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Fast Track and Intermediate Track Timetable Calculator

Led by Diellza Nika Hyseni and Mentor Nika · Updated 22 October 2026

Work out the standard timetable after allocation from the date of the notice of allocation: the typical fast track directions in PD 28, the trial window, the pre-trial checklist, the trial fee, the bundle and the statement of costs, each with the rule it comes from. From DMD Costs, law costs draftsmen in Westhoughton, Bolton.

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Fast and intermediate track
Bank holidays to 2028
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Choose the track and enter the date of the notice of allocation. Every step appears with its date, how it was counted and the rule it comes from.

Track

A noise-induced hearing loss claim (its own standard directions, CPR 28.9)The claim is in the Damages Claims Portal (PD 51ZB)

Are the costs fixed?Decides whether Precedent U or the N260 is due before trial. Fixed costs do not apply to a claim about a home that includes disrepair, unless it arises from a boundary dispute (CPR 45.1(4)).

Date of the notice of allocationThe typical timetable in PD 28 para 9.5 runs from this date.

Date the order was served on you (optional)Leave blank to count from the date of the order, the earliest it can have been served.

Date the order gives for filing pre-trial checklists (optional)

Trial date, or the first day of the trial window (optional)

Last day of the trial window (optional)Leave blank if the order fixes a single trial date.

Date an expert’s report was served (optional)

Date the court first gave notice of the trial date or window, if not in the order (optional)Only matters if the order did not fix the trial date or window. A later notice of the hearing date within the window does not move the fee date.

Date the trial is listed for (optional)From the notice of trial. Until then, the trial steps count from the first day of the window.

Timetable

Fast track

These are the standard periods only. The court’s own order governs: where it gives a date, that date applies.

Nothing you enter leaves your browser. It is a guide, not legal advice: check every date against the order in your case.

When the claim gets to costs, that is all we do: for claimant firms we prepare N260 statements of costs, draw the bill, answer Points of Dispute and negotiate the costs. The fee is fixed and agreed before any work begins.

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The calculator follows the Civil Procedure Rules, Practice Directions 28, 44 and 51ZB, the Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008 and the standard directions on justice.gov.uk as they stood on 22 October 2026. These are the standard periods only: the court’s own order governs. It is a guide, not legal advice.

Key points

DMD Costs’ fast track and intermediate track timetable calculator is a free online tool that works out the standard timetable after allocation in England and Wales, from the date of the notice of allocation, with the rule each date comes from.
It is completely free, with no sign-up, and runs in your browser; nothing you enter is sent to DMD Costs.
Fast track: the typical timetable in PD 28 para 9.5 runs from the date of the notice of allocation: disclosure at 4 weeks, witness statements at 10, experts’ reports at 14, pre-trial checklists sent by the court at 20 and filed at 22, and the hearing at 30 weeks.
On the fast track the trial, or the end of the trial window, must be no later than 30 weeks from the directions order, and a trial window is no longer than 3 weeks (PD 28 paras 10.1 and 10.2; CPR 28.2(4)).
Intermediate track: the rules set no typical timetable. The court gives the dates in its order (CPR 28.2 and 28.14), within a standard period of not more than 30 weeks from directions to trial (PD 28 para 3.11).
Before trial: the pre-trial checklist date is no more than 8 weeks before the trial (CPR 28.4(2)), notice of the trial is at least 3 weeks (CPR 28.5(2)), the trial fee is due 28 days before the trial where notice was given 36 days or more before it (Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008, fee 2.1), and the bundle is filed 7 to 3 days before (CPR 39.5(2)).
Costs: no costs budget in either track unless the court orders it (CPR 3.12(1) and (1A)). Where costs are fixed, Precedent U is due no later than 24 hours before the trial (CPR 45.63(2)); where they are not, the N260 is due not less than 2 days before a fast track trial (PD 44 para 9.5(4)(a)).
The court’s own order governs: these are the standard periods only.

How to use the fast track timetable calculator

Choose the track. Fast track or intermediate track. Tick noise-induced hearing loss or the Damages Claims Portal if they apply, and say whether costs are fixed.
Enter the date of the notice of allocation. The typical fast track timetable, the 30-week limit and the time to challenge the order appear at once.
Add the dates in your order. The date of service, any case management conference, the date for pre-trial checklists and the trial date or trial window.
Add later dates as they arrive. An expert’s report served, the notice of trial and the listed trial date: the trial fee, bundle and statement of costs dates follow.
Check the flags and copy. Dates on a weekend or bank holiday are flagged with the safe course. Copy the timetable into a diary note or the file.

