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With more and more now emerging about the way in which The Taking of Goods Regulations work in practice, we are attempting to keep our 'Stickies' up to date. This is an area regarding payment of fines which has been widely misunderstood. The two main things are the way in which the fines are allocated AND the fact the Enforcement Fee of £235 becomes payable when the account is allocated to an individual Enforcement Agent. We hope you find this explanation from tomtubby useful:
The first point that needs to be made is that the Compliance fee of £75 is chargeable as soon as the account is referred to the enforcement company and the Enforcement fee of £235 is chargeable as soon as the account is referred to an individual bailiff This is completely different from the previous regulations. In the following example I will assume that the debtor has an unpaid Magistrate Court FINE for £575.
Magistrate Court fine: £575
Notice of Enforcement sent to debtor. Compliance fee of £75 added to debt. Amount due: £650
Debtor fails to pay and account referred to enforcement agent to enforce.
Enforcement fee of £235 added to account. Amount due: £885
Debtor visits court and makes a payment of the amount of the fine of £575
From 6th April HMCS forward all payments to enforcement company.
Compliance stage fee of £75 deducted at source leaving the balance of £500 to be split on a pro rata basis.
The 'pro rata 'spilt' is slightly complicated but for ease of reference is 70% to the creditor and 30% to the enforcement agent.
The £500 will be split as to £350 to the creditor (70%) and £150 to the enforcement agent (30%).
Using this example you will see that from the £575 payment made to the Magistrate Court....£350 is allocated towards the court fine and £225 (comprising of the Compliance fee of £75 and £150) is allocated towards the enforcement agent fees.
The amount outstanding has been reduced to £310. This comprises of the balance of the fine of £225 and £85 enforcement agent fees. As there is still an amount outstanding the warrant of control is still enforceable and it is important for the debtor to be aware that the enforcement agent is not continuing enforcement for his fees.
