Undisputed Court Claims
Pre-issue
In all cases we offer a fixed fee initial advice service. We will take your instructions and advise you on what we consider to best the best way to proceed. The cost of our fixed fee initial advice service is £240.00 including VAT (£200 plus £40 VAT). This includes an interview with you of up to one hour together with an advice letter or email following your appointment.
Our fee includes:
- Taking your instructions from you and advising you in person and in writing on what we consider to be the best course of action
Issue of proceedings
To issue a claim in the county court, we will charge you a fixed fee as set out below. In addition, you will have to pay the applicable court fee. The amount of the court fee is set by the government and is subject to change from time to time. The fees as set out below, are current as of June 2024.
The total amount you will have to pay is dependent upon the size of the debt you want to collect. These fees and costs are in addition to our pre-issue costs described above.
| Amount of Debt | Our Fee (inc. VAT) | Court Fee (not subject to VAT) | Total (inc. VAT) |
| Up to £5,000 | £600 (£500 + £100 VAT) | £35 to £205 | £635 (£535 + £100 VAT) to £805 (£705 + £100 VAT) |
| £5,000.01 to £10,000 | £1,200 (£1,000 + £200 VAT) | £455 | £1,655 (£1,455 + £200 VAT) |
| £10,000.01 to £200,000 | £2,400 (£2,000 + £400 VAT) | £5% of claim value | £2,400 (£2,000 + £400 VAT) + £5% of claim value (£0 VAT) |
| More than £200,000 | £6,000 (£5,000 + £1,000 VAT) | £10,000 | £16,000 (£15,000 + £1,000 VAT) |
Should you wish to proceed with a claim please note the following key information:
- The cost of a letter of claim is often not recoverable during court action;
- Even if the cost of the letter is recovered, the VAT element of our fee is not recoverable through court proceedings
- The VAT element of our fee is not recoverable through court proceedings;
- In addition to your debt, you might be able to add interest and compensation to the amount claimed from the debtor. Any interest and compensation you charge may take the debt into a higher banding and may attract higher costs; and
- The above costs only relate to the cost of commencing court proceedings, further costs may be required to enter Judgment and commence enforcement action, for example, to instruct a bailiff or obtain a charging order.
Our fee includes:
- Calculating the total amount that you are able to claim from the debtor, including interest and statutory compensation (where you are able to claim compensation);
- Undertaking solvency searches in respect of your debtor to establish whether they are subject to any formal insolvency processes
- Preparing and sending a letter of claim to your debtor
- Receiving payment and sending onto you
- If payment is not received within seven days (for a business debtor) or thirty days (for an individual debtor) providing you with advice on the next steps
- Advising you on the appropriate next steps
- Issuing a county court claim against your debtor or commencing insolvency proceedings, as appropriate
- In the event the debt is disputed advising you on the steps that need to be taken, and any additional costs that might be involved, to investigate and deal with that dispute
- Carrying out up to date solvency and asset searches
- Drafting the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim
- Presenting the claim at court for issue and service
- Receiving payment from the debtor and sending on to you
- If payment is not received within fourteen days of the service of the Claim (28 days where an Acknowledgement of Service is filed by the debtor) providing you with advice as to the next steps and likely costs. This might involve entering judgment in default or seeking summary judgment for example.
- Updating you as to service and the periods by which the debtor is required to respond
Our fee does not include:
- Settlement negotiations
- Dealing with any disputes or correspondence received in response from your debtor
- Attending to service of the Claim where it is not possible for the court to do so, for example, if the debtor is residing outside of England and Wales
- Dealing with any Acknowledgement of Service or Defence that is filed by the debtor
- Settlement negotiations
- Dealing with any disputes and/or additional correspondence received from the debtor
How long the process take will vary depending upon the nature and complexity of the case and whether the court is working in arrears. Generally, however, it will take between three to six weeks for a claim to be issued at court, served upon the debtor and for the debtor to file a response to your claim, if they choose to do so. If an Acknowledgement of Service is filed by the debtor, they will be allowed an additional fourteen days to respond thereby extending these timescales.
