We are aware of an increase in issues arising whereby people are receiving erroneous judgements in default. These seem to be split into 2 categories:
- People receiving a judgement for the claimant (in default) without ever having received a Claim Form
- People receiving a Claim Form, responding to it on time, and nevertheless receiving a judgement for the claimant (in default)
In both of these scenarios, people are receiving on one single sheet a cover letter indicating a claim has been launched against them, and on the reverse a judgement in default (see below images). In the ordinary course of a claim these 2 documents are never sent together, and certainly not on a single sheet of paper. This indicates some sort of technical/administrative error on the part of HMCTS
For ongoing cases:If you have submitted a defence via email, ensure that you received an auto-response from HMCTS. If you did not, update your thread to let us know this.
If you receive a judgement in default but have submitted a defence on time:Let us know via your case thread immediately.
If you receive a judgement in default but have not received a Claim Form:Check if the judgement in default is printed on the back of a cover letter as per the below example. Let us know.
Example letter:
