If you object to the judge’s decision in your court case and want to try and get it changed, you may be able to ‘appeal’ the decision.

Appealing a decision is asking for a decision to be looked at again because you believe a serious legal mistake has been made. 

An appeal is dealt with by a different judge from the one who made the original decision (although it may be the original judge who decides whether to give permission to appeal).

Can you always appeal a CCJ?

There is no automatic right to appeal a county court decision. In most cases, you need permission to appeal. You can ask the court that made the original decision for permission to appeal at the hearing. If refused, you can ask the appeal court for permission to appeal. 

Appealing a county court decision is a two-stage process:
1.    First you must get permission to appeal. 
2.    Second, if you are successful in getting permission, you have to manage the appeal process.

If your case was allocated to the small claims track and:

• you are the claimant,
• you were not in court, and
• you did not notify the court you were not going to attend, and
• the court made its decision in your absence,

then you can apply for the claim to be ‘struck out’ instead of appealing. 

When a court strikes out a claim, all written material is deleted and can’t be used.

However, if you had told the court you weren’t going to the trial and the court decides in your absence and you don’t agree, then you either have to accept the decision or appeal.

You can ask for permission to appeal at the hearing - after the judge has given judgment. The judge will only give permission if they think the appeal has a realistic chance of being successful, or there is some other compelling reason for the appeal.

If you have not got permission to appeal, either: 
•    because you didn’t ask for it at the hearing, or 
•    because it was refused, 
you will need to apply for it separately afterwards. 

You do this by completing and sending a form called the ‘Appellant’s notice’. 

The appeal court makes its decision based on the papers you have sent, either giving permission to appeal or refusing it. The appeal court will only give permission to go ahead with an appeal if they think it has a realistic chance of success or there is some other compelling reason for the appeal to be heard

If the court refuses permission, you have seven days from when you receive the refusal to ask for an oral hearing (when you go to court to speak). You won’t be able to ask for an oral hearing if the appeal court has decided there is no merit at all in your appeal.
 

You need to complete and send to the court a document called the ‘Appellant’s notice’:

•  If you want to appeal against a decision in a small claim, you use form N164.
• If you want to appeal against a decision which is not a small claim you use form N161. 

When you start an appeal, you will be called ‘the appellant’ (not ‘the claimant’). The other side in the case becomes ‘the respondent’, whether they were originally the claimant or the defendant.
 

You have to pay a fee to apply for permission to appeal unless you are entitled to help with court fees. The current fees are £147, £171 or £294 depending on which court you have to use. If you make other applications during the appeal you may have to pay additional fees.

You can find more information about appeal fees in the court leaflet Fees in the Civil and Family Courts - main fees (EX50).

Help with court fees

You may not have to pay a fee at all, or pay only a reduced fee, if you are on a low income or receiving certain benefits, and have little or no savings. 

For example, you will not pay anything if you can prove that you get one of the following benefits, and your savings or other capital don’t exceed certain limits: 
•    Income Support, 
•    Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, 
•    State Pension Credit Guarantee Credit, 
•    Universal Credit with gross annual earnings of less than £6,000, or
•    Income-related Employment and Support Allowance. 

The savings limit will depend on whether you (or a partner) are under or over 66, and whether the fee is over or under £1,420. 

You may also hear help with court fees called ‘fee remission’.

You can ask for help paying court fees by completing form EX160 or applying online via GOV.UK. There are notes to help you complete it. You might also find Help with court fees in a civil case helpful.

The time limit for an appeal is very short whatever the type of case.  You need to act quickly.

The time limit to send your request to court for permission to appeal is either:

• the date set by the judge whose decision you are appealing against, or
•  if the judge did not set a date, 21 days from the date of the decision that you want to appeal against.

You can find more detail about the different time limits explained in the guidance notes which explain how to complete the appellant’s notice.

If you are the appellant, you should serve a sealed copy of your appellant’s notice, and any supporting documents, to the respondent as soon as you can. Unless the court orders otherwise, this should be no later than 14 days after it is sealed. The respondent does not have to respond, unless you already have permission to appeal. 

You then need to complete and send, or take, to the court a certificate of service as soon as possible, confirming when and how you delivered the appeal.

This depends on the level of judge who made the decision. A county court has two levels of judge - district judges and circuit judges. A circuit judge is more senior than a district judge. Generally, though not always, small claims and some fast track claims will be dealt with by a district judge or deputy district judge. Higher value and more complicated cases, including some fast track claims, will usually be dealt with by a circuit judge.

If your case was decided by a district judge, or deputy district judge, you need to appeal to the circuit judge.

If your case was decided by a circuit judge, you need to appeal to the High Court.

The judgment will say whether it was made by a circuit judge or district judge. (If you see the letters HHJ in front of the judge’s name, that means they were a circuit judge. If you see the letters DJ or DDJ it means they were a district judge or deputy district judge.)

