February 06, 2012
Private debt collection firms have been called in under a pilot scheme to help the Ministry of Justice recover unpaid court fines.
Three companies have been chosen to help with the debt recovery work, according to evidence given by the director general of finance at the Ministry, Ann Beasley, during a meeting of the House of Commons justice select committee.
A statement by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) said: "HMCTS considers outstanding balances over 12 months to be 'aged debt'. This equates to roughly £420m or 1.2m accounts.
"HMCTS has recently engaged with three interested suppliers to pilot collection of aged debt. Each supplier was provided with 7,000 randomly selected aged accounts to work [on] over a three month period.
"The outcomes of the pilot will be to understand the collectability of our aged debt and the best combination of techniques and innovation to collect aged debt.”
Beasley said: "We need to reconsider the way we enforce fines and probably engage a third party for better IT. Meanwhile the courts service is … trying to get people to pay their fine while still in the courts and [using] nudge techniques. We find that if you text them and use their names they are more likely to pay up.”
MPs on the select committee were also told about plans proposed by the Ministry of Justice to sell off unused assets such as court buildings and prisons, which could raise another £250m.
A spokesperson added: "We are determined to tackle the outstanding debt which has built up over the past five years.
"We have already taken steps to improve the collection of fines and confiscation orders - including targeted fines blitzes, increased deductions from benefits and targeted text messaging. Enforcement is an absolute priority, and we will continue to improve the way in which these sentences are upheld."
