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Accepting the defendant’s offer

If you make a court claim against someone for a fixed amount, they might admit they owe you the money and agree to pay it. You will need to agree on how the money will be paid.

You will get a form from the defendant, an 'admission form’. The defendant should have filled out the part on it explaining how they are offering to pay you.

You need to make sure the defendant has admitted they owe the full amount claimed.

If the defendant pays you:

• tell the defendant you are withdrawing your claim
• let the court know the case has closed

Contact the County Court Money Claims Centre directly by email, letter or telephone to confirm you have notified the defendant.

• County court money claims centre Opens new window

If the defendant hasn't paid - asking the court to order payment

If the defendant hasn’t paid, you can ask the court centre to order them to do so. This is called ‘entering judgment on admission’.

If you claimed using a paper form

If you made your claim using a paper form, you can use the notice of issue form (N205A). Fill in the 'judgment request' section of the form, and take or send the form to the court centre.

If for any reason you do not have this form, you can download it using the link below.

• Request for judgment and reply to admission form (N225) Opens new window

If you claimed online

You can ask the court to order the defendant to pay using Money Claim Online, if you made the claim online.

You can put the claim in at any time, but the Money Claim Online system only processes requests at the end of each day.

• Money Claim Online website Opens new window

Deciding on how the money will be paid

If the defendant hasn’t made you an offer of how they’ll pay, you need to decide how you’d like to be paid. Think about how you are most likely to get your money back.

You will have to agree with the defendant if the money should be paid:

• in full right away
• by a future date
• by regular payments

It may be tempting to ask for the whole amount in one go and at once. However, the defendant may be more likely to pay if they are able to make regular payments in small instalments.

Ordering the defendant to pay

The court centre will send a judgment form to the defendant, ordering them to pay. The order will tell the defendant:

• how much to pay
• when to pay it
• where to send the payments

You will also be sent a copy.

If you don’t want to accept the defendant’s offer

If you’re not happy with when and how the defendant offers to pay, fill out your part of the ‘notice of issue’ form. Explain in the form why you don’t agree with the offer. If you do not have this form, you can fill out the ‘request for judgment and reply to admission’ form (N225).

The court centre will look at what the defendant’s offered and what you’ve said in response. They will work out what the defendant can pay, and come to a decision (this is called ‘determination’).

Both you and the defendant can officially disagree with the decision within 14 days. You’ll need to write to the court centre and a judge will decide the outcome. You might have to go to a court hearing. You and the defendant will be told the judge’s decision.

• Small claims hearings

• Hearings for claims worth more than £5,000

• Request for judgment and reply to admission form (N225) Opens new window

If the defendant doesn’t pay - getting the decision enforced

The courts will not automatically chase the defendant if they don’t pay up. You may have to go take extra steps to get the decision enforced. For example, the court could send a bailiff to collect the payment or goods to be sold at auction.

There are different things you can ask the court to do, and you’ll have to pay a fee. This fee will usually be added to what you’re owed. See ‘How county court judgments are enforced’, below, for more details.

• How county court judgments are enforced