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Recovering Employment Tribunal Award/Judgement


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Hi all,

I along with many others am having difficulty in getting the judgment paid and enforced. On researching the next step to take to enforce my former employer to pay up which he refuses to do, I have come across new enforcement legislation called the Employment Fast Track Recovery Scheme that is simpler and cheaper and allows high court enforcement and am posting the information on here to help others in a similar situation.

 

Employment Tribunal Awards New Court Enforcement Help for Claims May 22, 2009 - 04:52 AM

Tough new measures to improve the payment of employment tribunal awards and reduce the costs of enforcing unpaid ones were announced today by Justice Secretary Jack Straw.

 

The measures mean High Court Enforcement Officers will take on recovery of awards granted by employment tribunals or in out-of-court settlements. It comes after research published today by the Ministry of Justice showed that 39% of people granted awards have not been paid, and only 53% have been paid in full.

The measures back up a public information drive including new leaflets that make the enforcement process clearer for claimants and a new extended telephone enquiries line for more comprehensive information on how and where people can enforce their award.

The information campaign and helpline helps address concerns raised during research by 43% of respondents who felt the court led enforcement process was either ‘too much hassle’, ‘too expensive’ or ‘too time-consuming.’

Justice Secretary Jack Straw said:

‘I am determined to ensure that employees awarded settlements following a dispute get their dues paid.

‘Our research shows as many as four employers out of ten are not paying up leaving individuals with money owed to them, which is completely unacceptable, especially if they have lost their job.

‘That is why we have introduced these new measures to ensure that people get what they are owed, and remind those not willing to pay of the consequences of their actions.’

Gareth Thomas, Minister for Consumer Affairs said:

‘The recession should be no excuse to deny people their employment rights. This is an issue of fairness. If a person has been granted an award through an employment tribunal, they should get that payment in full. I know that good employers do pay up in these circumstances, but we must get tough with those that don't.

‘The provision of enforcement officers and the new helpline provides real help to people and protects businesses that play by the rules.’

Citizens Advice Chief Executive David Harker said:

‘We warmly welcome both the publication of this research, which confirms the conclusions of our October 2008 report, Justice denied, and the government’s proposed improvements to the enforcement of unpaid awards, which will help protect vulnerable workers and support good employers.’

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

‘We welcome the measures that the government are taking to improve the enforcement of employment tribunal awards. Individuals who win employment tribunals claims should be guaranteed payment of any awards.

‘Last year the TUC’s Commission on Vulnerable Employment highlighted huge volumes of workers who had been exploited by their employers and who had won employment tribunals, but were not receiving the financial compensation they were entitled to.

‘Rogue employers should no longer be able to avoid punishment for mistreating their staff.’

Other figures in the report Research into enforcement of employment tribunal awards in England and Wales, carried out by an independent body (IFF Research Ltd) show:

 

  • 36% of claimants who had not received payment had attempted to enforce the award through the county court
  • 40% of unpaid or part paid claimants did not know that the award could be enforced through the county court.

The findings in the research sample show that in relation to the overall value of the award:

 

  • of the 93 claimants awarded less than £500, 26% did not receive any payment
  • of the 497 claimants awarded between £500 and £4,999, 40% did not receive any payment
  • of the 377 claimants awarded more than £5,000, 44% did not receive any payment.

Notes:

 

1. The two court leaflets and telephone enquiry line became operational on the 1 April 2009 to coincide with the commencement of various provisions of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.

2. The telephone enquiry line is 0845 456 8770.

3. Advice on how to enforce a tribunal award [external website, PDF 0.13mb, 4 pages]

Advice on how to enforce a settlement by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service [external website, PDF 0.14mb, 5 pages]

4. An additional leaflet, which warns respondents of the consequences of non-payment including bearing the costs of recovering the money and having the debt registered against them on the Registry of Judgments Orders and Fines has also been produced:

The Judgment: Employment Tribunals [external website, PDF 0.91mb, 16 pages]

5. Research into enforcement of employment tribunal awards in England and Wales

By Ministry of Justice

Employment tribunal awards

 

by David Carter on 01 March 2010

 

Not many people realise that employment tribunal awards and ACAS conciliation settlements can be transferred to the High Court for enforcement. The process has previously been somewhat involved and time consuming, and also hampered by lack of awareness on the part of employees.

Last May, Jack Straw announced an important new initiative by which employees with awards and settlements can have them transferred up to the High Court for enforcement.

