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SCJC publishes report on draft Simple Procedure Rules

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Lord Carloway

The Scottish Civil Justice Council (SCJC) today published its Report on the consultation on the draft Simple Procedure Rules.

The Simple Procedure Rules will be laid before the Scottish Parliament within the next few days.

The Report summarises the responses received to the consultation on the Draft Simple Procedure Rules and sets out the main changes made. The response was generally supportive about the approach taken to the new procedure which includes:

  • designing rules to be more accessible to the lay user

  • making the court process for lower value monetary claims swifter and more flexible.

    • Respondents supported innovations such as updating hard-to-understand terminology, user-friendly headings framed as questions, and the incorporation of flowcharts.

    There were many useful and detailed comments received about all aspects of the rules and substantial changes have been made in response.

    The Lord President, Lord Carloway, chairman of the SCJC, said: “The simple procedure has been designed with the party litigant in mind using accessible language and incorporating user-friendly guidance into the rules. The Report on the consultation on the Draft Simple Procedure Rules summarises the many detailed responses received which have provided invaluable feedback and greatly helped to improve this innovative procedure.”

    As stated in the report, the two sets of simple procedure rules, the “core” Simple Procedure Rules and the Simple Procedure (Special Claims) Rules, will now be implemented separately. It was mentioned in the Consultation that both sets of rules would be implemented on 28 November 2016.

    However, a number of respondents called for the second set, which includes rules for housing and personal injury proceedings, to be consulted upon.

    It has therefore been decided that the Simple Procedure (Special Claims) Rules will be implemented in time for the beginning of the legal year in 2017, to allow time for informal consultation, while the‘core Simple Procedure rules will be commenced in November 2016.

    Simple procedure replaces the small claims and summary cause procedures in the sheriff court. It is designed to be a swift, inexpensive and informal procedure for people who do not have legal representation to sort out problems about matters of lower monetary value.

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