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Free N242A Template and Part 36 Offer Builder

Led by Diellza Nika Hyseni and Mentor Nika · Updated 20 October 2026

Fill in the official HMCTS Part 36 offer form in minutes: the offer, the relevant period, the counterclaim and the personal injury boxes, checked against CPR Part 36, with when the offer is made and when the relevant period ends. From DMD Costs, law costs draftsmen in Westhoughton, Bolton.

  • Free, with no sign-up
  • No paywall, no watermark
  • The official HMCTS form
  • Nothing leaves your browser

Fill in what you have. The checks and the dates on the right update as you type, and the N242A downloads filled in, ready to check, sign and serve.

The claim
The offer
This offer is

A claimant’s offer is an offer to accept something to settle your own claim; a defendant’s offer is an offer of something to settle your opponent’s, and to pay their costs.

It settles
For a money offer. Leave blank for any other kind of offer and write it in the details below.
Suggested from the sum and your choices; edit it as you need.
Counterclaim
Is there a counterclaim or other adverse claim?
Personal injury
Is this a personal injury claim?
The relevant period and service
The period within which the defendant will be liable for the claimant’s costs if the offer is accepted (CPR 36.5(1)(c)).
An offer made less than 21 days before the trial needs no 21-day period (CPR 36.5(2)), but it does not carry the CPR 36.17 consequences unless the court abridges the period (CPR 36.17(7)(c)).

Email is good service only if the offeree, or its solicitor, has said in writing that it accepts service by email and given the address (PD 6A para 4.1).

Sign

The builder applies CPR Part 36, CPR 27.2, CPR 47.20 and Practice Direction 47 para 19, as they stood on 20 October 2026, to the official form N242A (06.15). Check every box against your file before serving. It is a guide, not legal advice.

Key points

  • DMD Costs’ N242A builder is a free online tool that fills in the official HMCTS Form N242A, the notice of offer to settle under Section I of Part 36, and downloads it as a PDF ready to sign and serve.
  • It is completely free, with no sign-up or paywall, and runs in your browser; nothing you enter is sent to DMD Costs.
  • A Part 36 offer must be in writing, say that it is made under Part 36, specify a relevant period of at least 21 days, say whether it relates to the whole claim, part of it or an issue, and say whether it takes any counterclaim into account (CPR 36.5(1)). Form N242A is optional, but its boxes cover each requirement.
  • The offer is made when it is served (CPR 36.7), and an offer to pay or accept a sum of money is treated as inclusive of all interest until the relevant period expires (CPR 36.5(4)); a claimant’s offer that says nothing more is inclusive of interest to the date of acceptance, if that is later (CPR 36.5(5)). A defendant’s money offer must be a single sum, payable within 14 days of acceptance (CPR 36.6).
  • In detailed assessment the receiving party makes a claimant’s offer and the paying party a defendant’s offer, and the offer should say whether it includes the costs of preparing the bill and VAT; if it does not, it is treated as including them (PD 47 para 19).
  • The form was printed in 2015. The rule on deduction of benefits is now CPR 36.20 (the form says 36.22), and in fixed recoverable costs claims the costs on acceptance follow CPR 36.23, not the 36.13 the form prints; where they apply, the builder’s suggested wording says so.

How to use the N242A builder

  1. Enter the claim. Enter the court, the claim number and the parties, with references. Leave the court blank if proceedings have not started.
  2. Describe the offer. Choose what it settles, whether it is a claimant’s or a defendant’s offer, the party making it, and the offeree with its address.
  3. Enter the sum. For a money offer, enter the sum. The builder suggests the wording, including how interest is treated, and you can edit it.
  4. Answer the counterclaim and injury questions. Say whether the offer takes any counterclaim into account and, in a personal injury claim, deal with provisional damages and recoverable benefits.
  5. Set the relevant period and service. Enter the relevant period, at least 21 days, and when and how the offer will be served. The builder shows when it is made and when the period ends.
  6. Sign and download. Add the name and date, download the filled N242A, check it, sign it and serve it. The notice of acceptance on page 5 can be filled in ready for the offeree.

