The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 164th Practice Direction (PD) updates to the Civil Procedure Rules, which relate to Online Civil Money Claims (OCMC) and the Damages Claims Portal (DCP). The 164th update includes: amendments to CPR PD 51R to reflect that the mediation opt out system is extended to operate in claims involving legal representatives against litigants in person (LiP) and legal representatives against legal representatives; amendments to CPR PD 51R to allow for trial readiness certificates and trial bundles to be submitted online, in claims where all parties are legally represented and the claim is in an ‘early adopter’ court. These functions are already in operation in relation to CPR PD 51ZB, and this update clarifies that. Amendments are also made to CPR PD 51R and CPR PD 51ZB to allow certain applications to be made online in the early adopter courts.

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 165th Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The 165th PD update includes amendments to allow for VAT to be recovered in fixed recoverable costs (FRC) cases in respect of disbursements in restoration proceedings under CPR 45.15A and pre-action and interim applications. Amendments have also been made in respect of the definition of ‘day’ when calculating the number of days before trial in which a FRC case is settled or vacated where the advocate is entitled to a percentage of their FRC in accordance with CPR PD 45, Table 12 (FRC in fast track cases) or CPR PD 45, Table 14 (FRC in intermediate track cases). There is also a minor amendment to CPR PD 28, para 3.9 to update a cross-reference.

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 166th Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The 166th PD update includes amendments to introduce Automatic Referral to Mediation in civil cases, and a new Pilot PD (PD 51ZE). The Pilot PD is a scheme which will automatically refer certain civil cases (claims for a specific amount of money under £10,000 made through Money Claims Online (MCOL), Secure Data Transfer or paper on or after 22nd May 2024) to a free, one-hour mediation session with the HM Courts and Tribunal Service Small Claims Mediation Service.

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 167th Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The 167th Update introduces a Pilot Practice Direction 51ZF ‘Part 3 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021: Provision during piloted commencement’. The PD provides for the civil court procedure to be used during the piloted commencement of the new Domestic Abuse Protection Order. The PD will not be in active use until Part 3 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 has been commenced for piloting purposes.

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 168th Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The 168th PD update has amended CPR PD 51ZC to extend the small claims paper determination pilot until 1 December 2024; this part came into force on 31 May 2024. The 168th PD update also amends CPR PD 74A to make provision for the registration of foreign judgments for the purposes of recognition and enforcement under the Hague Judgments Convention. The amendments to CPR PD 74A will come into force when the Hague Judgments Convention enters into force in the UK.

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 169th Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The 169th PD update contains amendments to CPR PD 51R, the Online Civil Money Claims pilot (the pilot). The amendments relate to the filing of notices of change of representation. CPR PD 51R is amended to allow cases that are initially brought by a legally represented claimant against a litigant in person defendant to stay in the pilot (rather than being transferred out to continue ‘on paper’) where the litigant in person appoints a legal representative and files a digital notice of change. Prior to these amendments, a digital notice of change could not be filed in this situation and the claim would have dropped out of the pilot.

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 170th Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The amendments come into force on 18 July 2024 at 11am. The 170th PD update contains amendments to CPR PD 51R (Online Civil Money Claims Pilot) and CPR PD 51ZB (Damages Claims Pilot) and extends the pilots to 1 October 2025, allowing for further development and testing of the pilots. The update also allows for the rollout of the ‘case progression’ and ‘application’ features across all county courts in England and Wales (with the exception of Birmingham).

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 171st Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR).

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 172nd Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The amendments come into force on 18 September 2024. The 172nd PD update contains amendments to CPR PD 51ZB (Damages Claims Pilot) and CPR PD 51R (Online Civil Money Claims Pilot) and both pilots are amended so that (1) existing features of the online pilots known as ‘case progression’ and ‘general applications’ will apply in the County Court at Birmingham, and (2) these two features are more streamlined.

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 173rd Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The amendments come into force on 8 October 2024 and apply to all claims submitted to the court on or after this date. The 173rd PD update contains amendments to CPR PD 51R (Online Civil Money Claims Pilot) to enable litigants in person to issue claims against a litigant in person for claims up to £25,000 (increased from the current limit of £10,000). The amendments will also allow a claimant litigant in person to issue their claim in the Welsh language.

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 174th Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The amendments come into force on 5 November 2024 at 11am. The 174th PD update contains amendments to CPR PD 51ZE (Small Claims Track Automatic Referral to Mediation Pilot Scheme) and CPR PD 51R (Online Civil Money Claims (OCMC) Pilot Scheme) to extend the requirement to undertake integrated mediation in civil cases to money claims received via the OCMC service.

The Master of the Rolls and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice have approved the 175th Practice Direction (PD) update to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The amendments come into force on 20 November 2024.  The 175th PD update contains amendments to the online Damages Claims Pilot under CPR PD 51ZB (the DCP), in order to correct a misalignment between the rules in CPR PD 51ZB and the operation of the DCP digital service, concerning the automatic dismissal of claims. CPR PD 51ZB is updated to state so that within four months of the date of issue of the claim, the claimant must not only notify the defendant of the claim and the claim details, but also notify the DCP that they have taken these steps to avoid automatic dismissal of the claim.