What Is a CCJ? County Court Judgments Explained

A County Court Judgment (CCJ) is a court order made in England and Wales when a court decides you owe money and have not paid it. It goes on a public register for six years and can make it much harder to get a loan, credit card, mortgage or tenancy.

What Is a CCJ and How Do You Get One?

A County Court Judgment is not a criminal record and it is not the same as being sued in the sense of a dramatic court battle. It is simply the county court's formal record that you owe a specific amount of money to a specific creditor, and it usually arrives quietly, by post.

Most CCJs start with a money claim, often issued through Money Claim Online or on a paper claim form, for an unpaid debt such as a credit card, loan, unpaid invoice, or rent arrears. Once you are sent that claim, you get a set deadline to respond. A CCJ can then follow in one of three ways:

• You do not respond by the deadline, and the court enters a default judgment against you
• You admit the debt but do not keep to the payment terms you agreed
• You defend the claim, the case goes to a hearing, and the court decides against you

In every case, the result on paper looks the same: a judgment for a fixed sum, plus any court costs, registered against your name.

The Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines

Every CCJ made in England and Wales is recorded on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, which has been run by Registry Trust on behalf of the Ministry of Justice since 1985. The register is publicly searchable, for a small fee, and it is this register, not a general credit file entry, that lenders, mortgage brokers, letting agents and some employers check when they look for county court judgments against you.

An entry stays on the register for six years from the date the judgment was made. What changes during those six years is not whether the entry exists, but what it says about whether you have paid.

Paying Within a Month vs Paying Later

This is the single most important thing to understand about a CCJ, and it is easy to miss because the deadline is short.

• Pay the judgment in full within one calendar month of the date it was made, and the entry is removed from the register altogether, as though it had never been recorded.
• Pay in full after that one-month window, and the entry is instead marked "satisfied." A satisfied CCJ looks better to a lender than an unsatisfied one, but it does not disappear. It stays on the public register for the full six years from the original judgment date.
• Do not pay at all, and the entry remains "unsatisfied" for the whole six years, continuing to damage your ability to get credit, and leaving the creditor free to pursue further enforcement action against you.

Because the one-month clock starts from the date of judgment, not from when you find out about it or when a letter reaches you, it is worth checking the register or contacting the court promptly if you think a CCJ may have been made against you.

What It Means for You: A Quick Breakdown

Disputing a CCJ You Think Is Wrong

If a CCJ was entered against you unfairly, for example because you never received the original claim, you had moved address, or you have a genuine defence to the debt, you can apply to the court to have it set aside using form N244. This involves a court fee and normally a private hearing where you explain to a judge why the judgment should not stand; if you do not attend, the application is usually rejected. Our full guide to CCJ removal walks through the set-aside process, the current court fee, and what evidence helps your case.

If You Cannot Pay

A CCJ you cannot afford to pay in one go does not have to mean six years of an unsatisfied entry and mounting pressure. You can apply to the court to vary the judgment, for example to spread repayment into smaller monthly instalments you can realistically manage. Ignoring the judgment instead does not make it go away. It simply leaves it unpaid, keeps damaging your credit rating for longer, and leaves the door open for the creditor to escalate enforcement.

Get Free Debt Advice Before You Do Anything

Before you agree to any repayment plan, debt management product, or approach a company that charges a fee, get free, impartial advice from a debt charity such as StepChange, National Debtline, Citizens Advice, or MoneyHelper. These organisations offer the same kind of budgeting help, creditor negotiation and options guidance that commercial debt firms charge for, at no cost to you. Getting advice early, ideally before a claim even reaches judgment, gives you far more options than waiting until enforcement starts.

Scotland and Northern Ireland Use Different Systems

The rules above apply to England and Wales only. Scotland does not have County Court Judgments at all: its civil courts issue a decree instead, typically through the Sheriff Court and, for smaller claims, under Simple Procedure. See our guide to small claims in Scotland for how that system works, including its own separate rules on enforcement and time limits. Northern Ireland also runs its own separate system for civil judgments and their enforcement, so do not assume the England and Wales six-year register or one-month removal rule applies there without checking.

For the wider picture of how a creditor sues for money in the first place, see our guide to the county court judgment process and to Money Claim Online.

This article explains County Court Judgments in England and Wales in general terms and is not legal or financial advice. Court fees, forms and processes can change, so check the current position on gov.uk before you act. If you are struggling with debt, get free, impartial help from StepChange, National Debtline, Citizens Advice or MoneyHelper. For the full picture of money claims and debt rules across the UK, see our UK debt and money hub, part of our wider guide to United Kingdom law.