Credit Management September 2019

HIGH COURT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
End of the line?
Making the move to call centre enforcement.
AUTHOR – Andrew Wilson MCICM
HM Courts & Tribunals
Service (HMCTS) will
introduce 12 new Warrant
of Control Support Centres
across England and Wales
‘to engage with debtors
early with the aim of providing support and
resolving the warrant as soon as possible,
reducing the need for a bailiff to visit the
debtor at their home address’.
The decision to open these enforcement
call centres was based on the success of two
pilots, one in the North West and the other
in the North East of England. (I am always
intrigued by the definition of success).
Once a warrant is issued it will be diverted
for ‘approximately 12 days’ to a support centre
for staff to attempt to engage with the debtor.
Only if this is unsuccessful will the warrant
be sent out to the County Court Bailiff in the
usual way.
NEW APPROACH
To be positive about this initiative, use of
enforcement against goods in this day and
age is inappropriate and disproportionate in
dealing with small debts. Generally, these
debtors no longer have goods available which
would justify the cost of removal and sale.
The main asset of a household tends to be a
car, which may well be held on finance or not
worth removal; so the sensible approach with
increasingly indebted households, is to set up
a reasonable instalment arrangement so that
the judgment debt can be added to the other
instalments being juggled at the end of each
month. This means the creditor will have to
wait a little, but they should get interest if the
debt is paid in full.
What about business debt, I hear you cry?!
And the fact that today’s creditor can easily
turn into tomorrow’s debtor, if he is not paid?
To be more realistic (I hesitate to say
cynical) HMCTS had to do something about
Lord Briggs’ uncontested conclusion that
County Court Bailiff Departments were failing
to provide an adequate service. HMCTS does
not allow bonuses based on successful
collection of judgment debt for existing and
newly recruited bailiffs, which is a standard
method of incentive and reward in the wider
bailiff world. If County Court Bailiffs are only
collecting the easy money judgments, they
might as well be collected in a call centre.
CALL CENTRES
Haven’t credit control departments already
tried to collect over the telephone? The days
of simply sending outstanding debts off to the
lawyers have long gone. It is far too expensive
and only the hard cases will go legal where
there is a realistic chance of recovery,
otherwise they will be written off.
I do not, of course, believe that County
Court Bailiffs should be trying to enforce
bulk money judgments, but I would say that,
wouldn’t I?
Increasingly, those agencies that
traditionally used the County Court, such as
housing associations and utilities companies,
are transferring to the High Court. We are
dealing with consumer debtors in our dayto-day
work, as well as our original core
of business debt. We are very capable of
dealing with the vulnerable in a sensitive
way. Vulnerability is not a ‘get out of jail
free’ card, it simply means that more time
and consideration is needed to engage
with the vulnerable debtor to resolve the
indebtedness. All of our staff are trained in
dealing with sensitive situations.
But the HCEO call centres are also staying
in touch with the enforcement agents in
the field, providing information while at a
debtor’s premises, receiving payments and
arranging for removal contractors to attend.
Can anyone provide me with a case when a
County Court Bailiff arranged for removal
and sale of goods in recent years?
OTHER OPTIONS?
Instead of spending money on call centres,
why doesn’t HMCTS allow its customers
to decide how they want to enforce their
CCJs, by removing the artificial restrictions
between County Court and High Court
enforcement of CCJs. County Court Bailiffs
need to concentrate on enforcing orders
of possession of private houses within a
reasonable time.
All it needs is an amendment to the High
Court and County Court Jurisdiction Order
1991. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and
HMCTS have already been supplied with the
rationale and the detailed drafting required
to make the change.
As we wait for the Government response
for the call for ewvidence following the 2014
reforms on taking control of goods, allowing
court users (the funders of Civil Justice in
England and Wales) to choose, should be a
clear option.
Andrew Wilson MCICM is Chairman
of the High Court Enforcement Officers
Association (HCEOA).
To be positive about
this initiative, use
of enforcement
against goods in
this day and age is
inappropriate and
disproportionate in
dealing with small
debts.
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / September 2019 / PAGE 14