Form N285 Affidavit UK: Sworn Statement Guide 2026

At a glance

• What it is: Form N285 is the standard general-form affidavit used across the civil courts of England and Wales — a written statement of facts sworn on oath or affirmed before an authorised person, still published by GOV.UK as a current court form.
• When you need one: Only when the court, a Civil Procedure Rule, a practice direction, or another enactment specifically requires evidence "by affidavit" (CPR 32.15). Outside that, the default form of written evidence is a witness statement verified by a statement of truth.
• Who can witness it: Administering oaths and taking affidavits is a reserved legal activity. In practice this means a solicitor with a current practising certificate, a notary public, or another authorised person — never someone acting for, or otherwise interested in, the case.
• The statutory fee: £5 for taking the affidavit, declaration or affirmation, plus £2 per exhibit marked, under the Commissioners for Oaths (Fees) Order 1993 — always confirm the current figure on GOV.UK, as fees can be revised by a later order.
• False statements: A knowingly false sworn affidavit can be perjury under section 1 of the Perjury Act 1911 — up to 7 years' imprisonment on conviction on indictment.
• Affirming instead of swearing: Anyone can affirm rather than take a religious oath. Under section 5 of the Oaths Act 1978, an affirmation has exactly the same legal effect as an oath.

What Form N285 is and when you actually need one

Form N285 is the general-purpose affidavit template used in the civil courts of England and Wales. In it, the person giving evidence — called the deponent — sets out facts in numbered paragraphs and then confirms, by taking a religious oath or by making a non-religious affirmation, that everything in it is true. That oath or affirmation is what turns the document into an affidavit rather than an ordinary statement, and it is what gives it real evidential and legal weight: a knowingly false affidavit exposes the deponent to prosecution for perjury.

Since the Civil Procedure Rules came into force, affidavits are no longer the default way of giving written evidence in civil claims. CPR rule 32.15 is explicit: evidence must be given by affidavit only if this is required by the court itself, by a provision in any other Civil Procedure Rule, by a practice direction, or by another enactment. If none of those apply, a witness who wants to give evidence by affidavit in a non-trial hearing is free to do so, but cannot normally recover the extra cost of doing so from the other side.

Affidavits still turn up regularly in specific contexts — some family proceedings, certain probate and insolvency applications, particular enforcement steps, and any situation where a court order or a standard-form direction expressly asks for "affidavit evidence" rather than a witness statement. The single most useful first step is always to check exactly what the rule, practice direction or order you are responding to actually asks for, rather than assuming.

Affidavit or witness statement? The rule that decides it

The practical distinction that matters is this:

• A witness statement is a written statement of the oral evidence a witness would be allowed to give, signed and verified by a statement of truth under CPR Part 22. It is the default form of evidence for hearings other than trial under CPR 32.6. A knowingly false statement of truth can lead to committal proceedings for contempt of court under CPR 32.14.
• An affidavit is a written statement sworn on oath or affirmed before an authorised person, required only where CPR 32.15(1) is triggered — by the court, a rule, a practice direction, or another enactment. Because it is sworn evidence rather than merely verified evidence, a knowingly false affidavit is treated differently: it exposes the deponent to prosecution for perjury (see "What happens if you make a false statement" below), not just contempt proceedings.

If you have been told to provide "evidence" without more detail, it is almost always safe to assume a witness statement is what is wanted. Affidavits are the exception, and the exception is usually spelled out clearly in the order, rule or practice direction you are working from.

Who is allowed to witness your affidavit

Solicitors, notaries and commissioners for oaths

Administering oaths and taking affidavits is a reserved legal activity, so only someone specifically authorised to carry it out can lawfully do so. Under section 183 of the Legal Services Act 2007, an authorised person for this purpose is entitled to use the title "Commissioner for Oaths." In practice, three types of person routinely fill this role:

1. A solicitor who holds a current practising certificate. Holding a practising certificate is what makes a solicitor an authorised person for administering oaths — it is not a status every solicitor automatically carries.
2. A notary public, particularly for documents that will also be used outside England and Wales.
3. A person specifically authorised or appointed to act as a commissioner for oaths, independently of being a solicitor.