What a Part 36 offer must contain

A Part 36 offer must (CPR 36.5(1)):

  • be in writing;
  • make clear that it is made under Part 36;
  • specify a period of not less than 21 days within which the defendant will be liable for the claimant’s costs if the offer is accepted, the relevant period;
  • state whether it relates to the whole of the claim, to part of it or to an issue that arises in it, and if so to which part or issue; and
  • state whether it takes into account any counterclaim.

The 21-day period is not needed where the offer is made less than 21 days before the start of a trial (CPR 36.5(2)); the relevant period then runs to the end of the trial (CPR 36.3(g)). An offer may relate to an issue, such as liability (CPR 36.2(3)). Form N242A has a box for each of these, and its notes say which kind of offer each party makes on a counterclaim, an appeal or a detailed assessment. Part 36 applies to an appeal or cross-appeal only where it is from a decision made at a trial (CPR 36.2(3)(b)), and there the ‘trial’ is the appeal hearing (CPR 36.4(2)).

When it is made, and interest

A Part 36 offer may be made at any time, including before proceedings start, and it is made when it is served on the offeree (CPR 36.7), on the deemed date of service: the same day for an email sent before 4.30pm on a business day, otherwise the next business day, and for first class post the second day after posting if that is a business day, or else the next business day (CPR 6.26). Email is good service only if the offeree has said in writing that it accepts it (PD 6A para 4.1). An offer to pay or accept a sum of money is treated as inclusive of all interest until the relevant period expires (CPR 36.5(4)); a claimant’s offer that makes no provision for interest after that is treated, if accepted later, as inclusive of all interest to the date of acceptance (CPR 36.5(5)). A defendant’s money offer must be a single sum payable within 14 days of acceptance (CPR 36.6). The builder works out the dates from the date and method of service; to count any other time limit, use the CPR deadline calculator.

Part 36 offers in detailed assessment

Part 36 applies to the costs of detailed assessment proceedings, with modifications (CPR 47.20), so a well-judged offer on the bill can decide who pays the costs of the assessment. The receiving party makes a claimant’s offer and the paying party a defendant’s offer, and the ‘trial’ is the detailed assessment hearing (CPR 47.20(4)). Under Practice Direction 47 para 19 the offer should say whether it is intended to include the costs of preparing the bill and VAT; unless it says otherwise, it is treated as including them. To see the whole timetable, use the detailed assessment deadline calculator.

Personal injury claims

Page 3 of the form deals with damages for personal injury. Where there is a claim for provisional damages, the offer must say whether it includes an award of provisional damages and, if it does, that it assumes the claimant will not develop the disease or suffer the type of deterioration specified in the offer, and the period within which any claim for further damages must be made (CPR 36.19(2) and (3)); if it is accepted, the claimant must apply for the award within 7 days (CPR 36.19(5)). A defendant must also say, where relevant, whether the offer is made without regard to any liability for recoverable benefits or is intended to include deductible amounts; if it includes them, the offer states the gross compensation, each deduction and the net sum, and the defendant must apply for a certificate of recoverable benefits before making the offer, and clarify the offer within 7 days of receiving the certificate if it arrives later (CPR 36.20). The 2015 form still refers to rule 36.22 for this; the rules were renumbered in 2023.

