Allocation questionnaire
An allocation questionnaire is a form used in English legal practice. After a claim is made, if a defence is filed each party is required to complete and return an allocation questionnaire to the court so that the judge may properly allocate the claim to a track and give further directions towards a final hearing.
Forms on the Internet
Sample allocation questionnaires are available on the Internet. The official UK Courts web site has many forms available, including the allocation questionnaire.[1] The actual form is available, as of March 2007, as a pdf file.[2]
The Citizens Advice Bureau provides a generic legal advice web site with information about the words and phrases used in small claims procedure in UK Courts.[3]
The form itself
The allocation questionnaire is a Pivotal Point in the judicial process requesting the following information:
- Whether you wish to have a month to settle the case.
- What is the location or venue of the case, and why it is chosen.
- Whether any pre-action protocols applied, and whether these were complied with.
- What is the amount of the claim in dispute.
- Who you will call as lay or expert witnesses.
- Whether the case should be considered small claims, or another track.
- How long you think the trial will take.
- How much your costs will be (in Pounds sterling).[2]
Tracks
There are three tracks:[4]
- Small claims - any claim up to £10,000 and certain personal injury and tenant claims under £1,000.
- Fast track - disputes involving between £10,000 and £25,000.
- Multi-track - disputes that are claimed to be over £25,000, or in certain cases where the claim is for less than £25,000 but the complexity of the evidence and/or legal issues to be decided means the claim is better suited to the Multi-track, particularly where a claim will take more than 1 day to try. All Part 8 proceedings are allocated to the Multi-track.[2]
The Woolf Report had recommended these changes in 1999 to the Lord Chancellor.[5]