An allocation questionnaire is a form used in English legal practice. After a claim is made, if a defence is filed each party is required to complete and return an allocation questionnaire to the court so that the judge may properly allocate the claim to a track and give further directions towards a final hearing.

Forms on the Internet

Sample allocation questionnaires are available on the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

. The official UK Courts web site has many forms available, including the allocation questionnaire. The actual form is available, as of March 2007, as a pdf file.

The Citizens Advice Bureau

Citizens Advice Bureau

A Citizens Advice Bureau is one of a network of independent charities throughout the UK that give free, confidential information and advice to help people with their money, legal, consumer and other problems....

 provides a generic legal advice

Legal advice

In the common law, legal advice is the giving of a formal opinion regarding the substance or procedure of the law by an officer of the court , ordinarily in exchange for financial or other tangible compensation...

 web site with information about the words and phrases used in small claims procedure in UK Courts.

The form itself

The allocation questionnaire is a Pivotal Point in the judicial process requesting the following information:

• Whether you wish to have a month to settle the case.
• What is the location or venue
  Venue (law)
  Venue is the location where a case is heard. In the United States, the venue is either a county or a district or division . Venue deals with locality of a lawsuit--that is, in which locale a lawsuit may be filed or commenced...
  
   of the case, and why it is chosen.
• Whether any pre-action protocols applied, and whether these were complied with.
• What is the amount of the claim in dispute.
• Who you will call as lay or expert witness
  Expert witness
  An expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...
  
  es.
• Whether the case should be considered small claims, or another track.
• How long you think the trial will take.
• How much your costs will be (in Pounds sterling).

Tracks

There are three tracks:

1. Small claims - any claim up to £5,000 and certain personal injury
   Personal injury
   Personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. The term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit alleging that the plaintiff's injury has been caused by the negligence of another, but also arises in defamation...
   
    and tenant
   Leasehold estate
   A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....
   
    claims over £1,000.
2. Fast track - disputes involving between £5,000 and £25,000.
3. Multi-track - disputes that are claimed to be over £25,000.

The Woolf Report had recommended these changes in 1999 to the Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

.

See also

• Interrogatories
  Interrogatories
  In law, interrogatories are a formal set of written questions propounded by one litigant and required to be answered by an adversary, in order to clarify matters of fact and help to determine in advance what facts will be presented at any trial in the case.In civil cases, the issues to be decided...
  
  
• Unspecified claim
  Unspecified claim
  An unspecified claim is a tort claim "where the amount to be awarded is left to the Court to determine." Examples of unspecified claims are unspecified damages for personal injuries, such as from a motor vehicle accident or medical malpractice....
  
  
• Settlement conference
  Settlement conference
  A settlement conference is a meeting between opposing sides of a lawsuit at which the parties attempt to reach a mutually agreeable resolution of their dispute without having to proceed to a trial. Such a conference may be initiated through either party, usually by the conveyance of a settlement...
  
  
• Small claims court
  Small claims court
  Small-claims courts have limited jurisdiction to hear civil cases between private litigants. Courts authorized to try small claims may also have other judicial functions, and the name by which such a court is known varies by jurisdiction; it may be known as a county or magistrate's court...