Consumer CCJs increase to £419.5million

The number of County Court Judgements (CCJs) registered against consumers has risen in Q3 year-on-year, according to latest figures released by Registry Trust, making the figures the highest amount of registered judgments against consumers in the third quarter since 2017.

A total of 289,971 County Court judgments (CCJs) were registered against consumers in England and Wales this quarter, with Registry Trust predicting the levels are expected to be sustained.

Claimants are taking out larger judgments in increasingly greater numbers with the total value of consumer CCJs increasing to £419.5million, a rise of 14 percent from last year’s figures; at the same time the average value increased by 8 percent to £1,447 compared to £1,336 in Q3 2018.

Registry Trust is the Registrar of Judgments, Orders and Fines in England and Wales (on behalf of the Ministry of Justice). This excludes claimant data which is public and available from the courts but not centrally registered.

In contrast, there was an 88 percent decrease in the total value of High Court consumer judgments during the third quarter of 2019, dropping dramatically from Q3 2018’s £8.4million to £970,501 this quarter.

Only 21 High Court judgments were registered against consumers in Q3 2019, 16 fewer than in the same quarter of the previous year. The small amount of High Court judgments registered gives rise to large fluctuations in total and average value.

Mick McAteer, Registry Trust, Chairman said “Access to accurate judgment data promotes responsible lending and borrowing. Judgment data is also an important indicator of the state of the economy and household finances. The fact that the number of CCJs is expected to continue to rise must be a cause for concern and suggests many households are struggling financially”.

	Q3 2018	Q3 2019	Change (compared with Q3 2018)	notes
CCJs against consumers
volume	276,097	289,971	5%
total value	£369,130,580	£419,535,199	14%
Average* value	£1,336	£1,447	8%
median	£570	£599	5%
High Court judgments against consumers
volume	37	21	-43%
total value	£8,376,181	£970,501	-88%
Average* value	£226,383	£46,214	-80%
median	£18,333	£9,722	-47%

* Average value refers to the ‘mean’. The mean average tends to be higher than the median, as it more likely to be distorted by outlying, high value cases.