Credit Management January February 2022

HIGH COURT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
Freedom of Choice
Looking ahead and setting out the High Court Enforcement
Officers Association priorities for the coming year.
AUTHOR – Alan J. Smith
THE last 12 months have been
challenging for everyone,
including members of the
enforcement profession. I’d like
to acknowledge the outstanding
professionalism and resilience
demonstrated by all our members – and
indeed the wider enforcement community –
during another challenging ‘COVID’ year.
As 2022 gets down to serious business,
we’re seeing the pace of change and reform
(at least for the enforcement world) move
quickly as well. In the past few months, the
HCEOA has supported a whole range of new
developments, including:
– the introduction of Breathing Space
to enable debt advisors and local authorities
to freeze interest, fees, and enforcement for
up to 60 days for vulnerable debtors.
– the launch of the Enforcement
Conduct Authority – a new oversight body codesigned
by the debt relief sector, the Centre
for Social Justice, and the enforcement
profession, to provide independent, fair,
and formal supervision of enforcement.
We’re looking forward to being a part of that
conversation as it continues in 2022.
– a resolution to the long-standing
VAT on high court fees debate – with new
guidance issued by the Ministry of Justice,
providing widely welcomed clarity for the
enforcement community, creditors, and
debtors alike.
The High Court Enforcement Officers
Association is looking to continue that
momentum in our work throughout 2022,
whilst of course ensuring that we support our
members and their businesses in conducting
safe and responsible enforcement.
Throughout 2022 we and our members will
focus on:
• Helping creditors – the people and
businesses who are owed money – by
enforcing their judgments and recovering
unpaid debts.
• Informing debtors – the people who owe
money – by ensuring that anyone who
owes money is treated fairly, ethically, and
proportionately.
• Supporting Government – by
recommending changes and implementing
improvements to the legal framework
around High Court enforcement to help
it modernise and to improve clarity and
transparency wherever possible.
To deliver that, we have three key priorities
for the year ahead, which have been
developed with input and support from our
members.
Campaigning for greater Freedom of Choice
for court users – we’ll be talking to ministers
and civil servants to ramp up the HCEOA’s
‘Freedom of Choice’ campaign – persuading
Government to change the regulations and
allow HCEOs to enforce judgments under
£600.
We’ve had some hugely positive responses
to the campaign work so far, and we’re
absolutely committed to making it easier for
court users to recover debts they are owed
by enabling them to avoid the county court
backlog and use the high court enforcement
as an alternative solution. Some 99 percent
of court users back the plan and just five
percent think the current system is effective.
It’s worth remembering that Government
could solve this problem today. A small
change to the High Court and County Court
Jurisdiction Order 1991 would allow High
Court Enforcement Officers to enforce
judgments and give creditors the freedom
to choose another option to recover debts of
under £600.
High Court Enforcement Fee Scale Review
– we are engaging with the MoJ to persuade
it to undertake a long overdue review of the
High Court enforcement fee scale (which
hasn’t even been reviewed never mind
changed since 2014!) to bring it at least close
to something like in line with other court fees
that were reviewed and increased in 2021.
Encouraging a more diverse and
representative enforcement profession –
if we’re totally honest, we have some way to
go in many of areas. But we’re moving in the
right direction. The HCEOA is starting work
on a long-term initiative to encourage a more
diverse profession and reflect that increasing
diversity in terms of representation on our
Board and throughout the membership.
If you want to be part of it, your support
would be welcomed as we head in to 2022
with a positive step. After the past two years,
surely things can only get better.
Alan J. Smith FCICM is Chairman of the
High Court Enforcement Officers Association
(HCEOA).
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / January & February 2022 / PAGE 52