From September 2022 it is compulsory for Defendants' solicitors to accept service of injury or damage claims via the HMCTS (DCP) where the claim has been issued in the DCP.
Keystone is registered on the DCP, and we can create individual user accounts for those who deal with injury or property damage claims. Please contact the Administration Team if you work in this area so that an account can be created for you. You will then receive emailed instructions from HMCTS to complete the account setup.
When a Claimant issues a claim in the DCP, it is mandatory that they nominate an email address for service on the Defendant. You may provide your own Keystone email address to the Claimant for these purposes, provided that an account has been set up in your name. Once set up, please ensure that you can access your account before nominating your email address for service.
Having provided your own email address to the Claimant for service, you should receive all relevant notifications directly. Within the DCP you may also nominate a second individual to receive email notifications on a matter. This way, two people working on a matter can receive relevant notifications, provided that each have their own account. If you need temporary monitoring of a matter and there is no suitable second person available, please contact Mark Healing who can find someone suitable to monitor the DCP for you.
If at any point you need to pay a Court fee via the DCP, please contact the Central Office Lawyers (COL@keystonelaw.co.uk) who can arrange this for you.
HMCTS have prepared a webinar which gives an overview of using the DCP.
The relevant CPR Practice Direction is available here.