How to Recover a Debt Through the Small Claims Court
Send a letter before claim, issue online through the county court if it is ignored, enter judgment in default or after a short hearing, then enforce. Court fees start at £35 and are recovered from the debtor, but legal costs are not.
Key points
- The small claims track covers debts up to £10,000; you recover court fees and limited expenses from the debtor, but not solicitors' fees.
- Send a compliant letter before claim first: against an individual the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims requires an information sheet, a reply form and 30 days to respond.
- You have six years to claim; interest runs at 8 per cent a year against individuals or 8 per cent above base rate plus fixed compensation between businesses.
- Issue fees run from £35 for a claim up to £300 to £455 for £10,000; the debtor has 14 days to respond or you can enter judgment in default.
- Defended small claims go through compulsory free telephone mediation before a short informal hearing, and a judgment still has to be enforced, each method carrying its own fee.
To recover a debt of up to £10,000 in England and Wales you send a formal letter before claim, issue a claim online through the county court if the debtor still does not pay, obtain judgment by default or after a short informal hearing, and then enforce it if the money still does not arrive. The court fee for issuing starts at £35 and the whole process can be run without a solicitor, which is the point of the small claims track: you recover court fees and limited expenses from the debtor but not legal costs. This guide takes a creditor through each stage, with the time limits, interest, fees, costs and enforcement options as at October 2026, and when a solicitor, a debt recovery agent or insolvency is the better route.
Before you claim
The small claims court, properly the small claims track of the county court, works best against a debtor who can pay but will not. Before spending anything, check the debtor exists and is solvent: look a company up at Companies House, search the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, and confirm the name on your invoices matches the legal entity you contracted with. A judgment against a dissolved company or an insolvent individual is worth nothing, and a claim cannot be issued while an individual is protected by the Breathing Space debt respite scheme.
The letter before claim
Where the debtor is an individual, including a sole trader, the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims applies to any business creditor. Your letter of claim must set out the debt, how it arose, any interest and charges, and how to pay, and it must enclose an up-to-date statement of account together with the court's Information Sheet and Reply Form. The debtor then has 30 days to respond. If they return the Reply Form asking for documents or time to get advice, you must wait at least 30 days from receipt, supply any documents within 30 days, and give at least 14 days' notice before issuing. Ignoring the protocol can cost you interest and court fees even if you win.
Where the debtor is a company or partnership the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct applies instead. There is no prescribed form, but the letter should state the amount, the basis of the claim, the interest claimed and a reasonable deadline, usually 14 days for a straightforward invoice, and warn that proceedings will follow without further notice. Send it by post and email, keep proof and attach the invoices. The guide to dispute resolution and litigation explains what the court expects before any claim is issued.
Time limits and interest
Under section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 you have six years from the date the debt fell due to issue a claim. A written acknowledgment or a part payment by the debtor restarts the six years. After that the debt still exists but cannot be enforced in court.
You can add interest. Against an individual the usual claim is for simple interest at 8 per cent a year under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984, calculated from the due date to the date of judgment; the court has a discretion but normally allows it. Between businesses the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 applies: statutory interest at 8 per cent above the Bank of England base rate runs from the agreed payment date or, if none, 30 days after the invoice or delivery, and you can add fixed compensation for each late invoice of £40 for debts under £1,000, £70 for debts from £1,000 to £9,999.99 and £100 for debts of £10,000 or more, plus reasonable recovery costs above those sums. If your contract sets its own rate you claim that instead; either way the calculation goes in the claim form.
Issuing the claim
Online or on paper
Most debt claims are issued online through the GOV.UK money claims service, with the older Money Claim Online system still handling some claims; both cover fixed sums up to £99,999.99 against a defendant with an address for service in England or Wales. Claims that cannot go online, for example against a government department, go on paper form N1 to the Civil National Business Centre.
