In short
On court fees alone, court is slightly cheaper for claims up to about £11,620, but above that Dispute Neutral's fee (£1,200, or £1,500 above £25,000) is lower than court issue plus hearing fees. Court fees also leave out solicitor costs, management time and the wait for a trial. Dispute Neutral fees are banded by amount and charged plus VAT.
Key facts
- The court issue fee for money claims from £10,000.01 to £200,000 is 5% of the claim value (GOV.UK EX50).
- Court hearing fees: £346 for small claims over £3,000, £619 fast track, £1,334 intermediate and multi-track.
- For a £50,000 claim, court issue and hearing fees total £3,834, against Dispute Neutral's £1,500 plus VAT.
- Court fees equal Dispute Neutral's £1,200 at £11,620; above that, Dispute Neutral is cheaper at every value up to £150,000.
- Dispute Neutral fees plus VAT: £650 up to £4,000; £900 to £10,000; £1,200 to £25,000; £1,500 to £150,000.
When a commercial debt goes unpaid, the cost of recovering it matters almost as much as the debt itself. Court is often assumed to be the standard route — but for most commercial debts up to £150,000, the numbers tell a very different story.
The table below compares illustrative county court fees in England and Wales with Dispute Neutral fees across a range of claim values. Court fees are taken from the GOV.UK civil court fees list (EX50), last updated 13 July 2026. Dispute Neutral fees are shown net of VAT.
Court costs vs Dispute Neutral: the numbers
| Claim value | Court issue fee | Likely hearing fee | Court total | Dispute Neutral | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £4,000 | £205 | £346 | £551 | £650 | Court cheaper by £99 |
| £10,000 | £455 | £346 | £801 | £900 | Court cheaper by £99 |
| £11,000 | £550 | £619 | £1,169 | £1,200 | Court cheaper by £31 |
| £17,500 | £875 | £619 | £1,494 | £1,200 | DN cheaper by £294 |
| £25,000 | £1,250 | £619 | £1,869 | £1,200 | DN cheaper by £669 |
| £50,000 | £2,500 | £1,334 | £3,834 | £1,500 | DN cheaper by £2,334 |
| £75,000 | £3,750 | £1,334 | £5,084 | £1,500 | DN cheaper by £3,584 |
| £150,000 | £7,500 | £1,334 | £8,834 | £1,500 | DN cheaper by £7,334 |
Issue fee: £205 for claims over £3,000 up to £5,000, £455 over £5,000 up to £10,000, and 5% of the claim from £10,000.01 to £200,000. Hearing fee: small claims track £346 (claims over £3,000 up to £10,000); fast track £619 (over £10,000 up to £25,000); intermediate track £1,334 (over £25,000 up to £100,000), with the same fee on the multi-track. Allocation can vary by complexity so the table is illustrative only. Court fees from GOV.UK EX50 (England and Wales), updated 13 July 2026. Dispute Neutral fees shown net of VAT: £650 + VAT up to £4,000, £900 + VAT from £4,001 to £10,000, £1,200 + VAT from £10,001 to £25,000 and £1,500 + VAT from £25,001 to £150,000 (£1,500 + VAT for a non-money decision on a commercial matter).
What the headline numbers don't show
The table above compares court fees — issue fee plus likely hearing fee — against the Dispute Neutral fee. For claims up to £10,000, and just above it, court is marginally cheaper on that narrow basis: £99 cheaper for a £4,000 claim and for a £10,000 claim, and £31 cheaper for an £11,000 claim.
But the court issue fee and hearing fee are only the starting point. They do not include:
- Solicitor costs — for any claim above the small claims track, solicitor involvement becomes much more likely, and costs on both sides can run to thousands of pounds before a hearing takes place
- Barrister fees — for contested multi-track claims, counsel is often instructed, adding further significant cost
- Trial preparation — gathering documents, preparing witness statements, and organising evidence takes substantial management time
- Management time and business interruption — the time your business spends dealing with court proceedings is time not spent on anything else
- Stress — harder to quantify but real, and often underestimated at the outset
Once those factors are included, the economic case for Dispute Neutral over court is compelling at every claim level — including the smaller ones where the headline court fee appears marginally cheaper.
The position above about £11,620 is clear
Above £10,000 the small claims track is unavailable and the claim moves to the fast, intermediate or multi-track. Just above £10,000, the 5% issue fee plus the £619 fast track hearing fee still comes to slightly less than Dispute Neutral's £1,200. The two are equal at £11,620. Above that, Dispute Neutral is cheaper on court fees alone at every claim value up to £150,000, including above £25,000 where its fee rises to £1,500, before any other costs are considered.
