How the court assigns a civil claim to the small claims, fast, intermediate or multi-track — a decision that shapes the procedure, evidence and costs that follow.
The track a claim lands on determines almost everything about how it is fought and what it costs to win or lose. This chapter begins with the four tracks, the directions questionnaire and the financial thresholds that divide them, then explains how a claim's value is calculated for allocation — including what must be disregarded and the statement of value on the claim form. It covers the special criteria for personal injury claims on the small claims track and the conditions for the intermediate track, before turning to the wider factors the court weighs, its power to depart from the normal track, the treatment of counterclaims and the consequences of failing to file a directions questionnaire. It closes with the procedural differences between the tracks — relaxed evidence rules and restricted expert evidence at the lower end — and the costs regimes, from the small claims no-costs rule and fixed recoverable costs to costs budgets and the standard and indemnity bases of assessment.