After the offer is served

The offeree may ask for clarification within 7 days of the offer being made (CPR 36.8), and accepts by serving written notice of acceptance (CPR 36.11); page 5 of the form is a notice of acceptance for the purpose. If an offer on the whole claim is accepted within the relevant period, the claimant is entitled to its costs up to the date notice of acceptance is served (CPR 36.13(1)), or to the fixed costs in a claim to which Part 45 Section VI, VII or VIII applies (CPR 36.23). The court decides the costs, unless they are agreed, if the offer was made less than 21 days before trial, does not relate to the whole claim, or is accepted after the relevant period; on a late acceptance of an offer on the whole claim it will usually give the claimant its costs to the end of the relevant period and the offeree will pay the offeror’s costs after that (CPR 36.13(4) and (5)). If the offer is not accepted and the result at trial is at least as advantageous to the offeror, the consequences in CPR 36.17 follow, unless the offer was made less than 21 days before trial and the court has not abridged the relevant period (CPR 36.17(7)(c)): work them out with the free Part 36 calculator.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Yes. It is completely free, with no sign-up, no paywall and no limit. It fills in the official HMCTS form in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to DMD Costs.
No. An offer is a Part 36 offer if it meets CPR 36.5: it must be in writing, make clear that it is made under Part 36, specify a relevant period of not less than 21 days, state whether it relates to the whole of the claim, to part of it or to an issue, and state whether it takes into account any counterclaim. Form N242A is a convenient way to meet those requirements, and a letter will do if it does. An offer that does not comply has none of the Part 36 consequences, though the court must still have regard to it when it decides costs, if it is drawn to the court’s attention (CPR 36.2(2) and 44.2(4)(c)).
Where the offer is made not less than 21 days before trial, it is the period stated in the offer, which must be at least 21 days, or any longer period the parties agree; otherwise it is the period up to the end of the trial (CPR 36.3(g)). It runs from when the offer is made, which is when it is served (CPR 36.7): an email sent before 4.30pm on a business day is served that day, and first class post on the second day after posting if that is a business day, or else on the next business day (CPR 6.26).
Yes. An offer to pay or to accept a sum of money is treated as inclusive of all interest until the relevant period expires or, where the offer is made less than 21 days before trial, until 21 days after it was made (CPR 36.5(4)). A claimant’s offer may provide for interest to run on the sum after that date; if it does not, and it is accepted later, it is treated as inclusive of all interest to the date of acceptance (CPR 36.5(5)).
A defendant’s money offer must be an offer to pay a single sum of money. An offer to pay all or part of it more than 14 days after acceptance is not a Part 36 offer, unless the claimant accepts it (CPR 36.6).
On Form N242A, ticking ‘detailed costs assessment proceedings’. The receiving party makes a claimant’s offer and the paying party a defendant’s offer, as the form’s notes say. Under Practice Direction 47 para 19, an offer should say whether it is intended to include the costs of preparing the bill and VAT; unless it says otherwise, it is treated as including them. A Part 36 offer already includes interest (CPR 36.5(4)).
Whether there is a claim for provisional damages and, if so, whether the offer includes an award of provisional damages and, if it does, the disease or type of deterioration the offer assumes the claimant will not develop or suffer, and the period within which any claim for further damages must be made (CPR 36.19(2) and (3)). If such an offer is accepted, the claimant must apply for the award within 7 days (CPR 36.19(5)). A defendant must also say, where relevant, whether the offer is made without regard to recoverable benefits or includes deductible amounts; if it includes them, the offer states the gross compensation, each deduction and the net sum, and the defendant must apply for a certificate of recoverable benefits before making it (CPR 36.20; the 2015 form still refers to rule 36.22).
Only by written notice served on the offeree, and only if the offeree has not already served notice of acceptance (CPR 36.9). A withdrawal, or a change that makes the offer less favourable, served before the relevant period ends takes effect only when it ends; if the offer is accepted first, the acceptance stands unless the offeror applies for permission within 7 days of the acceptance or, if sooner, before the first day of trial, and the court gives it only if circumstances have changed and it is in the interests of justice (CPR 36.10).
The offer is accepted by serving written notice of acceptance on the offeror (CPR 36.11); page 5 of the form is a notice of acceptance the offeree can use. If an offer on the whole claim is accepted within the relevant period, the claimant is entitled to its costs of the proceedings up to the date notice of acceptance is served (CPR 36.13(1)), or the fixed costs in a fixed recoverable costs claim (CPR 36.23). But the court decides the costs, unless they are agreed, where the offer was made less than 21 days before trial, where it does not relate to the whole claim, or where it is accepted after the relevant period (CPR 36.13(4)). The claim is stayed on the terms of the offer (CPR 36.14).
No. Part 36 does not apply to claims allocated to the small claims track (CPR 27.2(1)(g)), and the GOV.UK page for Form N242A says the same.

Offers on costs are where we earn our keep

We work for claimant solicitor firms: we value the bill, prepare Part 36 offers on it for the firm to serve, answer the other side’s, and negotiate the costs to settlement. The fee is fixed and agreed before any work begins.

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