If a defence is filed then this is likely to impact increase the length of time your case will take. If a defence is filed we will advise on the likely timescales which would be highly dependent on the individual circumstances of your case.
Entering Judgment
Once you have issued a claim, if the debtor does not respond we can ask the Court to enter judgment without the need for a hearing to take place. In these circumstances, judgment can usually be obtained within three to six weeks of the proceedings being issued, although that is a matter for the court and something which is out of our control.
We will charge you a fixed fee for entering judgment. The amount we will charge you depends on the size of the debt. Details of the fees we charge you are set out below. These fees are in addition the costs described above for sending the debtor a letter before action and for issuing proceedings at Court.
| Amount of debt | Our fee (including VAT) | Total (including VAT) |
| Up to £5,000 | £120 (£100 plus £20 VAT) | £120 (£100 plus £20 VAT) |
| Over £5,000 | £240 (£200 plus £40 VAT) | £240 (£200 plus £40 VAT) |
Should you wish to proceed with Judgment please note the following key information:
- The VAT element of our fee is not recoverable through court proceedings
- The above costs only relate to obtaining judgment from the Court, further costs may be required to commence enforcement action, for example, to instruct a bailiff or obtain a charging order
Our fee includes:
- Completing the judgment request form
- Liaising with you as to payment made since the Claim was issued
- Submitting the judgment request to court and monitoring receipt
- Providing you with a copy of the judgment upon receipt and advising you and seeking your instructions as to whether (and how) you wish to enforce the judgment
- Receiving payment and sending onto you
Our fee does not include:
- Settlement negotiations
- Dealing with any application made by the debtor to set aside Judgment
- Dealing with disputes and/or any additional correspondence received from the debtor
Enforcement proceedings
Once we have obtained judgment against the debtor, you may wish to take steps to enforce the judgment if the debtor still does not pay. The cost involved in doing that varies depending on the method of enforcement. Our fees for taking enforcement action are set out below.
| Method of Enforcement | Our fee (inc. VAT) | Court Fees/Other Disbursements (not subject to VAT) | Total (inc. VAT) |
| Warrant of Control | £300 (£250 plus £50 VAT) | £91 court fee | £391 (£333 plus £50 VAT) |
| Writ of Control | £300 (£250 plus £50 VAT) | £91 court fee | £391 (£333 plus £50 VAT) |
| Order to Obtain Information | £300 (£250 plus £50 VAT) | £65 court fee and £131 bailiff service | £496 (£446 plus £50 VAT) |
| Charging Order | £600 (£500 plus £100 VAT) | £131 court fee A Land Registry fee of £23 will usually be necessary to obtain information about the property and to deal with registration of the charge once granted |
£754 (£654 plus £100 VAT) |
| Attachment of Earnings | £600 (£500 plus £100 VAT) | £131 court fee | £731 (£631 plus £100 VAT) |
Should you wish to proceed with enforcement please note the following key information:
- The VAT element of our fee is not recoverable through enforcement proceedings; and
- Only part of the main element of our fees are recoverable from the debtor (that is forms part of the court order that the debtor has to pay in addition to the debt).
While some costs may be recoverable from the debtor you will be liable for all of our costs regardless of whether those costs are recoverable from the debtor.
Our fee includes:
- Making enquiries/searches in relation to what assets you debtor owns and what their income is
- Advising you as to viability of enforcement action and which method may result in the best prospect of recovery
- Completing the enforcement application request
- Liaising with HM Land Registry, if so required
- Liaising with the court as necessary
- Liaising with you as to payment made
- Submitting the enforcement application to court and monitoring receipt of the initial order
- Dealing with service of the court order, if so required
- Registration at HM Land Registry, if so required
- Receiving payment and sending onto you
Our fee does not include:
- Settlement negotiations
- Dealing with any applications made by the debtor to set aside Judgment and/or to stay enforcement
- Dealing with disputes, any additional correspondence raised by the debtor and/or contested applications
How long enforcement action will take to conclude will largely be dependent upon the method of enforcement you use and/or is suitable to your case. We estimate that on average the process would be concluded in two to nine weeks. The court process as a whole might take between six and fifteen weeks to conclude.