The typical fast track timetable (PD 28 para 9.5)

The practice direction sets out a typical timetable the court may give for preparing a fast track case. The periods run from the date of the notice of allocation, and the court bases its order on the standard directions published on justice.gov.uk (PD 28 para 9.4).

Step	Typical period from the notice of allocation	Example: notice dated Thu 22 Oct 2026
Disclosure	4 weeks	Thu 19 Nov 2026
Exchange of witness statements	10 weeks	Thu 31 Dec 2026
Exchange of experts’ reports	14 weeks	Thu 28 Jan 2027
Sending of pre-trial checklists by the court	20 weeks	Thu 11 Mar 2027
Filing of completed pre-trial checklists	22 weeks	Thu 25 Mar 2027
Hearing	30 weeks	Thu 20 May 2027

The court may leave out steps that are not needed and list an earlier trial, for example where the pre-action protocol has been followed or an application has already been heard (PD 28 para 9.6). The latest date for the trial, or the end of the trial window, is 30 weeks from the directions order, and the window is no longer than 3 weeks (PD 28 paras 10.1 and 10.2).

Dates the rules fix

Step	When	Rule
Trial window	Not more than 3 weeks	CPR 28.2(4)(b)(ii); PD 28 para 10.2
Fast track trial	No later than 30 weeks from the directions order (the trial, or the end of the window)	PD 28 para 10.1
Standard period to trial (both tracks)	Not more than 30 weeks from directions	PD 28 para 3.11
Apply against an order made without a hearing	Within the period the order gives, or 7 days after service	CPR 3.3(5) and (6)
Apply to vary the directions	Within 14 days of service, or the court assumes you were content	PD 28 para 4.2(2)
Written questions to an expert	Within 28 days of service of the report	CPR 35.6(2)
Agreed directions before an intermediate track CMC	At least 7 days before the conference	CPR 28.13
Date for filing pre-trial checklists	No more than 8 weeks before the trial or the start of the window	CPR 28.4(2)
Court sends the N170 and N171	At least 2 weeks before the return date	PD 28 para 6.1(2)
Notice of the trial date	At least 3 weeks before the trial	CPR 28.5(2)
Trial fee	28 days before the trial date or the Monday of the window’s first week, where notice is given 36 days or more before it; otherwise 7 days after the notice	Fees Order 2008, fee 2.1; CPR 3.7A1
Trial bundle	Not more than 7 and not less than 3 days before the trial	CPR 39.5(2)
Statement of costs (N260)	Not less than 2 days before a fast track trial; 24 hours before other hearings	PD 44 para 9.5(4)
Precedent U (fixed costs)	No later than 24 hours before the hearing	CPR 45.63(2)

The intermediate track

There is no typical timetable for the intermediate track. The table in PD 28 para 9.5 is in Section II, which applies only to the fast track. When it allocates a claim to the intermediate track, the court may give directions or fix a case management conference (CPR 28.2(3)); the parties must try to agree directions and send them, or their own proposals, at least 7 days before any conference (CPR 28.13). The court then sets the dates for disclosure, witness statements, expert evidence and the trial window in its order (CPR 28.14(1)), within a standard period of not more than 30 weeks from directions to trial (PD 28 para 3.11).

The standard intermediate track order on justice.gov.uk leaves those dates blank. It does fix a pre-trial review 4 weeks before the trial window starts, the bundle not more than 7 nor less than 3 clear days before trial, and skeleton arguments at least 2 clear days before. Unless the court orders otherwise, each party’s witness statements are limited to 30 pages in all and each expert report to 20 pages (CPR 28.14(3)), and the trial time estimate must not exceed 3 days (CPR 28.14(2)(b)).