Court fees
The issue fee depends on the amount claimed, including interest, and was left unchanged by the July 2026 fee uplift. It is £35 for claims up to £300, £50 up to £500, £70 up to £1,000, £80 up to £1,500, £115 up to £3,000, £205 up to £5,000 and £455 up to £10,000. Above £10,000 the fee is 5 per cent of the claim, up to £200,000. Individuals on a low income can apply for Help with Fees. If you win, the fee is added to the judgment and recovered from the debtor.
The debtor's response and default judgment
The court tells you the date on which the claim counts as served, and from then the debtor has 14 days to pay, admit the debt, file an acknowledgment of service or defend. Filing an acknowledgment extends the time for a defence to 28 days after service. If the debtor admits the debt and offers instalments you can accept or ask the court to set the rate. If nothing is filed in time you request judgment in default online, and you have a county court judgment that appears on the register for six years unless it is paid within a month.
Defended claims, mediation and the hearing
If a defence is filed, both sides complete a directions questionnaire (form N180) and claims of £10,000 or less are allocated to the small claims track. Mediation is then compulsory: both parties must attend a free one-hour telephone appointment with the HM Courts and Tribunals Service mediation service, and a party who refuses risks strike-out or a costs order. Many debt disputes settle at this stage, often on instalments.
If mediation fails the court gives standard directions and fixes a hearing at a county court hearing centre. The claimant pays a hearing fee when the court asks for it: £27 for claims up to £300, rising through £59, £85, £123 and £181 to £346 for claims over £3,000. Each side must send the other and the court copies of every document it relies on at least 14 days before the hearing. The hearing is informal, before a district judge, without the strict rules of evidence; it usually lasts an hour or two and the judge decides on the day. Where both sides agree, the claim can be decided on the papers without anyone attending.
What you can recover in costs
Rule 27.14 of the Civil Procedure Rules limits the costs the loser pays on the small claims track to the court fees, a fixed sum towards legal costs of between £50 and £100 if a solicitor issued the claim, reasonable travel and overnight expenses of a party or witness, loss of earnings or leave of up to £95 a day per person for attending the hearing, and an expert's fee of up to £750 where the court allowed expert evidence. Solicitors' fees for preparing and attending are not recoverable unless the other side behaved unreasonably.
In practice, paying a solicitor to run a small claim from start to finish rarely makes sense unless the debt is large or the dispute complicated; many creditors use one for the letter before claim and for advice on a defence, then appear themselves. The guide on how much solicitors charge explains hourly rates and fixed fees.
Enforcing the judgment
A judgment is an order to pay, not a payment. If the debtor still does not pay you choose an enforcement method, and the fee for each is added to the debt. The main options are:
- A warrant of control (£96), under which county court enforcement agents visit the debtor to take goods for sale; it is available for judgments up to £5,000.
- A writ of control in the High Court (£82 court fee) enforced by a High Court enforcement officer. Judgments of £600 or more can be transferred to the High Court and judgments over £5,000 must be, unless the debt arises from a regulated consumer credit agreement. The officer's fees, starting with a compliance fee of £79 plus VAT for writs issued since 1 May 2026, are added to the debt and recovered from the debtor, but if nothing is recovered the creditor pays the compliance fee.
- An attachment of earnings order (£139), which deducts instalments from an employed debtor's wages; it does not work against the self-employed or companies.
- A third-party debt order (£139), which freezes and takes money from the debtor's bank account or from someone who owes the debtor money.
- A charging order (£139), which secures the debt against the debtor's property or land, with a later application for an order for sale if the debt is large.
- An order to attend court for questioning (£69, plus £139 if an enforcement agent serves it), which forces the debtor to disclose their means so you can pick the right method.
Judgments of £5,000 or more carry interest at 8 per cent a year until paid. Choose the method that fits what you know about the debtor: a bank account you have details of points to a third-party debt order, a steady job to attachment of earnings, a company with stock and vehicles to the High Court. The guide to debt and bankruptcy law covers what happens if the debtor cannot pay at all.
