Background

During the Covid-19 pandemic, one Government initiative was to support businesses by providing grants based on rateable value.

As a consequence of these grants, it is now emerging that some businesses have been provided grants they were not entitled to and local authorities are obligated to recover this money.

Restitution claim

When a business does not repay the money due on demand, local authorities can recover payment by way of a simple restitution claim.

Some local authorities are already pursuing unjust payments using the restitution process through the County Courts and obtaining a judgment (CCJ) against the debtor.

This is demonstrating that local authorities are dealing with the recovery of these debts robustly.

Quick and efficient recovery

As this is dealt with as a civil matter and we have a well-established process, we can assist you in recovering these types of debts.

We are already dealing with these types of cases for several other local authorities, undertaking the court transfer process from CCJ to High Court writ, removing the need for your staff to spend any time on the transfer process.

The enforcement process

Once the local authority has processed the claim through the County Court and received the order for restitution, you simply email a copy of the restitution order and we will transfer the matter to the High Court for enforcement. You can also call us on 08450 999 666.

Once the High Court writ has been issued, we will send the notice of enforcement to the debtor. This stage will see a high receipt of payments.

For debtors who do not pay or refuse to pay, we will instruct one of our (PAYE) salaried enforcement agents to visit the debtor and enforce the writ for payment in full or to negotiate a payment plan which is agreeable to you.

Enforcement fees

There is a court fee to transfer the judgment to the High Court. This is recoverable, along with subsequent enforcement fees, from the debtor.

Should enforcement not be successful, there is a compliance fee of £75 plus VAT payable by the claimant.