Whoever witnesses your affidavit, the same restriction applies: under section 183(3) of the Legal Services Act 2007, that person cannot represent any of the parties to the proceedings, or otherwise be interested in them. The person taking the oath must also record, in the jurat at the end of the document, exactly where and when the affidavit was sworn (s.183(4)).

A note on non-practising solicitors

This is a genuinely important distinction, and one that is easy to get wrong. A solicitor who is admitted and on the roll of solicitors of England and Wales, but who does not currently hold a practising certificate — a "non-practising solicitor" — is not an authorised person for administering oaths, even though they remain a qualified and genuinely admitted solicitor. Their legal knowledge is real, but the specific statutory authorisation to witness affidavits only attaches to solicitors holding a practising certificate that is currently in force. If the adviser you are speaking to is non-practising, you will still need to have your affidavit sworn separately before someone who currently holds that authorisation.

How to complete Form N285

Setting out the facts

Practice Direction 32, which supplements CPR Part 32, sets out the required form and content of an affidavit. In summary:

• The affidavit should be headed with the case details it relates to, and identify the deponent — their full name, occupation or description, address, and which party they are giving evidence for.
• The body should be written in the first person, in numbered paragraphs, sticking to facts the deponent knows of their own knowledge. If something was told to the deponent by someone else, that has to be stated, along with the source — this is hearsay, and needs to be identified as such.
• Opinion, argument and speculation do not belong in an affidavit; the court is interested in the evidence the deponent can personally give.
• At the end, the jurat authenticates the document. It must be signed by the deponent, then completed and signed by the person before whom it is sworn, whose name and qualification (for example, "solicitor" or "notary public") are printed beneath their signature, together with their full address. The jurat follows immediately on from the text of the affidavit — it should never appear on a separate page.

Exhibits

Where the affidavit refers to documents as evidence, each one is attached as a separate exhibit, individually labelled (for example, "AB1", "AB2") and given its own front sheet identifying the affidavit it belongs to. If a deponent swears more than one affidavit in the same proceedings, exhibit numbering should run on consecutively across all of them rather than restarting with each affidavit. The person taking the affidavit normally marks (signs or stamps) each exhibit at the same time as the affidavit itself, and is entitled to charge a separate statutory fee for each one.

Swearing or affirming the affidavit

You need to attend in person before an authorised person — a practising solicitor acting as a commissioner for oaths, a notary public, or another authorised person. You will either swear on a holy text appropriate to your religion, or affirm. Under section 5 of the Oaths Act 1978, you can choose to affirm instead of swearing for any reason, or no reason at all, and an affirmation carries exactly the same legal force as an oath. If you need to swear an affidavit outside England and Wales, CPR 32.17 allows this to be done either in the way this Part requires, or in accordance with the law of the place where you make it.

What it costs to swear an affidavit

The statutory fee for taking an affidavit is set out in the Commissioners for Oaths (Fees) Order 1993: £5.00 for taking the affidavit, declaration or affirmation from each person swearing it, plus £2.00 for each exhibit that has to be marked. Under section 183(6)–(7) of the Legal Services Act 2007, the Lord Chancellor can vary these fees by a later order, after consulting the Legal Services Board and with the consent of the Lord Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls — so treat these figures as the statutory starting point and always check the current fee on GOV.UK before you attend. Any court issue fee for the underlying application is separate again, and depends on what you are applying for.

What happens if you make a false statement

A sworn affidavit made for the purposes of court proceedings is treated as evidence given in a judicial proceeding. Under section 1 of the Perjury Act 1911, a person who is lawfully sworn and wilfully makes a statement material to the proceeding, knowing it to be false or not believing it to be true, is guilty of perjury — and this applies even though the statement is made before the authorised person taking the affidavit rather than in front of the court itself (s.1(3)). The maximum penalty on conviction on indictment is 7 years' imprisonment, a fine, or both.

