Simple steps will help the CCMCC focus on providing a great service

It is now a little over two years since the County
Court Money Claims Centre (CCMCC) came into being
and became the sole location for the issue of nearly all paper-based part 7 claims.

Located in the building formerly occupied by Salford County Court and supported by a call-handling centre based in Loughborough, the CCMCC has, until recently, operated as an adjunct to Northampton
County Court.

Since opening for business,
it has issued approximately 730,000 claims, processed
about 289,000 defences,
entered almost 150,000 default judgments and processed more than 16,600 requests for the issue of warrants.

More than 270,000 defended cases have been sent to county court hearing centres for case management, and judges dealing with cases referred to them either at the request of the parties or the instigation
of members of staff have dealt with about 100,000 application notices and issued at least 117,000 orders.

Prior to the creation of the single county court, all claims processed by the CCMCC were issued out of Northampton County Court, and any claim that became defended or required a hearing before a judge was transferred either administratively or judicially to the claimant’s nominated
court or to the home court of the defendant.

The changes to the civil procedure rules ended the CCMCC’s nominal association with Northampton. This made it, in name as well as in substance, the national administrative centre in respect of all part 7 claims other than those issued online and those limited categories of claim, for example claims under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for which CPR provides a specific procedure.

The procedure for issuing
a claim via the CCMCC will remain largely unaltered as
a result of the changes. The
term ‘designated money
claim’ introduced in 2011 will, however, disappear from the CPR, but the existing obligation to commence Part 7 claims
via the CCMCC is preserved
by a new paragraph 4A.1 in practice direction 7A.

It provides: “(1) …if a claim – (a) is started in the county court under part 7; (b) is a claim only for an amount of money, whether specified or unspecified; and (c) is not a claim for which special procedures are provided in the civil procedure rules or practice directions. Practice form N1 must be sent to: County Court Money Claims Centre, PO Box 527, M5 0BY.”

Thus despite abandoning
the definition, the concept of the designated money claim lives on.

When posting a claim form to the CCMCC, it is important to allow sufficient time for it to be delivered. In accordance with guidance issued by HMCTS in April 2012, where a claimant is unable to lodge a claim form
by post in time for it to arrive prior to the expiry of the applicable limitation period,
it is permissible for the claim form and issue fee to be submitted to any county court hearing centre where the claim form will be date stamped and forwarded to the CCMCC. The date stamp will confirm the date on which the claim is ‘brought’.

There are a number of ways in which practitioners and litigants can help to improve and assist the efficient despatch of the CCMCC’s work (see box). Complying with these simple guidelines will enable staff to focus on delivering the best possible service.

Michael Hovington is a district judge at Manchester Civil Justice Centre

SJ