Form N20 Witness Summons: How to Compel a Witness to Attend Court

At a glance

• What it is: Form N20 is the civil court witness summons, governed by Part 34 of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). It works in the county court and the High Court.
• Service deadline: the general rule is that it is binding only if served at least 7 days before the witness must attend (CPR 34.5(1)). The court can direct it binding on shorter notice (CPR 34.5(2)).
• Permission needed: before the court issues a summons less than 7 days before trial, for a date other than the trial date, or for any hearing other than the trial (CPR 34.3(2)).
• Conduct money: the witness must be offered or paid, at the time of service, a sum for travel expenses plus compensation for loss of time (CPR 34.7 and Practice Direction 34A).
• Court fee: currently £4 to issue an application for a summons or order for a witness to attend court (fee 2.6, EX50A) — always check GOV.UK court fees for the amount that applies when you issue.
• Non-compliance: in the county court, a fine of up to £1,000 (County Courts Act 1984, s.55); in the High Court, contempt of court, punishable by fine or imprisonment.
• Challenging it: the court that issued the summons can set it aside or vary it (CPR 34.3(4)).

What Form N20 is for

Form N20 is the practice form used to issue a witness summons in civil proceedings — Practice Direction 34A confirms that a witness summons "must be in the relevant practice form," and in practice that form is N20. It is defined in CPR 34.2(1) as a document issued by the court requiring a witness to attend court to give evidence, to produce documents to the court, or both. There must be a separate witness summons for each individual witness (CPR 34.2(3)).

Where documents are required, CPR 34.2(4) allows the summons to specify either the date fixed for the hearing or a different date the court directs. But CPR 34.2(5) limits what can be demanded: the only documents a witness can be required to produce under a summons are ones they could be required to produce at the hearing itself. A summons is not a general disclosure tool against a non-party.

Either party to a claim — claimant or defendant, represented or acting in person — can apply. Under CPR 34.1(2), any reference in Part 34 to "a hearing" includes the trial, which matters when working out whether permission is needed (below).

Who issues it, and when you need permission

CPR 34.3(3) requires a witness summons to be issued either by the court where the case is proceeding, or by the court where the hearing in question will actually be held. It is issued on the date entered on it by the court (CPR 34.3(1)).

You do not automatically need the court's separate permission to have a summons issued for the trial date itself, provided you are not leaving it until the last week. CPR 34.3(2) requires permission in three specific situations:

| Situation | Permission needed? | |---|---| | Summons for the trial date, issued 7+ days before trial | No | | Summons issued less than 7 days before the trial | Yes — CPR 34.3(2)(a) | | Summons for a witness to attend on any date other than the trial date | Yes — CPR 34.3(2)(b) | | Summons for a witness to attend any hearing other than the trial | Yes — CPR 34.3(2)(c) |

This catches, for example, wanting a witness to attend a case management hearing, or wanting to fix a document-production date ahead of trial — both fall outside the trial-date default and need the court's permission first.

Completing and issuing Form N20

Form N20 asks for the claim number, the parties, the court address, and the name and address of the witness. It records whether the witness must give evidence, produce documents (described precisely enough that the witness knows what to bring), or both, and states the date, time and location they must attend. Under Practice Direction 34A paragraph 1.2, two copies of the summons should be filed with the court for sealing — the court keeps one on its file.

If there is a mistake in the witness's name or address, Practice Direction 34A paragraph 1.3 allows it to be corrected provided the summons has not yet been served. The corrected summons must then be re-sealed by the court and marked "Amended and Re-Sealed" (paragraph 1.4). Once served, a mistake cannot simply be corrected — a fresh summons is the safer route.

There is a court fee to issue the application. As at the EX50A fee list current when this page was last reviewed, the fee for an "application for summons or order for witness to attend court" is £4 — but court fees change, so always check GOV.UK for the figure that applies on the day you issue.

Serving the summons and paying conduct money

Under CPR 34.6(1), the court serves the summons by default — you only serve it yourself if you tell the court in writing, when you ask for it to be issued, that you wish to do so. If the court is serving it, CPR 34.6(2) requires you to deposit with the court, in advance, the money that must be offered to the witness. If you serve it yourself, Practice Direction 34A paragraph 3.4 requires you to notify the court in writing and to offer the witness the same sums at the time of service.

CPR 34.7 sets out what must be offered or paid at the point of service:

• a sum reasonably sufficient to cover the witness's travel expenses to and from court; and
• compensation for loss of time, at the rate specified in Practice Direction 34A.

