The Government is making plans to launch an on-line court. To
date, approximately £1.8 million has been spent developing the
service, which is targeted at simple monetary claims, of which 1.6
million were brought in the year 2000. In the majority of simple
monetary claims, no defence is raised and only a limited number of
cases actually make it to trial.
It is seen as a step away from the traditional formality of the
court room, and is a marked attempt to make the court more
user-friendly, without all the formality which is traditionally
associated with the court process.
This on-line system dispenses with the need for delivering forms
to court by post or in person,. The Government plans to have an
on-line court service up and running by the year 2005.
The on-line system provides a secure and user friendly site for
the claimant who has to simply complete details of the person he
seeks to recover from, the amount in issue and details of the
claim. This information is passed to the County Court Bulk Centre
which processes the claim and issues a case number, allowing the
claimant to keep up-to-date with how the case is progressing.