The trial fee

The trial fee (fee 2.1) is paid by the claimant, or by the defendant where only a counterclaim goes ahead. Where the court gives notice of the trial date or trial window 36 days or more before the trial date, or the Monday of the first week of the window, it is payable at least 28 days before that date; where notice is given later, within 7 days of the notice (Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008, Schedule 1). The court sends a fee notice with the date (CPR 3.7A1(3)). The notice that counts is the first one: where the order fixed the trial date or window, a later notice of the hearing date within it does not move the fee date. If the fee is not paid by then and no remission has been applied for, the claim is struck out automatically (CPR 3.7A1(7)). The amount is in the civil court fees calculator.

Statements of costs, not budgets

Neither track has costs budgets: costs management applies to Part 7 multi-track cases (CPR 3.12(1)). Where costs are fixed, each party claiming fixed costs or disbursements files and serves a completed Precedent U no later than 24 hours before the time fixed for the hearing (CPR 45.63(2)). Where they are not fixed, as in a claim about a home that includes disrepair and does not arise from a boundary dispute (CPR 45.1(4)), the N260 statement of costs is filed and served not less than 2 days before a fast track trial, or 24 hours before any other hearing (PD 44 para 9.5(4)): the N260 builder fills in the form.

Noise-induced hearing loss claims

Fast track noise-induced hearing loss claims have their own standard directions (CPR 28.9). The standard form lists a one-day trial and asks for the bundle by midday 7 days before the trial, and a preliminary trial on limitation is ordered only if it is necessary in the interests of justice, which must be raised in the directions questionnaire (CPR 28.10).

Claims in the Damages Claims Portal

In the portal, fast track parties complete an online trial readiness certificate within 2 weeks of the court’s notice instead of an N170, unless a judge also directs one; the court still gives at least 3 weeks’ notice of the trial, and a trial bundle is directed only if necessary (PD 51ZB paras 7.6 and 7.7). On the intermediate track a pre-trial checklist is needed only if a judge directs it (para 7.6A). The pilot runs until 6 April 2027 (para 1.3).

How the dates are counted

Where a date rests on our reading of the words rather than on their plain terms, the calculator says so next to the date.

Weeks are counted as 7 calendar days each, from the date of the notice of allocation (our reading: CPR 2.8 covers only periods in days).
Periods in days are clear days: the day the period starts, and the day of the event it ends with, are not counted (CPR 2.8(2) and (3)).
In a period of 5 days or less, weekends, bank holidays, Christmas Day and Good Friday do not count (CPR 2.8(4)).
A period for doing something at the court office that ends on a day it is closed runs to the next open day (CPR 2.8(5)). Where a step must be done a set time before the trial and the last day is a closed day, the calculator gives the open day before, as the safe course (our reading).
The trial fee date is the Fees Order’s own rule, not CPR 2.8: we count 28 calendar days back from the trial date or the Monday of the window’s first week (our reading). Read as clear days it would be a day earlier, so the calculator gives that safer date too; the court’s fee notice gives the date.
The noise-induced hearing loss standard form’s “midday 7 days before the trial” is counted in clear days, as a period set by an order, so 8 calendar days before (our reading, CPR 2.8(1)(c) and (3)).
The court’s order gives calendar dates, with a time of day where practicable (CPR 2.9(1)): those dates govern.

Other time limits: the CPR deadline calculator and the deemed service calculator
Before trial: the N260 statement of costs builder and the civil court fees calculator
Changing the directions: the N244 application notice builder
Before the claim: the pre-action protocol deadline calculator

Sources

CPR Part 28 and Practice Direction 28 (the fast track and the intermediate track)
Standard directions on justice.gov.uk: fast track (non-noise), NIHL, and the intermediate track basic order
CPR Part 2 (rules 2.8, 2.9 and 2.11), CPR Part 3 (rules 3.3, 3.7A1, 3.8 and 3.12) and CPR Part 26 (rule 26.14)
CPR Part 35 (rule 35.6) and CPR Part 39 (rule 39.5)
Practice Direction 44 (paras 9.2 and 9.5) and CPR Part 45 (rules 45.1, 45.50, 45.52 and 45.63)
Practice Direction 51ZB (the Damages Claims Portal)
The Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008, Schedule 1 (fee 2.1)

Frequently asked questions

Yes. It is completely free, with no sign-up, no paywall and no limit. It runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to DMD Costs. It is a guide, not legal advice: the order in your case governs.

