1. Adam Wonnacott
Sales Director, Burlington Group
ICM Chilterns Branch: 27th March 2014
www.burlingtongroup.co.uk
Effective Enforcement, Responsibly Delivered
“Working with High Court Enforcement Officers”
2. Scope of this seminar
(Brief) introduction to High Court Enforcement
What do HCEO’s do? Where do they sit in the
Credit Control process?
Benefits of using HCEO’s
Working with HCEO’s effectively
Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013
3. What is High Court Enforcement?
High Court Enforcement Officers enforce County Court Judgments (CCJ’s) and
High Court judgments
High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEO’s) are empowered under a High Court
writ to seize goods of the defendant/debtor
If payment isn’t made, goods can be removed and sold to pay the amount
owing under the writ and HCEO costs
4. Litigation and Enforcement in the High Court
When can High Court Enforcement be used?
- Where the creditor has a judgment debt over £600.00; and
- the judgment debt does not arise from a Consumer Credit Act regulated
agreement
Note: Changes to legislation that would permit enforcement of CCA regulated
judgments are currently being considered by government
5. Litigation and Enforcement in the High Court
How long does the High Court Enforcement process take?
The process of obtaining a High Court writ may take 2-3 weeks, after which
time the Enforcement Officer will make an attendance to enforce the judgment
Dependent on the circumstances, the Enforcement Officer may be able to
collect payment in full or may agree terms of repayment with the debtor
6. Litigation and Enforcement in the High Court
What happens of the defendant cannot pay?
If the defendant cannot make payment in full, the Enforcement Officer will
usually attempt to set up a payment arrangement.
If the defendant refuses to make a payment arrangement we may look to
remove assets for sale by public auction
If the defendant has insufficient assets to cover the cost of removal and sale
then we may return the file for alternative enforcement action/insolvency
7. Litigation and Enforcement in the High Court
What is the cost?
Initial cost of obtaining a writ is £60 (recoverable cost)
Where the writ can be enforced, the defendant is responsible for paying costs
(under the statutory scale in Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014)
If the defendant does not pay and has insufficient assets to cover the cost of
removal and sale, costs will be capped to an ‘abortive fee’ of £60+VAT
NB: Creditor will also incur (recoverable) costs of obtaining judgment
8. Litigation and Enforcement in the High Court
When does High Court Enforcement work well?
- Where the debtor is known to have or is likely to have assets
- Particularly where debtor is a trading business
Can be used in conjunction with (and at the same time as) alternative methods
of enforcement – CPR Part 70
There may be situations in which HCE may not be appropriate and where
another enforcement method might be better employed
9. Litigation and Enforcement in the High Court
Where does High Court Enforcement fit into the Credit Control process?
High Court Enforcement is a post-litigation debt recovery method as, as such,
should not be used where the debt is substantially disputed
However, where the debtor is refusing to make payment the litigation and
enforcement process can be very effective is recovering from debtors who fail
to respond to in-house collections or external DCA’s
Many HCEO’s will offer outsourced DCA services with litigation and
enforcement as a complete service offering
10. Working effectively with High Court Enforcement Officers
Ways in which you can assist your HCEO
Provide as much information as you can – is there further information you can
collect during sales process?
Explain your ‘attitude’ towards enforcement – Is the focus on payment
arrangements or removal?
Payment arrangements – What are your acceptable terms/parameters for
payment arrangements?
11. Working effectively with High Court Enforcement Officers
What to expect
Decide upon KPI’s and expect to receive management information based on
these
Method of case reporting – how would you like to receive reports, how often
would you like to receive reports and how comprehensive should they be?
Establish a key contact or Account Manager
12. Effect of the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013
Background to the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013
• Reform of the enforcement industry has been ‘in progress’ for almost 30
years
• Enforcement law was a mixture of piecemeal statute and archaic case law;
the new regulations are designed to codify the law
• Importantly, the new regulations set out a more prescriptive fee scale and
give the defendant the opportunity to avoid more punitive fees by engaging
earlier in the judgment enforcement process
13. Effect of the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013
Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013: Key Reforms
• Introduction of requirement to provide notice before ‘taking control of
goods’ and subsequent notices
• Definitions of goods exempt from seizure; ‘tools of the trade’
• Days and times of entry; modes of entry
• New ‘interpleader’ procedure
• New fee structure
14. Conclusions
• Litigation and using High Court Enforcement Officers can be an effective
method of recovering from more ‘determined’ debtors
• Can be an effective alternative to using DCA’s: More leverage and can be
cost neutral to the creditor
• HCE is a post-litigation method, but litigating need not be an expensive
process
• Effect of the new TCOG Regulations is to provide greater certainty for all
stakeholders