Solicitors, debt recovery agents and alternatives
Solicitors who offer debt recovery must publish their prices for undisputed debts up to £100,000 under the Solicitors Regulation Authority's transparency rules, so you can compare fixed fees for a letter before claim, issuing the claim and entering judgment before you instruct anyone. A solicitor's letter often produces payment where your own did not, and a business law solicitor earns their fee when the debtor raises a defence, where several invoices or a contract dispute are involved, or when the debt is large enough to justify High Court enforcement. Debt collection agencies work on commission, typically a percentage of what they recover, and cannot add their charges to the debt unless your contract allows it.
For an undisputed debt of £750 or more owed by a company, or £5,000 or more owed by an individual, a statutory demand is an alternative to court: it is served without a court fee, gives the debtor 21 days to pay, and if unpaid lets you present a winding-up or bankruptcy petition, which requires a court fee and a substantial deposit towards the official receiver's costs and should never be used where the debt is genuinely disputed. Insolvency rarely recovers much for an ordinary creditor, so it is a threat that works best against a debtor who has the money. Scotland uses the simple procedure for claims up to £5,000 and Northern Ireland has its own small claims process, so the steps above apply only in England and Wales. For local help, compare business law solicitors in Sheffield, the solicitors in Liverpool or the solicitors near me search; the guides to sole trader versus limited company and business law cover how to structure a business to limit its exposure to bad debts.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to recover a debt through the small claims court?
If the debtor ignores the claim, you can usually request default judgment about three weeks after issue and start enforcement straight away. If the claim is defended, the directions questionnaire, mediation appointment and hearing add several months, and the wait for a hearing date varies considerably between courts. The letter before claim stage adds at least 30 days where the debtor is an individual. Enforcement, if needed, adds more time again.
Can I claim my legal costs and my time back?
Only in a limited way. On the small claims track the loser pays the winner's court fees, a small fixed sum towards the cost of issuing if a solicitor did it, travel expenses, loss of earnings of up to £95 a day for attending the hearing and up to £750 for an expert the court allowed. Your own time spent preparing the case and any solicitors' fees for running it are not recoverable unless the other side behaved unreasonably.
What if the debtor ignores the judgment?
You enforce it. The usual choices are a warrant of control (£96) for county court enforcement agents, a writ of control in the High Court (£82) for judgments of £600 or more, an attachment of earnings order against an employed debtor, a third-party debt order against a bank account or a charging order over property, each costing £139. If you do not know the debtor's means, an order to attend court for questioning (£69) compels them to disclose them.
Can I add interest to an unpaid invoice?
Yes. Where the debtor is a business, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives you interest at 8 per cent above the Bank of England base rate from the due date plus fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100 per invoice depending on its size. Where the debtor is a consumer, you claim simple interest at 8 per cent a year under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984. If your contract sets its own rate, that applies instead.
Is a statutory demand quicker than a court claim?
It can be, for an undisputed debt of at least £750 from a company or £5,000 from an individual. There is no court fee to serve it and the debtor has 21 days to pay before you can petition for winding up or bankruptcy. But a petition itself is expensive, with a court fee and a deposit towards the official receiver's costs running to thousands of pounds, and if the debtor shows the debt is genuinely disputed the demand will be set aside and you may pay their costs.
Do I have to go to mediation?
For a defended claim worth £10,000 or less, yes. Both parties must take part in the free telephone mediation offered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service before the claim proceeds to a hearing, and a party who fails to attend without good reason can have their claim or defence struck out or be ordered to pay costs. The appointment lasts about an hour, nothing said in it can be used at the hearing, and any agreement reached is recorded as a binding settlement.
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This guide describes the law in England and Wales as at 30 October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice about your situation; the law and the figures it quotes change, so check the position with a solicitor before acting. LawFirms.co.uk is a directory and does not provide legal services.