PD 28 para 9.5 sets out a typical timetable the court may give, running from the date of the notice of allocation: disclosure 4 weeks, exchange of witness statements 10 weeks, exchange of experts’ reports 14 weeks, the court sends the pre-trial checklists at 20 weeks, completed checklists are filed at 22 weeks and the hearing is at 30 weeks. The court may leave steps out and list an earlier trial where they are not needed (para 9.6). The order in your case gives the actual dates.

No. The typical timetable in PD 28 para 9.5 is in Section II of the practice direction, which applies only to the fast track. On the intermediate track the court gives directions or fixes a case management conference (CPR 28.2(3)) and sets the dates in its order (CPR 28.14(1)). The standard intermediate track order on justice.gov.uk leaves the dates blank, but lists a pre-trial review 4 weeks before the trial window, the bundle 7 to 3 clear days before trial and skeleton arguments 2 clear days before. The standard period from directions to trial is not more than 30 weeks (PD 28 para 3.11).

A period within which the trial will take place. When it gives directions on the fast track or the intermediate track, the court fixes either the trial date or a period of not more than 3 weeks (CPR 28.2(4)(b)). After the pre-trial checklists it fixes the date and gives at least 3 weeks’ notice of it (CPR 28.5). On the fast track the latest date for the trial, or the end of the window, is 30 weeks from the directions order (PD 28 para 10.1).

By the date in the notice of allocation, which cannot be more than 8 weeks before the trial date or the start of the trial window (CPR 28.4(1) and (2)). The court sends Forms N170 and N171 at least 2 weeks before that date (PD 28 para 6.1(2)). If no party files one, the court orders it within 7 days, failing which the claim, defence and any counterclaim are struck out (CPR 28.4(3)). Fast track claims in the Damages Claims Portal use an online trial readiness certificate instead, within 2 weeks of the court’s notice (PD 51ZB para 7.6(3)).

Where the court gives notice of the trial date or trial window 36 days or more before the trial date, or the Monday of the first week of the window, the fee is payable at least 28 days before that date; where notice is given later, within 7 days of the notice (Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008, Schedule 1, fee 2.1). The court sends a fee notice giving the date (CPR 3.7A1(3)). If the fee is not paid by then and no remission has been applied for, the claim is struck out automatically (CPR 3.7A1(7)).

Where costs are not fixed, the N260 statement of costs must be filed and served not less than 2 days before a fast track trial (PD 44 para 9.5(4)(a)); these are clear days, and weekends and bank holidays do not count (CPR 2.8). Where costs are fixed, a completed Precedent U is due no later than 24 hours before the time fixed for the hearing (CPR 45.63(2)). Fast track and intermediate track fixed costs do not apply to a claim about a home that includes disrepair, possession or unlawful eviction, unless it arises from a boundary dispute (CPR 45.1(4)).

No. Costs management applies to Part 7 multi-track cases (CPR 3.12(1)), and not where the proceedings are subject to fixed costs (CPR 3.12(1)(d)), unless the court orders otherwise (CPR 3.12(1A)). Intermediate track costs are limited by Sections VII and IX of Part 45 (CPR 28.15).

Within limits. Most dates can be varied by written agreement (CPR 2.11), but not the date for a case management conference, a pre-trial review, filing pre-trial checklists, the trial or the trial period, or any date whose change would make those move: that needs the court (CPR 28.3). Where a rule or order sets a sanction, the parties can agree in advance and in writing an extension of up to 28 days that does not put a hearing date at risk (CPR 3.8(4)). On the intermediate track, where the fixed costs table refers to a date set by the court, it means the first date set (CPR 45.50(2)(a)).

No. The complexity band decides the fixed costs allowed (CPR 26.14(3)), not the directions. Noise-induced hearing loss claims on the fast track have their own standard directions (CPR 28.9), and a claim to which Section VIII of Part 45 applies is not assigned a band (CPR 26.14(1)).

If the order was made without a hearing, an application to set it aside, vary or stay it must be made within the period the order gives or, if none, within 7 days of service (CPR 3.3(5) and (6)). A party who neither appeals nor applies to vary within 14 days of service of the order is assumed to have been content with the directions (PD 28 para 4.2(2)).

Trial coming up, and the costs not fixed?

We work for claimant solicitor firms: we prepare N260 statements of costs for summary assessment and, when a claim settles, we draw the bill, answer Points of Dispute and negotiate the costs. The fee is fixed and agreed before any work begins.

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