At £17,500, Dispute Neutral saves £294 on court fees alone. At £25,000, £669. At £50,000, £2,334. At £75,000, £3,584. And at £150,000, the court fees alone are £7,334 higher than the Dispute Neutral fee, before a single solicitor has been instructed on either side.
For disputes in this range, the question is not whether Dispute Neutral is cheaper than court. It clearly is. The question is whether the fee represents good value for a binding decision within 10 business days of the matter being ready — and for most businesses dealing with a commercial debt dispute, the answer is straightforwardly yes.
Time is a cost too
Court fees are a visible, upfront cost. Court time is a less visible but equally real one.
Ministry of Justice figures (Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly, April to June 2026) show a median of 41.0 weeks from issue to trial for small claims, and 55.9 weeks for fast, intermediate and multi-track claims. During that time, the debt remains unresolved, the cash flow impact continues, and management attention is consumed by a process that has no certain end date.
Dispute Neutral issues a binding decision within 10 business days of the matter being ready. The cash flow impact stops. The management distraction ends. And the outcome is known. Against many months of uncertainty, 10 business days is not just faster — it is a fundamentally different proposition.
The cost to the other side matters too
The party on the receiving end of a court claim faces exactly the same cost problem. They may need a solicitor to defend. They face their own legal costs throughout the proceedings. If they lose, they may have to pay some of the other side's legal costs on top of the debt itself; on the fast and intermediate tracks (claims up to £100,000) those costs are mostly fixed by the fixed recoverable costs rules. If they win, their own costs above the fixed amounts are not recovered.
Disputes up to £150,000 often sit in what we call the sub-legal band: the range below the tipping point at which it becomes commercially viable to instruct solicitors and use traditional court processes. In that range, costs can be incurred that may never be recovered, and court is frequently the worst outcome for both sides, win or lose.
The Dispute Neutral fee is the same whichever party starts the process, and both sides know what it will cost before they agree to it. Within the process there is no court costs order and there are no open-ended legal bills. The fee is split as the parties agree (our draft clauses share it equally in the first instance), and a party that breaches an agreed Dispute Neutral clause can be liable for the costs that causes. For the party receiving a claim, agreeing to a neutral decision process is not a concession — it is the rational commercial choice.
Frequently asked questions
Are the Dispute Neutral fees shown inclusive or exclusive of VAT?
The Dispute Neutral fees in the comparison table are shown net of VAT, to allow a like-for-like comparison with court fees which are not subject to VAT. VAT will be applicable to Dispute Neutral fees in the usual way. For businesses that are VAT registered and can reclaim input VAT, the net figure is the relevant cost for comparison purposes.
What happens if my claim is allocated to a different track than the table assumes?
Track allocation depends on the value and complexity of the claim, and the court has discretion. The table uses the most likely allocation for each claim value, but a complex £15,000 claim could be allocated to the multi-track rather than the fast track, increasing court costs further. Dispute Neutral fees are banded by the amount in dispute (£650 + VAT up to £4,000, £900 + VAT from £4,001 to £10,000, £1,200 + VAT from £10,001 to £25,000 and £1,500 + VAT from £25,001 to £150,000 (£1,500 + VAT for a non-money decision on a commercial matter)). They do not go up if the dispute turns out to be more involved.
Does the Dispute Neutral fee cover both parties or just the claimant?
The fee covers the neutral decision process itself. Both parties take part in the same process. Under the draft clauses on our Include us page, the parties share the fee equally in the first instance unless they agree otherwise; the Dispute Neutral service terms set out the detail. For cost comparison purposes, the key point is that neither party needs to instruct a solicitor, which removes the largest variable cost that makes court proceedings so expensive for both sides.
Is it worth using Dispute Neutral for a claim up to £10,000 where court appears marginally cheaper?
On court fees alone, court is marginally cheaper for claims up to £10,000: by £99 at £4,000 and at £10,000. But that comparison leaves out the time a small claim takes (a median of 41.0 weeks from issue to trial in April to June 2026, according to Ministry of Justice statistics), the management time involved in preparing for a hearing, and the stress of an unresolved dispute over that period. For many businesses, a binding decision within 10 business days of the matter being ready is worth more than the small saving on court fees.
Ready to compare for your specific dispute?
If you have a commercial debt up to £150,000 and want to understand whether Dispute Neutral makes sense for your situation (both parties need to agree to use it), the starting point is simple.
Start a matter →Private • Fixed-fee • Binding decision in 10 business days once the matter is ready