I didn't get to the trial stage the two times I've used it, so I am not sure, but I would assume so. The first time the letter from HM Courts was enough to put

I didn't get to the trial stage the two times I've used it, so I am not sure, but I would assume so. The first time the letter from HM Courts was enough to put the shits up the defendant (which is I think the biggest value of this for small claims against 'small' parties); the second time I got to the pre-trial phone-call with the judge, he said "Yep, there's enough here to go to trial", and then the defendant backed down. I'd be very surprised if many of these go to the final trial phase. It's nearly never worth the effort of doing so for the defendant, just pay up and not risk having a county court judgement around your neck.