Further good news is that a new simpler process in transferring an award is due to go live on 1st April 2010. The existing form N322B will be combined with the N293A into one document so that HCEOs can use the new certificate, issue the Writ of Fi-fa, then enforce the award. The award or settlement can be enforced as soon as the respondent fails to pay. The cost of the enforcement will be recoverable from the respondent.

The standard rules relating to transfer up apply – the award must be up to six years old and be for £600 or more (if the award is for a slightly lower amount, it may still qualify once fees, costs and interest payments have been added). This provides plenty of scope for those with outstanding awards to still enforce and be paid what they are due, plus interest.

Jack Straw’s decision was influenced by research conducted by IFF Research in May 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, which showed that 39% of those interviewed had not received any payment of their award at all, and only 53% had been paid in full.

The research found the cases where awards were less likely to have been paid were when the award was for a high value, for those in managerial roles, those from small businesses and cases where the employee had worked for less than two years. A significant number (18%) did not even know they could start enforcement proceedings and for those that did, concerns that it would cost too much put many off. You can read the full research paper here.

Employment tribunal awards | Articles | The Sheriffs Office ? High Court Enforcement Officers, Certificated Bailiffs, civil enforcement and Debt Collection Agency

Tel: 0845 688 9757

 

 

Employment Fast Track Recovery Scheme

In April 2010 the Ministry of Justice ("MoJ") unveiled the "fast track" enforcement of employment tribunal awards scheme. Tribunal awards have always been notoriously difficult for Claimants to enforce. A Claimant would effectively have to go through two separate claims; one to obtain a successful judgment and a second to pursue it through the County Court. In May 2009 the MoJ published findings that only 53% of Claimants had obtained their award in full and 39% of Claimants never recovered any payment towards their award at all. Justice Minister Bridget Prentice has stated;

"The Government is determined to ensure people are not denied access to justice by a small minority of unscrupulous individuals or companies who refuse to respect the award. The fast track will ensure all recipients can pursue their awards with ease."

The new form N471 simplifies the process and allows a Claimant to make an application to enforce a judgment by way of a High Court Enforcement Officer ("HCEO"). Provided that the award is over £600 and no older than 6 years a Claimant need only complete the form along with a payment of £50 which is added to the amount owed. The HCEO is then able to pursue the judgment debt against the business and if necessary seize assets to cover the award outstanding. In addition businesses who fail to make payment of any award against them will be placed on a database that is run by Registry Trust which is accessible by any for a small fee. This is potentially embarrassing and may effect how other businesses or potential employees see the business. Richard Dunstan, social policy officer for Citizens Advice has commented;

"We warmly welcome this measure, which we hope will give the Employment Tribunal system the teeth it needs to ensure that rogue employers actually pay the awards made against them. All too often at present, a successful claim to the tribunal proves to be a hollow victory. That is unfair to the claimants, to the taxpayer, and to the great majority of employers who abide by the law."

At present the scheme only relates to Tribunal awards and not ACAS settlements however the scheme will be reviewed in 2 years and is likely to include ACAS settlements depending on its success.

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Hi honeybee

I don,t actually have a question. I was awarded my award last August but employer refuses to pay and have taken further court action to recover with no effect. Recently new legislation introduced simpler and cheaper recovery action specifically for tribunal awards called the Fastrack Recovery Scheme to force employers who won't pay Tribunal Awards to pay up as the Tribunal itself has no powers to enforce the order and I am going to use this now it is in force to try to recover my award and I wanted to let others know of this new legislation that has been introduced as the former recovery process for tribunal awards is complex and can be costly with a very low success rate.

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Yes it has been a nightmare trying to recover the award but hopefully this new legislation will put a stop to that nightmare and ensure that the employers pay up. Will keep you informed of how it goes, it certainly is much simpler and a lot cheaper and high court enforcement officers have a lot more power to achieve the aim, so sounds promising.

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  • 2 years later...

i too won my case im in no doubt that my ex company will not pay up i also think court officer will not:mad2: have any better chance in collecting what is owed my thoughts are the owners of the company if default in paying up they should be never allowed to run a company again they are all cheating thieving caniving good for nothings :-x:-x:-x:-x:mad2:

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i too won my case im in no doubt that my ex company will not pay up i also think court officer will not:mad2: have any better chance in collecting what is owed my thoughts are the owners of the company if default in paying up they should be never allowed to run a company again they are all cheating thieving caniving good for nothings :-x:-x:-x:-x:mad2:

 

This thread is from July 2010, Tomaka0. :confused:

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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