The range of costs you will incur for the whole process will be highly dependent on the value of the claim, how quickly it is settled and whether any enforcement action is required. However, the range of costs you will incur for the whole process for a non-disputed claim is likely to be between £1,045 (£905.00 plus £140 VAT) to £4,099 (£3,519 plus £580 VAT) plus the amount of the fee charged by the court, as set out above.
Defended/Disputed Cases
If a matter is disputed at the outset, or it becomes disputed as the case progresses, then we will not charge you all of the fixed fees set out above.
Our fixed fees set out above will apply up to the point your claim becomes disputed.
Any additional work will be charged at an hourly rate. The applicable hourly rate that we will charge you will depend on who is dealing with the case and their experience. The applicable hourly rates are set out below:
Partner £300 (£250 plus £50 VAT)
Solicitor £234 (£195 plus £39 VAT)
Paralegals/Trainees £120 (£100 plus £20 VAT)
Each defended or disputed case is different. Different issues will be raised. Those issues might be more or less complicated. When a case becomes disputed or defended we will provide you with an estimate of our fees and time that it will take for your case to come to trial. We will not undertake any work unless you have agreed that estimate. You must, however, be aware that it is only an estimate as the circumstances of the case change the level of costs may also increase or decrease. If that does happen then we will provide you with an updated estimate of costs.
How long a case takes to reach trial will be dependent upon the track to which the court allocates the claim to but also the nature and complexity of the issues involved, judicial availability, the conduct of the parties and whether the court in question is working in arrears. We estimate that in general it will take the following length of time to reach trial:
Small Claims Track (claims with a value of £10,000 or lower) – Eight to sixteen weeks
Fast Track (claims with a value between £10,000.01 to £25,000) – Thirty weeks
Multi-Track (claims with a value over £25,000.01) – Thirty weeks to fifty-two weeks
Recoverability of Costs
Where possible we will claim the above costs and court fees from your debtor in addition to the debt. In most instances the fixed costs and court fees are recoverable. However, the VAT element of our fees and expenses might not be recoverable from your debtor. Fees and costs in excess of the fixed costs and court fees may also not be recoverable from your debtor.
The Late Payment of Commercial Debt Regulations (Interest) Acts of 1998 and 2013 allows creditors to charge interest on some outstanding debts at 8% above the Bank of England base rate and compensation of up to £100 (dependent upon the value of the debt) per debt. Where applicable we will also seek to recover this from the debtor.
Please note that interest and compensation might take your debt into a higher fee banding.
You will have to pay all of our costs regardless of what costs are recovered from the debtor.
The costs set out above all assume that the debtor is based in England and Wales and that the claim you have is subject to English law.
Whilst debt recovery work is generally undertaken on a fixed fee basis the information above is only provided to assist you in understanding how our fees are calculated. The prices provided are indicative of the likely cost of a case and should not be taken as an absolute quote. You must still contact us to obtain a detailed quote that takes into account the individual circumstances of your case. In respect of particularly complex, unusual or otherwise non-straightforward cases we reserve the right to conduct the matter on the basis of the hourly rates set out above. We will, of course, not undertake any chargeable work on your behalf without having first obtained your express consent to do so.
Where we make electronic payments of monies to you or to other parties on your behalf then we will charge an additional professional fee of £36 (£30.00 plus VAT of £6.00) per transfer. Our professional fees in this regard are in addition to any charges made by our bank which will be payable by you as a disbursement.
If we make an electronic payment of monies to you or on your behalf then this will incur a bank charge. That bank charge will be payable by you as a disbursement in additional to our professional fees for making the transfer. The bank charge will vary depending on how a payment is sent but will not exceed £10 per transfer.
Debt recovery work will generally be undertaken by Dominic Cassidy, Partner.
Partner Dominic Cassidy qualified as a solicitor in 1989. Dominic specialises in Commercial and Civil litigation, including debt recovery, personal injury and private client probate work. Dominic is an experienced lawyer and is able to assist with the recovery of debts large and small.