Findings from new Civil Justice Council report on enforcement backed by HCEOA

The High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA) has backed the Civil Justice Council’s (CJC) Enforcement report and is calling on the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS to act to bring forward its key recommendations with a clear timeline for implementation.

The aim of the Civil Justice Council Enforcement report was to consider ways in which the enforcement of judgments can be made more effective and efficient, in both time and costs, while ensuring there are essential protections for vulnerable defendants.

Alan J. Smith, Chair of the High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA), who was also on the Civil Justice Council Working Group that contributed to the report, said “This is an important, impartial and well-considered report and we support its key recommendations. We’ll be engaging with the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS to urge them to look at its findings and act to bring forward changes to improve the justice system at the same time as taking long overdue action to increase enforcement fees which have been frozen since 2014.

“The CJC’s aim of delivering a fair and effective enforcement system is one we share and is one that is also supported by the vast majority of the public in England and Wales. Our 2024 public perception research showed that 83%of 2,000 respondents agreed or strongly agreed that ‘fair and effective enforcement’ is a necessary part of the justice system.”

“The profession stands ready to support delivery and help government and taxpayers realise the benefits of a reformed enforcement sector landscape. We believe this would be achievable with minimal legislative change and no increase in cost to the debtor.”

The CJC report also highlights the importance of an “effective and fair enforcement” system to the UK economy, describing it as “essential”, and stating that without it there would be an impact on economic growth and an undermining of the rule of law.

The principal recommendation of the CJC report is to create “a single unified digital court for the enforcement of judgments, regardless of whether the judgment was obtained in the High Court or the County Court, with the benefit of a portal retaining information about the defendant’s financial position and dealing with all the debts relating to one individual or party – including those outside the court process.”

The HCEOA said in response that in the long-term, we are happy to support the principle of a single unified digital court for the enforcement of judgments.

It is critical that a) the CJC’s recommendation that “Part 4 of the Tribunals, Courts and Engagement Act 2007 should be brought into force as soon as possible” and b) creditors are given the freedom of choice to use the enforcement system of their choice, are included as part of this.

The introduction of Part 4 of the TCEA 2007 will give creditors and enforcement professionals controlled access to the information that allows them to see the bigger picture of the debtor and make informed judgments about how to proceed.

The CJC report also highlights and recommends a number of immediate gains and smaller wins that can be implemented more quickly to bring benefits to court users whilst protecting vulnerable debtors.

Key amongst this is a recommendation that the Ministry of Justice “take notice of the degree of widespread and significant concerns expressed by court users about the current failings in the County Court.

The report states that “generally, the County Court is viewed as under resourced and overburdened and therefore unable to provide an effective, efficient and fair system. Unless it is funded and numbers of bailiffs significantly increased, creditors express a preference that all debts (including those under £600) be dealt with by HCEOs. If that were to happen, the defendant would require the same protections as are currently provided in the County Court.

The HCEOA said that it agrees with the CJC’s recommendation. In our view there is a clear solution to this which is to give creditors the freedom of choice to enforce debts of under £600 using High Court enforcement. This would be simple to introduce, and as our previous ‘Freedom of Choice’ research shows, is widely supported by court users. We have already called on Government to make this change and said that it can be delivered using the County Court fee scale for debts under £600, so there would be no change to the cost for the debtor.

The CJC report recognises this as an option preferred by creditors due to the effectiveness of High Court enforcement and rightly says that it would require the same level of protection afforded to debtors as in the County Court.

This protection is hugely important, and we believe it’s already in place. We have the Ministry of Justice’s National Standards, and the Enforcement Conduct Board’s new wider Standards and independent Complaints procedure that cover both enforcement agents and enforcement firms as part of its wider remit to provide oversight of the sector.

There are many other recommendations in the CJC report which fall outside the area of High Court enforcement, including a review of court forms to ensure that the language is clear and understandable for all court users, but these typically fall outside the jurisdiction of High Court enforcement. The HCEOA is generally supportive of these wider recommendations as part of a carefully considered programme of reform undertaken jointly by the Ministry of Justice, HMCTS and the Enforcement Conduct Board in consultation with the enforcement profession and the debt advice sector.