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How to register to use Money Claim Online

The claim form you get in the post will tell you if it was made online using the Money Claim Online website.

If you want to respond online, you will first need to register for an account with the Government Gateway if you haven't already got one.

Select ‘register as an individual’ or ‘register as an organisation’ on the Money Claim Online homepage. To register you will need to enter your:

• first name
• surname
• email address

You will also have to choose a password.

Keep a note of your Government Gateway login details.

Once you have logged in, choose the option to ‘respond to a claim made against you’ on the bottom right hand side of the page. You can login to your claim here, using the claim number and password on the claim form (N1) you received through the post.

• Money Claim Online website Opens new window

• Download 'Money Claim Online registration and enrolment guide' (PDF, 220K) Opens new window

• Help with PDF files

What you can do on the Money Claim Online website

When you login to the Money Claim Online website you’ll be able to:

• check the status of the claim against you
• choose how to respond to the claim

You’ll have the option to:

• acknowledge the claim and ask for more time to reply
• admit part of the claim (that you owe some of the money)
• defend a claim
• say that the other person owes you money (and make a ‘counterclaim’)

The information you put in the system will automatically create forms, which it will send to the court. If you do this you don’t need to send any paper forms to the court.

If you aren’t able to use Money Claim Online you can respond using the forms sent with the claim form. See ’Responding to a court claim for money: an introduction' below.

Make sure you respond within 14 days.

• Responding to a court claim for money: an introduction

What you cannot do on the Money Claim Online website

You cannot do the following using Money Claim Online:

• admit to all of the claim
• ask for more time to pay

If you want to admit the claim and pay straightaway, you should send or take the money to the claimant (the person making the claim). Make sure you get a receipt. The claimant must then tell Money Claim Online that the money has been paid.

If you want more time to pay, you need to fill out the admission form (N9A) and send it to the claimant.

• Admission form (specified amount) (N9A) Opens new window

Asking for more time to respond

If you want more time to work out how to respond, you can acknowledge you have received the claim within 14 days. This shows that you’re looking at the claim, and not ignoring it, and is called ‘acknowledging service of the claim’.

You will then get an extra 14 days to fill out your defence.

• Download an 'acknowledgment of service' form (HM Courts Service website) Opens new window

Admitting part of the claim

You may agree that you owe some of the money but not all of it.

If you want to pay some of the money, you should send the payment to the claimant.

You can admit a part of the claim online using Money Claim Online or you can use the paper forms. If you use the paper forms you must send them directly to the court.

If you want more time to pay the amount you owe, you must fill out paper forms. Fill out the admission form (N9A) and the defence and counterclaim form (N9B) and send them to the court. The court will send forms to the claimant.

If the claimant accepts your offer, they may fill out a form saying how they want to be paid.

If they reject your offer, the claim will go to a court and there may be a hearing to decide the case.

• Admission form (specified amount) (N9A) Opens new window

• Defence/counterclaim (specified amount) form (N9B) Opens new window

• Small claims hearings

• Hearings for claims worth more than £5,000

If you’ve already paid the money

You can say on Money Claim Online if you’ve already paid the money. This should put an end to the claim.

Defending a claim

If you are defending the claim, you will have to give details of your defence in the ‘defence particulars’ box on Money Claim Online.

All Money Claim Online claims are sent to a local court once they are defended. After they are sent to the court you can’t do anything else online. The court will let you know what happens next.

• Defending a court claim for money

• Small claims hearings

• Hearings for claims worth more than £5,000

Making a counterclaim

If you think that the person making the claim against you owes you money, you can make a counterclaim.

You will have to fill out boxes on the Money Claim Online website on:

• your defence
• how much you want to claim from the other side
• why you think they owe you money

You may have to pay the court a fee to make a counterclaim. The fees are set out in the ‘civil and family court fees’ leaflet, below.

When a counterclaim is made using Money Claim Online, it will go to a local court. The court will let you know what will happen next.

• Defending a court claim for money

• Civil and family court fees Opens new window

• Court Fees - Do you have to pay them? Opens new window

Saving and sending your online response

Money Claim Online will save your information as you complete each screen. Once you have sent your response, you can’t go back and change what you have entered.

Printing your response

You can print your response in PDF or in plain text format once you’ve sent it.

• Help with PDF files

Checking the progress of a claim against you

You can check the status of a claim at any time, but some things might not show up until the next day. The system takes up to two days to process changes and the cut-off point is 4.00 pm.

Help using Money Claim Online

Money Claim Online has help screens you can use. This helps with the system only - you can’t get legal advice. You can contact the helpdesk by email or phone.

mcol@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk

Telephone: 0845 601 5935 (Monday to Friday 9.00 am to 5.00 pm)