Web claims progress

RECOVERY: MCOL becomes fourth highest issuing 'court'

More than half a million people are now able to defend claims over the Internet after the Court Service launched phase two of its Money Claim Online (MCOL) project.

MCOL, the Court Service's first on-line service, was launched a year ago, and enables users to make claims to recover money owed to them by logging on to a Web site.

To date, some 16,659 claims have been issued using the MCOL service.

This makes it the fourth highest issuing 'court' for money claims - behind only the large county courts in Leeds, Birmingham and Liverpool.

The second phase of MCOL provides a secure Web service to allow defendants of claims issued through MCOL and the County Court Bulk Centre to submit an acknowledgment of service, defence, part admission and counterclaim to the court using the Internet.

The service also allows defendants to view the progress of the case against them and use the on-line user guide and the customer service helpdesk.

Court Service chief executive Ian Magee said: 'We have had excellent feedback on MCOL since its launch.

The enhancements to the service will provide over half a million court users with a better choice of services, and more efficient and convenient access to the courts.'