Maybe, but then the main point of having a small claims system is that a normal person should be able to use it with relatively little overhead and without need

Maybe, but then the main point of having a small claims system is that a normal person should be able to use it with relatively little overhead and without needing to bring expensive lawyers into the situation. You do need to do a little homework if it's the first time you're thinking of making this sort of claim and as always you should make sure you are being fair and reasonable about trying to fix things before going all legal on them, but there's decent information about how to use the system available from the relevant government websites these days if you need it.