Choosing to affirm rather than swear makes no difference to any of this. Under the Oaths Act 1978, an affirmation carries exactly the same legal force as an oath, so a knowingly false affirmed affidavit is treated the same way as a knowingly false sworn one.

Beyond the criminal exposure, courts take deliberately false or misleading affidavit evidence extremely seriously in the proceedings themselves — the court can disregard the evidence, draw adverse inferences against the party relying on it, and, where appropriate, refer the matter on for investigation. If you realise something in an affidavit you have already sworn is wrong, the right response is to say so promptly, not to let it stand.

Filing and serving the affidavit

Once sworn, the original affidavit is filed with the court dealing with your case by whatever deadline the rules or a directions order set. Copies — including all exhibits — normally need to go to every other party within the same timeframe, so keep clear proof of service. Under CPR 32.12, an affidavit filed in one set of proceedings can generally only be used for the purposes of those proceedings, unless the person who gave it consents in writing to some other use, the court gives permission, or it has already been put in evidence at a public hearing.

Worked example: when a court orders affidavit evidence

Priya applies to set aside a default judgment entered against her. In its order listing the application for a hearing, the court directs that "the applicant's evidence in support shall be given by affidavit, filed and served no later than 14 days before the hearing." Because a court has specifically required affidavit evidence under CPR 32.15(1), a witness statement will not satisfy the direction, however similar its content.

Priya prepares her account of events in numbered paragraphs, in her own words, sticking to what she personally knows — including why she says she was not properly served and why she has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim. She attaches copies of relevant correspondence as exhibits "PS1" and "PS2", each with its own front sheet. She then books an appointment with a local firm's commissioner for oaths, brings photo ID, and swears the affidavit in person; the exhibits are marked at the same time. The signed original is filed with the court and copies served on the claimant well within the 14-day deadline, with proof of postage kept on file.

Common mistakes that cause delay

• Filing a witness statement when an affidavit was specifically ordered, or vice versa — always re-read the exact wording of the order, rule or practice direction before you start drafting.
• Using an unauthorised witness — a friend, family member, or a solicitor without a current practising certificate cannot lawfully take your affidavit, and a court can reject an affidavit sworn this way.
• Writing in the third person or including hearsay without saying so — an affidavit should read as the deponent's own first-hand account, with any secondhand information clearly flagged as such and its source identified.
• Leaving exhibits unmarked or unlabelled, or renumbering exhibits from "1" in a second affidavit in the same proceedings instead of continuing the sequence.
• Missing the filing or service deadline set out in the order or rules — affidavit evidence filed late can be excluded from the hearing altogether.
• Assuming a fee-free option exists — the statutory fee for taking the affidavit and marking exhibits still applies even where the underlying application itself is fee-exempt.

What to do next

1. Check exactly what your order, rule or practice direction requires. Confirm it genuinely calls for affidavit evidence on Form N285, rather than a witness statement, before you do anything else.
2. Gather your facts and any documents you'll need to exhibit, and draft in numbered, first-person paragraphs, sticking to what you personally know.
3. Book an appointment with an authorised person — a practising solicitor acting as a commissioner for oaths, or a notary public — and check their fee, including the per-exhibit charge, in advance.
4. Attend in person to swear or affirm the affidavit, bringing photo ID and the documents you intend to exhibit.
5. File the original with the court and serve copies on every other party within the deadline set by the rules or the order, and keep proof of service.
6. If anything about your situation is unusual — for example, you are unsure whether affidavit or witness statement evidence is really required, or you need to give evidence for someone who lacks capacity or for a company — speaking to an experienced legal adviser before you swear anything can save real time and cost.

This guide provides general information about affidavits and Form N285 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 and legislation.gov.uk for the most current position.

Last reviewed: August 2026 · Next review due: August 2027 or on legislative change.