Submission for hearing scheduled prior to lock-down

[jetster]

I am a claimant, representing myself (but with enormous help from members of this site) in a small claims case. In December 2019 the court scheduled an allocation hearing for 1st June 2020 at Uxbridge county court. Due to the lock-down,*https://courttribunalfinder.service....d-family-court, states that Uxbridge county court is closed to the public and that the court "will be in touch about alternative arrangements.There is no need to contact us"
However, I've yet to receive information from the court about any alternative arrangements or a new date for my hearing. I've prepared my submission and would normally have sent this out around 2 a bit weeks before the hearing, to the court and to the other side.
Given the lock-down situation, should I still do this or assume that my hearing is cancelled and simply await further instructions?
I'd naturally like to avoid repercussions of not sending my submission in time ahead of the hearing.

[jetster]

Having searched more widely outside of the*courttribunalfinder service site, official guidance for courts is to proceed with civil cases through remote hearings:
https://www.howespercival.com/articl...-civil-courts/
https://www.birketts.co.uk/insights/...-will-continue
https://www.judiciary.uk/coronavirus...#civilguidance
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/...ril-2020-1.pdf

[Celestine]

Hey there - prepare for the case as if it is going ahead. From what we are hearing, it is very likely to be a telephone hearing, but its very regrettable the court has not kept you informed.

#covid19

[jetster]

Thanks Celestine,* I will proceed with my submission.* Uxbridge court are truly woeful. Emails and phone calls very rarely get answered. I've had to force them to respond* previosly by raising a Resolver complaint.*

[R0b]

If it helps, on DWF's COVI-19 page, they have an update on 16 April from Uxbridge County Court saying that all hearings adjourned up to 30 June and expect to hear from them with a new date in the future.

http://insurance.dwf.co.uk/module-la...-court-update/

So if your hearing is before then, I would not expect it to go ahead without a further order from the court. Of course, each court will handle their cases differently but I have one ongoing in Birmingham at the moment and they sent out fresh directions asking the parties to consider settlement or alternatively make submissions on a telephone or video hearing.

The order explained that we should assume that documentation and evidence would not be available to the judge so we would need to re-submit a bundle within X time of the date of the hearing including any submissions / skeleton arguments.