees for the defendant to pay. Your court fees are automatically added to the amount of your Claim and will therefore be paid by the defendant, if you win the Case.
Additional Fees - Enforcing the Judgment.
There is a possibility that you may incur additional court costs even after the Judgment. If you win your case and the defendant refuses to pay, you will need to Enforce the Judgment, which again requires a fee. As of Jan 2011, all the enforcement options (e.g. A Warrant of execution, to send in the Bailiffs) have a flat fee of £100.
As with the other Court fees, the enforcement fee is added to your Claim, and assuming the defendant does eventually pay up, you will get the fee back.
To Summarise; There are fees payable at every significant stage as your Case progresses through the Court system, the fees provide funding to the HM Courts Service, but also serve to discourage timewasting and frivolous claims. As a typical claimant, you'll probably pay around ~£300 in fees to have your day in Court, and considering that the defendant may owe you a considerable sum already, it's important to take an objective look at your Claim and make a hard-headed decision as to whether to go forward with your Court action (i.e. is it winnable?). If you are unsure, a consultation with a Legal advisor or Solicitor may be worthwhile.
For guidance on starting your Court Action see: Planning/Starting Court action with Money Claim Online
MY CASE: I claimed £1650 from my Landlord who refused to return my deposit and 6 weeks advanced rent. The fees were £80 to start my Claim using www.moneyclaim.gov.uk, then a further £40 to Allocate the Claim to a 'Track', then a Hearing fee of £165. And finally, £100 to Enforce the judgment; Total £385. See My Court Case for details. I won the case and the fees were added to my Claim, i.e. the final cost to my Landlord was over £2000 (Note: Figures are correct as at April 2012).