Enforcement Data | CCJ’s Up

Here at Shergroup, we love any data connected to the business of enforcing a ccj.  In fact, our CEO, Claire Sandbrook, has quite a bee in her bonnet about the lack of quality data in the enforcement industry and latches on to anything that resembles quality insight.

So, she was pleased to read a report from Registry Trust published in May this year which reported on a 12% increase in the number of county court judgments against all businesses in England and Wales in the first quarter of 2019.  

Enforcing a County Court Judgment

After the County Court Judgment (CCJ) has been registered against a debtor it is then possible to ‘enforce’ that Judgment directly. There are many debt enforcement collection methods that can be used depending on the circumstances of the individual case.

CCJs Transfer Up to High Court Enforcement

By transferring up their County Court Judgments (CCJs) to authorise High Court Enforcement, has many benefits over the regular County Court program: It’s a quite quicker process to enforce and collect, usually more cost-effective and a much better chance to collect the full amount owed.

Here are some key facts about the number of CCJs involving businesses

• The total value of the 35,779 business CCJs was a staggering £107.2million, a rise of 6% compared to the same period of 2018

• According to the same report, year-on-year numbers and values have risen for the past three years and in the first quarter of 2019 are 63 and 38 per cent higher than 2016’s record Q1 lows of 21,860 and £77.7million

• The average value of an “adverse business CCJ” in Q1 2019 was £2,997, 5% lower than Q1 2018 – the median value at £933 was 8% lower

• The number of CCJ registry against incorporated businesses rose by 12% to 27,064, in Q1 2019 compared to the same quarter of 2018 – the total value increased by 16% to £82.3million

• The average value of a CCJ enforcement against companies increased by 4% compared to Q1 2018, to £3,042 – however, the median value fell 6% to £902

• For the same period, the total number of CCJs against generally smaller unincorporated businesses at 8,715 was up 11% from 2018’s record Q1 low of 7,847, bucking a nine-year downward trend

• The total value of CCJs against unincorporated businesses dropped by 19% to £24.9million, compared to the same quarter of last year with an average CCJ value falling by 27% to £2,857

• In the High Court only 16 judgments were issued against businesses in the first quarter of 2019, four fewer than in the same quarter of last year. The total value of High Court judgments was £7.1million, a rise of 35% on 2018’s record Q1 low of £5.3million – this is due to the fact that the threshold to issue proceedings in the ccj to high court is more complex than in the County Court (see the plain English explanation of this here http://bit.ly/2Xu8YLB)

So, what do all these statistics tell us?  According to Mick McAteer, deputy chairman of Registry Trust, the value of this data is”. ccjs register is an important indicator of the state of the economy. The number and value of judgments have risen for the third year in a row. But, it is worth noting that these levels are still well below the peaks seen just after the financial crisis in 2009”.

Good to know, but not so good if you are a judgment creditor who has an unpaid CCJ and doesn’t know what to do with it in terms of getting it turned into cash.  If you one of the thousands of people who either as a business or in person have issued a judgment but have not seen the money, then Shergroup can provide you with a number of options to move you forward to payment which in turn will put a smile on your face.  These options include the transfer of CCJ to the High Court for enforcement (which cuts out the complexity mentioned above), tracing a debtor business, and taking other forms of enforcement action if needed to compel payment.  We offer a free no-obligation review of your CCJ and a full money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied with our service. We make sure of CCJ satisfied.

Call us today on 0845 890 9200 to speak to one of our friendly and expert Business Solution Advisors about your CCJ.