The Woolf Reforms were changes to Civil Procedure Rules and were introduced in 1999 for the purposes of simplifying and speeding up civil litigation in England and Wales. The reforms followed a review of the civil justice system commissioned by the government and carried out by a committee headed by Lord Woolf.

Prior to the report claims had taken too long to reach court with insufficient effort being made to reach amicable settlements. The objective of the changes was to speed up pre- trial procedures and ensure that claims could be dealt with quickly, fairly and economically and as far as possible without court action.

The reforms require more pre-action contact and exchange of information between the parties and set time limits for presenting and responding to claims.

If a claim does go to litigation the process is controlled by the judge and there are three legal tracks as follows governed by the value of the claim:-

1. Small Claims - up to £5,000 (£1,000.00 if injury only)
2. Fast Track - up to £25,000
3. Multi Track - exceeding £25,000

Judges will ensure that there is no stalling or time wasting and have the power to impose penalties for any breaches of the procedures.

The changes are of particular importance to claims for personal injury and should be of assistance to claimants who might otherwise be deterred from claiming because of potentially lengthy and expensive legal proceedings.

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