More information to help you start your appeal in the right court. 

If permission to appeal has been refused 
If your paper application for permission to appeal has been considered and refused, you can ask the judge to reconsider at an oral hearing. This is only if the judge has not decided your claim cannot possibly succeed. 

You only have 7 days after receiving the refusal to apply for an oral hearing. You also have to send a copy of your request to the respondent.

If permission has been given 
The court will write to you (by sending you a notice) to tell you when your appeal will be heard, and what you need to do to prepare for the appeal hearing.

Asking for permission to appeal usually doesn’t involve you having to pay anyone any money (except for the court fee and the expense of getting a transcript and photocopying documents). The only exception is if the respondent gets involved in the process in some way.

For example, the court may ask the respondent to come to a hearing, or put their response to the appeal in writing. If this happens, and if you do not get permission to appeal, the respondent will normally get their costs paid by you.
 

If you have received an appellant’s notice for a case in which you are the respondent, get advice. Depending on the circumstances of your case, you may have to pay for legal advice. Be aware that services offering free advice are aimed at helping people on low incomes – for example, they will not usually help a landlord or a business in a case. If you are on a low income, see How to get free legal advice about your civil case. 

You may need to complete and send, or take, a respondent’s notice to the court within 14 days of the service of the appellants notice (or after notification that permission has been granted). So, you need to act quickly.

Can I appeal to the Court of Appeal?

You will only be able to appeal from an unsuccessful first stage appeal on points of serious public interest. This is rare and outside the scope of this guide.

Should I appeal a CCJ?

Think carefully. You will have to apply for permission (for which there is a fee) and then you will need to pay a fee for the appeal. If you lose the appeal, you may have to pay the other side’s legal costs – which could be thousands of pounds. 
 

Can I appeal a CCJ against me if I didn’t know about the case?

If the first thing you knew about the case was when you received a CCJ, you don’t need to appeal the judgment – instead you can apply to have it ‘set aside’. This means the court will cancel the judgment and remove it from your credit file. See Interim applications - how to ask a civil court to do something for more information. 

When deciding  whether to set the judgment aside, the court will consider whether you 
•    acted promptly, and 
•    whether you have a real chance of successfully defending the claim (ie. you didn’t owe the money or the amount was incorrect), or 
•    there is another good reason to set the judgment aside.

Appeal – The process of objecting to a judge’s decision in order to get it changed.

Appellant – The name given to the person who wants to appeal. This could be either the claimant or defendant.

Appellant’s notice – The form you use to start an appeal.

Claimant - The person who started the case which is being appealed.

Circuit judge –  more senior judges than district judges. They deal with cases in both the crown court and the county court. If you see the letters HHJ in front of the judge’s name (on a judgment for example), they are a circuit judge.

County court judgment (CCJ) - a decision made by a judge in a county court.

Court rules - Rules that you have to follow when taking a case. Court rules for civil claims are set out in the Civil Procedure Rules.

District judge - Full-time judges who deal with the majority of cases in the courts. If you see the letters DJ in front of the judge’s name (on a judgment for example), they are a district judge. DDJ means they are a deputy district judge.

File - Sending or taking documents to court as part of a case.

Grounds of appeal – The legal reasons that you appeal is based on. For examples, that the judge did not apply the law correctly, or did not follow the correct legal procedure.

Housing disrepair case - A type of legal case where you take your landlord to court for failing to repair a problem in your rented property.

Issue -  Start court proceedings. If someone ‘issues’ an application it just means they are starting a new case at court or asking for something new in a case that has already started.

Other side - An everyday phrase used to talk about the defendent and their legal representatives if you're the claimant, and the claimant if you're the defendent.

Practice direction - An extra bit of guidance that goes with a court rule.

Respondent - The name given to the person who is defending the appeal. This could be either the claimant or the defendant from original case.

Serving - The formal delivery of court documents to others involved in the case so that they can respond.

Small claims track - A route through the civil justice system that the court may have allocated your original case to. Usually for simple cases up to the value of £10,000.

Struck out - When a claim is struck out it can’t be relied on to continue the case.  

Transcript – The official version, typed from a recording, of what was said at the trial.

Trial - The  final hearing - the one when a judge decides who wins and who loses the case.

Disclaimer

The information in this guide applies to England and Wales only. The law may be different if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland. The law is complicated. We have simplified things in this guide. Please don’t rely on this guide as a complete statement of the law. We recommend you try and get advice from the sources we have suggested.

The cases we refer to are not always real but show a typical situation. We have included them to help you think about how to deal with your own situation.

Acknowledgements

This guide was produced by Advicenow. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on the guide and especially to the editorial teams at Thomson Reuters who kindly peer reviewed this updated version. 

This guide was updated thanks to funding from the Ministry of Justice under the Online Support and Advice Grant.