Here you will find information on the Department's recent Enforcement Review which looked at improved methods of recovery for civil court debt and commercial rent, and a single regulatory regime for warrant enforcement agents.
This includes the recent White Paper produced by the Department detailing the Government's proposals for improving enforcement, as well as the various consultation papers on individual aspects of the Enforcement Review which led to the production of the White Paper. Also detailed are the National Standards for Enforcement Agents.
Society wants those who owe money judgments to pay their dues but also wants to protect the vulnerable. We all want to prevent unacceptable behaviour from those with the difficult task of making debtors pay but we also want to ensure that creditors, many of whom may be in financial difficulties themselves, receive the money to which they are properly entitled. It is important that individuals have the right to manage their own financial affairs, but we are all concerned to address issues of overindebtedness. We must protect individuals' rights to privacy while recognising that controlled access to information about debtors' circumstances is essential, since there will always be those who deliberately seek to avoid payment.
The courts and those who bear the responsibility of enforcing the courts' judgments have to find a way to balance these competing demands and achieve the fair balance between rights and responsibilities, for both debtors and creditors, which we all expect in a modern and democratic society.
The Civil Enforcement Review has been a comprehensive and thorough piece of work for the Lord Chancellor's Department; it is an important part of the civil justice reforms. The issues involved are sensitive, complicated and finely balanced; they are at the heart of the justice system and fundamental to its aims.
Remaining issues for consultation are being picked up during the course of the remainder of the review, at the end of which a White Paper on civil enforcement will be published.
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12 October 2001] [June 2000]It was considered that the complexities of bailiff law warranted separate consideration. This report to the Lord Chancellor, by Professor J. Beatson QC from the Centre for Public Law at the University of Cambridge, is part of the wider Departmental review of enforcement in the civil courts. The primary focus of the wider review has been on improving the effectiveness of all of the procedures available for enforcing civil court judgments.
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