Simple Procedure Rules revised following review

Amendments intended to streamline the Simple Procedure Rules for lower value claims in Scotland's sheriff courts will come into force later this year.

The Act of Sederunt (Simple Procedure Amendment) (Miscellaneous) 2022 (SSI 2022/211), made on 16 June 2022, comes into force on 28 November 2022 and will apply to all new simple procedure claims lodged from the date of commencement. 

Developed following an operational review of the 2016 rules conducted by the Scottish Civil Justice Council’s Access to Justice Committee from 2018 onwards, the main changes are:

• amendments to clarify the circumstances in which the sheriff clerk may formally serve the claim form;
• clarifying the sheriff’s powers designed to ensure the effective management of cases;
• new provisions which facilitate a claim form or response form being served by email;
• amendments clarifying the procedures for the issue of a decision form/alternative decision form, the recall of a decision and for hearings on expenses; and
• improved procedures for lodging documents and other evidence with the court before a hearing;
• streamlining the application forms as far as possible by consolidating several forms into a flexible "additional orders application" by which parties can ask the sheriff to make any orders. A rewritten part 9 of the rules will regulate the procedure for these applications.

Other forms and standard orders, including the claim form, response form and decision form, have also been revised and the content streamlined to take account of consultation feedback and to align with the rule changes. A new standard order 3 simplifies the process of making a decision without a hearing; standard order 6 is revised to warn the recipient about the potential outcomes of non-compliance with an "unless order"; and a new standard order 14 is provided for use in cases with additional respondents. Forms have been reformatted been to improve accessibility.

The aim of the review was to obtain feedback on the operation of the rules, forms and standard orders in order to implement any necessary changes prior to the introduction of new rules for simple procedure "special claims".

The Rules Council intends to carry out a further review at a future date to ascertain whether the policy intentions of simple procedure have been met.