High Court Enforcement Officers

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NEWS

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News

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June 2009

High Court Enforcement Officers to Enforce Employment Tribunal Awards

The Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Jack Straw has announced that High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEOs) will be given the power to recover employment tribunal awards and settlements reached through ACAS conciliation.

The Justice Secretary said that 39% of people granted awards have not been paid and only 53% have been paid in full. In a written statement to Parliament he said the Government was:

"...determined that individuals who were entitled to their Employment Tribunal awards or ACAS settlements are not denied access to justice by a small minority of unscrupulous individuals or companies who refuse to respect the award or settlement."

The problem of unpaid Tribunal awards was highlighted in a report entitled "Justice Denied" produced by the Citizens Advice Bureau in October 2008.

A working party comprising MoJ officials and representatives of the High Court Enforcement Officers Association has been set-up to develop and implement the service which will enable creditors to commission HCEOs to enforce their award or settlement as soon as the respondent fails to pay. The cost of the enforcement will be mainly recoverable from the respondent.

The proposal has been warmly welcomed, not only by those in government, but also among trade union representatives and the advice sector who see the intervention of HCEOs as helping to protect vulnerable workers whilst also ensuring that rogue employers can no longer avoid their responsibilities.

May 2009

HIGH COURT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
Appointment of Chief Executive Officer

The High Court Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA) has announced the appointment of Vernon Phillips as its Chief Executive Officer.

Mr Phillips will be joining from the Enforcement Services Association where he is currently its Executive Director.

In announcing the appointment Claire Sandbrook, Chair of the HCEOA said “We are delighted that Vernon has decided to accept our invitation to join the HCEOA as Chief Executive. As a result of Vernon’s appointment we look forward to developing our profile, and helping to keep Government informed on how best to implement the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act. Since our reforms of 2004 our members have worked diligently to deliver on their promises to Government to deliver a universal service and Vernon’s appointment is the beginning of a new era in the contribution to the enforcement debate by HCEOs ”.

Vernon Phillips, who will be taking up the appointment in June, said: “The HCEOA has already achieved a lot through its ability to effectively put across the views of High Court Enforcement Officers and to demonstrate their professionalism to government, the judiciary and others. The Association is working hard towards the development of a highly professional body of people who are committed to providing a professional service to the courts and the public as a whole. I look forward to making a major contribution to the work ahead.”

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December 2008

Greetings to all our users and stakeholders. Another year ends and 2009 beckons.

In these difficult times, HCEOs look to be the responsible enforcement agents to ensure judgment creditors have the best chance of enforcing their judgment ahead of any insolvency measure by the judgment debtor, whilst recognising that those with judgments against them are going to be hard-pressed to find the cash to pay what is owed.

Unfortunately, today’s creditor could be tomorrow’s debtor, and so HCEOs must continue in their role to enforce the court’s judgment without fear or favour.

For judgment debtors who have stock, plant, machinery and equipment in their offices, they should be very aware of the fact that if a satisfactory payment plan is not forthcoming, HCEOs are under a clear duty to enforce the command of the Writ of Fi Fa.

For judgment debtors in the home we would encourage them to talk to any HCEO who visits them about what they are able to pay. We know it’s going to be tough but our members will try to be as fair and reasonable as possible, although they themselves can and will be sued if they fail in their duty to enforce the court’s order.

Our website offers information on where to seek independent help for anyone who is worried by a visit from an HCEO. Our complaints system is currently being honed to ensure it is the most progressive and impartial in the enforcement sector.

We hope that as the recession deepens we can continue to build our links with creditor and debtor support organisations to ensure we have the balance right between their competing interests. Naturally, if people want to tell us something or share a concern, then please use the enquiries form on this website.

We trust that we will continue to be the agency of choice for our clients and we look forward to building on the reputation for professionalism of our members as we enter the New Year.

Claire Sandbrook
Chair

November 2008

Association members have been completing their Request for Information (RFI) from the Ministry of Justice in relation to the current review of enforcement fees. The HCEOA has offered to co-operate as fully as it can with the Ministry of Justice in this important area of the Government’s review of enforcement agents and to offer suggestions on best practice for the management of enforcement fees in the civil justice arena.

The end of November saw the Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer head off to the Permanent Council meeting of the International Union of Judicial Officers. All three Officers of the HCEOA were overwhelmed by the support they received from senior figures in the UHIJ (see www.uihj.com) including the esteemed President, Jacques Isnard.

It was very clear from the President’s welcoming speech that many of the issues that we face in England and Wales in promoting the importance of professional enforcement practice are the same not only in our own jurisdiction, but also throughout Europe and indeed the rest of the world.

It was fascinating to see Russian bailiffs outlining their plans of expansion from some 65,000 bailiffs to 85,000 in the coming year, along with the office of Sheriff of the United States being properly represented on the international enforcement stage.

