From 14th August 2023 onwards, the County Court Money Claims Centre and County Court Business Centre, no longer exist.
These two centres have now been replaced by the Civil National Business Centre.
The changes to the Civil Procedure Rules come into effect on 14th August 2023, meaning that any claims for money, need to be commenced at the Civil National Business Centre.
Paper claims must be posted to the St Katharine’s House address and the claim form must state in the right hand corner “Civil National Business Centre” (whereas you would previously put “County Court Money Claims Centre”).
Specifically, the rules provide:
“(1) Unless it is a claim for which special procedures are provided in Rules or in
practice directions, the claim form in respect of a claim for an amount of money
started under Part 7 of the Civil Procedure Rules must be sent to the Civil National
Business Centre, St Katharine’s House, 21-27 St Katharine’s Street, Northampton,
NN1 2LH. DX 702885 Northampton 7.
(2) A person who is permitted to start a Part 7 claim through the Production Centre
pursuant to Practice Direction 7B must send the claim form to the Production
Centre at the Civil National Business Centre at St Katharine’s House at the above
address.
(3) An application for a Part 7 claim to be issued through the Money Claim Online
scheme must be sent electronically. Any other document, application or request,
other than one filed electronically, must be sent to the Civil National Business
Centre at St Katharine’s House at the above address.”
The main take away is that you must send the court papers to the correct address and stating the court as the Civil National Business Centre. If you don’t expect to face delays or the papers being returned to you unissued.
