County Court Reform in Northern Ireland – What Changes can we Expect?

Following a consultation in 2021, the Department of Justice has recently announced that it intends to introduce reforms to the limits of the jurisdiction of the Northern Ireland County Court.

The reforms include:

• Increasing the value limit of claims heard by the County Court to £60,000, which doubles the current limit of £30,000, and;

• Increasing the value limit of claims that can be heard by the District Judge to £20,000.

How will the reforms work in practice?

The new reforms will allow more cases to be heard by the County Court and District Judges whilst also reducing the pressure on the High Court.

The hope is that this will result in reduced timescales for claims and allow claims which would have sat towards the lower end of the High Court jurisdiction to be pursued more proportionately.

What are the practical implications of the new reforms?

As with any changes to the operation of the courts, the reforms may create other issues which are yet to be clarified.

The main areas of concern are:

• How costs will be dealt with: This could be by way of introduction of further cost scales or whether claims over a certain value will be dealt with by agreement/taxation similar to the system for High Court claims.

• How the County Court will be resourced: These reforms in effect double the jurisdiction of the County Court which will mean that further resources will be required to accommodate this change.

When are the new reforms set to be introduced?

These reforms are scheduled to be introduced in Autumn 2026, however an exact date has not been provided as the reforms are yet to be implemented by legislation.

If you have any questions in relation to the above information, or another Dispute Resolution matter, please get in touch.