In-house legal teams involved in commercial disputes should be aware of upcoming changes to jurisdictional thresholds in the Business and Property Courts, which take effect from 1 July 2025.
These changes, set out in a recent judicial Practice Note, adjust the financial criteria for transferring cases between the Commercial Court, the London Circuit Commercial Court ("LCCC"), and the County Court.
New thresholds
From 1 July 2025:
- Commercial Court Transfers: Claims with a value at risk of £7 million or less (exclusive of interest and costs) will typically be transferred from the Commercial Court to the LCCC, unless retention is justified.
- LCCC Transfers: Claims under £1 million (exclusive of interest and costs) may be transferred from the LCCC to the County Court, subject to the same qualification.
No case will be transferred without affording all parties an opportunity to object and make representations, however we can expect to see more mid-value cases channelled into the LCCC rather than the Commercial Court, which is ordinarily associated with more complex or high-profile disputes.
Case retention
In both scenarios, a case may be retained in the higher court if justified by the factors set out in CPR r. 30.3(2). These include:
- Complexity of the issues, including legal or factual difficulty;
- Public importance or broader commercial significance;
- Importance of the outcome to non-parties, such as industry-wide implications;
- Availability of specialist judicial expertise in a particular court;
- Geographical considerations, such as where the parties, witnesses, or relevant documents are located;
- The desirability of having the case heard in a particular court due to its existing case management history or linkage with other proceedings.
Practical implications
The changes underline the importance of properly valuing and assessing the wider circumstances of a proposed claim at the outset. Most higher value, complex cases will remain in the Commercial Court, but these changes increase the possibility that such cases will be heard by the LCCC.
Whilst the opportunity to make representations remains, litigants will need to develop robust and realistic arguments to achieve a transfer to its benefit, based on the particular factors of the case. There remains a perception that certain complexities demand the expertise of the High Court, however the LCCC has a great deal of experience in commercial disputes of moderate complexity and there will be certain disputes that benefit strategically from transfer down - cases may be heard more quickly and ultimately at lower cost before the lower court.
Some parties will lose the perceived prestige or specialist experience of the Commercial Court for claims between £5m and £7m, but may find those claims progress more quickly and with more flexible case management in the LCCC.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
