Civil Law updates

Damages Claim Portal update

Housing disrepair and damages claims with an ‘other’ remedy such as Payment Protection Insurance and Motor Finance claims can now be issued on the Damages Claim Portal.

These claims will follow the same process as other damages claims. Where a claim is started under PD51R, court staff will no longer need to issue a standard order and convert an unspecified claim to a standard money claim. Practice Direction 49C is disapplied where the claim falls within paragraph 3.1(5).

The new process for issuing a claim can be found at the following link:

Issue a claim for damages with MyHMCTS - GOV.UK

Changes to the structure of the High Court

The Judicial Executive Board, with the agreement of the Lord Chancellor, has approved changes to the High Court’s divisional structure. The Business and Property Courts will be consolidated into a newly named Business and Property Division.

The changes are designed to support the continued effectiveness of the High Court, maintaining the distinct identity and functions of individual courts and lists while improving clarity for users and enabling greater flexibility in the deployment of judicial resources.

See the following video for the update from the Lady Chief Justice of England Wales:

Lady Chief Justice- Business and Property Division

Money Claim Online Service (MCOL)

For the last few years up to 2025 the Money Online Claims services for civil claims has been used regularly by legal representatives and litigant-in-persons. Claims that are issued through the Money Claims Online Service must meet all of the following 3 criteria:

• For a fixed amount of money less than £100,000.

• For no more than one claimant and against no more than 2 defendants (people or organisations).

• Served to a defendant or defendant(s) with an address in England or Wales.

We can see that the MCOL Service has steadily increased in its usage across the years, an interesting consideration is whether that means more claims in general are being dealt with by the civil system or whether people are using the online system as compared to issuing a claim another way.

Up to July 2025 civil claims could be issued as a Paper Form .