Fundamentals of Enforcement

Understand the basics of what enforcement is, the powers of a high court enforcement officer and what happens when you receive an enforcement notice.

What is Enforcement?

Enforcement is the practice of the actions taken by High Court Enforcement Officers to ensure compliance with legal obligations regarding settling orders of the County Court or High Court. Securing the payment of these orders or the recovery of land and property, this can be done through various methods of writ.

What can a High Court Enforcement Officer do?

High Court Enforcement Officers are professionals that are used by creditors in situations where a County Court Judgment (CCJ) has not been made, where the judgment is over £600, or the judgment is not regulated by the consumer credit act.

Non-regulated debts include Utility arrears, Business debts, Tribunal awards or old rent arrears.
They also enforce possession orders from the County Court or High Court in respect of land and property.
What happens when you receive an Enforcement notice?

A Notice of Enforcement details the outstanding judgment, potential actions if it is left unpaid, and what the addressee must do in response.

At this point, you may wish to direct customers that have received this notice towards professional debt advice options such as StepChange. You can find out more about how to collaborate enforcement and the debt advice sector in the Credit Management Magazine December 2023 edition.

What are the three kinds of Enforcement Action?

The three primary enforcement actions include:

Taking Control of Goods: Enforcement Agents can seize non-essential assets to be sold and the proceeds used to settle the judgment.

Charging Order and Order for Sale: This is where a creditor can put a charge against a judgment debtors house.

Attachment of Earnings: Court-ordered deductions from a debtor’s wages or salary to settle the debt

Find out more about the role of an Enforcement Agent

The CICM and its membership follows and advocates for ethical and professional enforcement practices for responsible debt recovery, in line with best practices and the HCEOA’s code of conduct.

How to become a High Court Enforcement Officer

The Chartered Institute of Credit Management provides a Qualification pathway for those pursuing a career in Enforcement. Find out more about our High Court Enforcement Qualifications.

Authors

Alan J Smith FCICM

High Court Enforcement Group

I am an authorised High Court Enforcement Officer and Director of Corporate Governance at High Court Enforcement Group, the UK’s largest independent company of High Court Enforcement Officers.

I am also the Chair and a director of the High Court Enforcement Officers’ Association. In this role I have been involved in discussions with Government departments on enforcement and worked closely with the Ministry of Justice to develop the new fee scale for High Court Enforcement, introduced in April 2014 and also in the Associations response to the 2023 Fee Review.

I am committed to professional standards throughout the enforcement industry: I sat on the Association’s educational board and worked closely with the Chartered Institute of Credit Management in the development of the Association’s established qualification.

I started my career in local government, working in a number of posts in the General Rates, Poll Tax and Council Tax departments of two local authorities. I realised early on in my career that enforcement was the pathway I wanted to take.

In 1993 I left the public sector to join a Yorkshire Sheriff’s office, passing the Sheriffs’ Officers’ Association examination in 1995 and appointed Sheriffs’ Officer for West and North Yorkshire and Cumbria in that year and was made an Associate Partner in 1999. In the same year I became a committee member of the Sheriffs’ Officers’ Association and was also active on the National Sheriffs’ Campaign working group, promoting the use of Sheriffs’ Officers’ and the High Court for the enforcement of County Court judgments.

After joining a large HCEO company in 2003, I was appointed an Authorised High Court Enforcement Officer by the Lord Chancellor one year later. In 2007, I was promoted to Chief Operations Officer and managed the field enforcement operations through a dedicated support team.

In 2010 I joined a Lancashire based enforcement company to establish a High Court Enforcement department, before moving to High Court Enforcement Group in December 2012, when I joined the management team as Director of Corporate Governance.

LinkedIn:: https://linkedin.com/in/alanjsmithmicm/

Tom Sharman

Senior Marketing Executive, Chartered Institute of Credit Management

I'm passionate about strategy, have an eye for analytics and care about memorable customer journeys through innovative content, campaigns and communications.

I have been recognised as the Advanced Apprentice of the Year by the Peterborough Telegraph, awarded to me as a result of the quality of the work I produced during my apprenticeship - an award that I see as a true testament of my knowledge, diligence, passion and dedication to the marketing profession.

Email:: [email protected]