Practice Direction 34A paragraph 3.3 confirms that the loss-of-time figure is based on the sums payable to witnesses attending the Crown Court, fixed under separate criminal costs legislation. If the summons is court-served, paragraph 3.2 requires the applying party to deposit both the travel sum and the loss-of-time sum (or such lesser sum as can be shown the witness will actually lose) before the court serves it.

Timing matters as much as the money. CPR 34.5(1) states the general rule: a summons is binding only if served at least 7 days before the date the witness is required to attend. CPR 34.5(2) allows the court to direct that a summons is binding even where it will be served on shorter notice, but that is a specific direction, not an automatic fallback. Once properly served, a summons requiring attendance to give evidence is binding until the conclusion of the hearing for which attendance is required (CPR 34.5(3)) — so a witness cannot assume they are released after one day if the hearing runs on.

What happens if a witness does not comply

Form N20 itself spells out the consequence in the warning printed on the form: "If you do not comply with this summons you will be liable, in county court proceedings, to a fine. In the High Court, disobedience of a witness summons is a contempt of court and you may be fined or imprisoned for contempt." It adds that the witness may also be liable to pay any wasted costs caused by their non-compliance.

In the county court, this is backed by section 55 of the County Courts Act 1984. Under section 55(1), a person summoned as a witness who, without sufficient cause, refuses or neglects to appear or to produce the required documents — or who appears but refuses to be sworn or give evidence — forfeits such fine as the court directs. Section 55(2) caps that fine at £1,000. Critically, section 55(3) protects witnesses who were not properly paid: no fine can be imposed unless the conduct money was paid or tendered to the witness at the time the summons was served. Section 55(4) allows the court to direct that some or all of the fine, after costs, goes to indemnify the party who was harmed by the refusal.

Separately, CPR 34.7A recognises that a person who has failed to comply with certain county court orders may be able to show good reason why they should not be fined — in which case the court can direct that they give their evidence by witness statement, affidavit, or another method instead of attending in person.

Setting aside or varying a witness summons

A witness (or, in principle, another affected party) is not without recourse. CPR 34.3(4) gives the court that issued a witness summons the power to set it aside or vary it. Form N20 confirms this directly to the recipient: if they wish to set aside or vary the summons, they can apply to the court that issued it. The Rules do not set out a fixed list of grounds — the application is decided by the issuing court on the facts, so anyone served with a summons they consider wrongly issued should apply promptly rather than simply not attending, given the fine and contempt consequences described above.

Worked example (fictional, for illustration only)

Priya is bringing a small claim in the county court against a supplier over a faulty delivery. Her case turns on delivery records held by a courier company that is not a party to the claim. The trial date is set for six weeks' time.

Priya applies to the court for a Form N20 witness summons requiring the courier company's records manager to attend and produce the relevant delivery logs. Because she is applying well over 7 days before the trial date, and the summons is for the trial itself, she does not need separate permission under CPR 34.3(2) — the court issues the sealed summons on payment of the fee.

Priya asks the court to serve the summons (the default under CPR 34.6(1)), so she deposits with the court both a sum for the witness's travel costs and a sum for loss of time, calculated on the Crown Court witness scale referred to in Practice Direction 34A. The court serves the summons on the records manager 12 days before the hearing — comfortably inside the 7-day minimum under CPR 34.5(1) — together with the conduct money. If the witness had been served only 3 days before the hearing without a specific court direction making it binding, the summons would not have been binding on them at all.

Practical steps if you are applying for a witness summons

1. Check the witness will not attend voluntarily first. A summons is a serious step, usually reserved for reluctant witnesses or neutral third-party record holders, and it costs a fee and conduct money to get right.
2. Work out whether you need the court's permission under CPR 34.3(2) — most trial-date applications made in good time will not, but anything for a different date or a different hearing usually will.
3. Complete Form N20 precisely, especially the description of any documents required — CPR 34.2(5) limits the summons to documents the witness could be required to produce at the hearing itself.
4. Budget for conduct money, not just the court fee. Under CPR 34.7, this must be offered or paid at the time of service, and in the county court a fine for non-compliance cannot even be imposed if it was not.
5. Serve in good time. Aim to serve well clear of the CPR 34.5(1) 7-day minimum, since a late-served summons that is not the subject of a court direction may simply not be binding.
6. Keep proof of service and payment of conduct money, in case you need to rely on it if the witness does not attend.

This guide provides general information about Form N20 witness summonses under CPR Part 34 in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific circumstances. The law described was accurate as at August 2026 and is subject to change — always check GOV.UK, justice.gov.uk and legislation.gov.uk for the most current position.

Last reviewed: August 2026 by a non-practising solicitor · Next review due: August 2027 or on legislative change.