Of course, for us as HCEOs, and with our roots shining through as Sheriffs, it was like “coming home” to be amongst so many professional men and women with the same concerns, the same needs for proper recognition by their Governments and the desire to offer a truly professional service.

Training and education are at the heart of the UIHJ agenda, as the role of the Judicial Officer in Europe is strengthened and developed through some serious lobbying by the UIHJ. This is to be welcomed in our own jurisdiction where we are placing the HCEOA at the centre of professional training for a broad church of enforcement officers.

We now are the sole representatives in Europe and we welcome this. With links to the certificated bailiff industry, we are able to represent the views of all types of enforcement officer. The HCEOA also has strong links with LACEF and wishes to develop links with the IRRV so, again, the views of enforcement officers working in the public sector can be understood and represented in Europe. The HCEOA with its links to the judiciary and the civil court system is able to offer that representation for the benefit of all types of enforcement officer.

We also welcome stronger links with our neighbours in Scotland. At the meeting in Paris we were warmly greeted by David Walker, who is responsible for looking after Great Britain as one collective. We also met the President of the Scottish Sheriffs Officers’ Association, Dorothy Lowe, and we were delighted to hear how the Sheriffs Officers in Scotland have succeeded in making their point to their Ministers on the importance of enforcement .

So we look forward to a closer working relationship with the UIHJ and we thank everyone again for their friendship and hospitality – in particular, Jacques Isnard, for not only the warmth of his welcome, but also for ensuring that enforcement is seen as an important subject in the European Parliament and the United Nations. What a tremendous achievement to have taken enforcement to such heady heights and won universal approval – something policy officials, judges and government Ministers in England and Wales would do well to take on board.

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October 2008

The Chair and Vice Chair of the High Court Enforcement Officers’ Association hosted a delegation for Vietnamese Civil Enforcement Officials at the Chair’s offices in Braintree, Essex. At this, the first cultural exchange to discuss enforcement, the Vietnamese officials were shown a video of the work of Enforcement Officers in the High Court and gifts were exchanged. Claire Sandbrook was able to hand the Vietnamese officials a copy of her latest book Enforcement of a Judgment (10th Edition), which seemed to go down very well as the outline of enforcement procedure in England and Wales. The purpose of the visit from the Vietnamese team was to study the terms of enforcement methods in the UK, and it is hoped that by visiting the HCEOA we have been able to give them an insight into the valuable work that our members do in enforcing some of the toughest debts in the civil justice system.

The HCEOA held a successful Stakeholders Luncheon at the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall in London. Amongst the honoured guests were the High Sheriff of Greater London, the Master of the Rolls, the Chairman of the Civil Court Users Association, the Senior Master of the Queen’s Bench Division, the Director General of the Institute of Credit Management, and the Chief Executive of Registry Trust Limited.

Distinguished guests listened to the Chair of the Association, Claire Sandbrook, give a speech imploring both judges and policy officials to consider changes to the artificial restrictions on the work that High Court Enforcement Officers can do including the removal of the limit for enforcement of debts under £600 and to allow HCEOs to enforce judgment debts obtained under the Consumer Credit Act.

The Chair of the Association also underlined that real change was needed to CPR Part 55 to allow HCEOs to be able to enforce any type of possession order, regardless of whether it was against a trespasser or a residential tenant. The position at present is that High Court Enforcement Officers can only enforce possession orders against trespassers (which incidentally include a licensee who has outstayed terms of the licence) but not a tenant who is subject to a possession order in a residential tenancy situation.
Because of delays in the County Courts in enforcing possession orders, some landlords are having to wait in excess of eight weeks to be able to evict their tenant and in that time they continue to accumulate unpaid arrears .

The HCEOA support the reform of CPR Part 55 to allow all orders for possession to be transferred to the High Court for enforcement and to encourage District Judges to use their discretion under Section 40(2) of the County Courts Act 1984 to allow possession orders to be transferred to the High Court for enforcement in the interest of justice.

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June 2008

The first Board meeting of the new HCEOA-constituted Board was held at its usual venue and headed by the new Chair, Claire Sandbrook.

Board Members were put through their paces in the creation of new working parties to review key areas of HCEOA business including:

Complaints;
Fees;
Corporate governance;
Education and training;
HCEOA membership; and
IT.

Board members have taken on their new responsibilities enthusiastically and are now busy working towards creating a series of reports for Government in the spring of 2009.

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May 2008

Following the decision of the Chairman, John Marston, to stand down as Chairman of the HCEOA, the election of a new Chair of the Association was held and Claire Sandbrook succeeded as Chair of the Board of the HCEOA.

Claire has over 28 years’ experience of working in High Court Enforcement, having started at the very bottom of the ladder, and has also held posts as both the secretary to the Shrievalty Association and secretary to the National Sheriffs Campaign when it was formed in 1998.

It is hoped that the coming together of a new board will move the Association forward and encourage more people to use the services of HCEOs, as well as encouraging more enforcement officers to become members of the Association through a new planned training and education scheme.