Request for judgment (Form N225)

The form that turns an undefended or admitted money claim into an actual court judgment — the step most claimants reach before they ever think about enforcement.

What is Form N225 actually for?

Form N225 is the county court form you use to ask the court to enter judgment in a specified-sum money claim, outside the small number of cases that go to a hearing first. It covers four situations: the defendant filed no response within the deadline, the defendant admitted the claim and offered payment terms you accept, the defendant admitted the claim without offering any terms, or the defendant admitted the claim but offered terms you want to object to. If the claim is for an unspecified amount — one the court has to assess, such as general damages — the equivalent form is N227, not N225.

Is there a fee to file Form N225?

No separate fee applies to requesting judgment itself. You already paid the issue fee when you started the claim with Form N1, and asking the court to enter judgment on an undefended or admitted claim does not attract a further charge, whether you file on paper or request it through the Money Claim Online service.

What if the defendant admitted the claim but proposed payments I think are too low?

Say so on the back of Form N225, where there is space to give your reasons for objecting to the defendant's proposal. The court then decides the payment rate itself, usually without a hearing, by looking at the defendant's statement of means (filed with their admission) and your objection. You do not get to insist on a figure — the court sets what it considers the defendant can reasonably afford.

How long does it take for judgment to be entered after I file N225?

On an undefended claim with no admission to process, it is usually fast — often within a few working days once the court confirms the defendant's time to respond has expired. Where the court has to decide a disputed payment rate, it takes longer, because a judge needs to consider the defendant's means form and your objection before setting terms.

Can the defendant still defend the claim after I have filed N225?

Only if judgment has not yet been entered. A defence filed before judgment is entered generally takes precedence and the request for judgment does not proceed. Once judgment has actually been entered, the defendant's only route is an application to set it aside under CPR Part 13, which means persuading the court there is a good reason — such as a real prospect of defending the claim, or that they were never properly served.

Does filing N225 guarantee I get paid?

No. Form N225 gets you a judgment, not money. A judgment is a formal finding that the debt is owed; it does not collect the debt by itself. If the defendant does not pay voluntarily, you still need to use an enforcement method — a warrant of control, an attachment of earnings order, a third-party debt order or a charging order, depending on what you know about the defendant's circumstances.

What happens if I made a mistake on the claim and the defendant's admission does not match what I am owed?

You can accept an admission for less than you claimed, but doing so settles the claim at that lower figure — you cannot later come back for the difference on the same cause of action. If the mismatch is a genuine error rather than a partial admission, raise it with the court before judgment is entered rather than after, since correcting a sealed judgment is far harder than correcting a request.

Where N225 sits in a small claim

After you issue a claim on Form N1, the defendant has 14 days to respond — or 28 days if they file an acknowledgment of service within the first 14. Three things can then happen: they defend on Form N9B, they admit on Form N9A, or they do nothing at all. Form N225 is how you act on the second and third outcomes. It is not a form you file when the claim is genuinely disputed — that route goes through a defence, allocation, and usually a small claims hearing.

Because N225 covers both “no response” and “admitted” claims, the form itself asks you to tick which situation applies, then walks through the consequence: judgment for the full amount where there was no response, or judgment on the terms admitted — accepted, proposed by you, or left to the court to decide.

The four boxes on the form

• 1 No defence filed. The response deadline has passed with nothing filed. You ask for judgment for the full claimed amount, plus any interest and the fixed costs the claim attracted.
• 2 Admission, and you accept the terms offered. The defendant admitted the debt and proposed a payment plan or a date, and you are content with it. Judgment is entered on those terms.
• 3 Admission, no proposal made. The defendant admitted owing the money but did not say how or when they would pay. You ask the court to set a payment date or rate.
• 4 Admission, but you object to the terms offered. You think the proposed instalments are too low or too slow. The court looks at the defendant's statement of means and decides the rate itself.

A misconception worth clearing up

Claimants sometimes treat N225 as the point where the case is “won” in the sense of being paid. It is not. The form produces a judgment — a legal determination that the money is owed and, where applicable, on what terms — and that judgment is what later gets registered on the public register of judgments and can be enforced if unpaid. Filing N225 is a procedural step, not a payment, and the two should not be confused when you are planning what happens next in the claim.

A claimant sues a trader for £1,800 for faulty building work. The trader is served, does not file an acknowledgment of service, and the 14-day deadline passes with no response at all.

Fixed costs for this band

Court fee already paid

Judgment requested on N225

The claimant files Form N225 selecting the “no response” box. The court checks the deadline has genuinely passed and enters judgment for the full amount claimed plus the fixed costs and the court fee, without listing a hearing. The judgment is a county court judgment from this point — whether the trader pays it is a separate question, dealt with through enforcement if needed.

Judgment on admission

Form N225 — Request for judgment and reply to admission (specified amount)

Civil Procedure Rules, Part 12 — Default Judgment

Civil Procedure Rules, Part 14 — Admissions

Request for Judgment (Form N225) — Small Claims Glossary

What Form N225 is for, the four situations it covers, and how it turns an undefended or admitted county court claim into a judgment.