Contents. Contents. Introduction. Background. Commentary. Graphs and statistics. Annex A: Data sources. Annex B: Explanatory notes.

Transcription

1 Registry Trust Limited Public Statistics October 2018

2 Contents Contents Introduction Background Commentary Graphs and statistics Annex A: Data sources Annex B: Explanatory notes Annex C: Contacts

3 Introduction This report contains statistics on records received by Registry Trust Limited and added to the registers which it maintains. For England and Wales this is the statutory public Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines. For Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man these are registers separately maintained by agreement with the authorities in those jurisdictions. The commentary below provides an overview of the key results followed by graphs and statistics of the latest results. Annex A: Data sources contains an explanation of the data sources and a brief description of the types of data supplied by that source. Annex B: Explanatory notes contains further information about the registers, the records held on them and the publication of the statistics. Annex C: Contacts contains contact details for feedback, questions or requests for further information about this report. Background Established by Parliament in 1852, the Registry of County Court Judgments was part of the Lord Chancellor s Department holding details of money judgments registered by the County Courts of England & Wales during the preceding six years. In January 1986, Registry Trust Ltd (RTL) was set up as a not-for-profit company to maintain this statutory public Register under contract to the Lord Chancellor. In 1993, the Register was extended to cover details of administration orders registered by the county courts and in 1998 details of Child Support Agency liability orders granted in the magistrates courts were included. On 6th April 2006, the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines superseded the Register of County Court Judgments and RTL continued to be contracted to the Lord Chancellor to maintain this Register. In April 2009 the Register was once more extended to include tribunal awards. Since the 1990 s RTL has reached agreement with authorities in other jurisdictions of the British Isles to maintain similar registers. This enables equivalent data to be available and managed for throughout the region as it is for England and Wales, a service which is vital to financial services. 3

4 Commentary These statistics reflect the types of activities within the courts which lead to the addition of entries to the register. The data in this report reflects the records received during the previous fifteen months and the analysis is made each quarter as part of this publication. Seasonal variations affecting the workload of the courts and differing economic conditions may have an impact on the statistics and the variations between the periods. Where there are factors known to have influenced the volume or value of the statistics in this report these are commented on within this section. England & Wales The total value of consumer CCJs was down 21 percent to 369,130,580 compared with Q The average value of a judgment fell nine percent to 1,337, a record low. By contrast, the average value of consumer CCJs during Q3 peaked at 3,680 in It has steadily decreased over the past nine years. During Q3 2018, 37 judgments were issued against consumers in the High Court, eight fewer than in Q It was the lowest third quarter figure on record. However, their average value was up 150 percent on the previous year at 226,383, taking the total value to 8,376,181. This was heavily affected by three judgments totaling 5,795,364. During Q3 2018, there were 32,629 CCJs against businesses in England and Wales, 32 percent more than in Q The total value of business CCJs rose by 24 percent to 100,223,291; building on last year s Q3 increase rate by a further 11 percent. The average value of business judgments decreased six percent to 3,072 giving a historic Q3 low. This follows the general pattern for the last seven years, where, except for Q3 2016, average values have fallen. The extent of the increase in business judgments was largely down to a 47 percent rise, to 24,249, in the total number of CCJs registered against companies. There was a smaller increase of two percent, to 8,380, in CCJs against the generally smaller unincorporated businesses over the same period. The number of high court judgments against businesses rose to 25 and there was a massive increase (3275 percent) in their value to 35,157,304. The average value hit a record Q3 high at 1,406,292, a 1790 percent rise on However, this was heavily affected by a single judgment of 22,745,726 plus 4

5 four judgments of 1,635,824 each. The huge increases reflect also last year s record lows for a third quarter. (The 2018 average value was up only 39 percent on 2016 levels). Scotland There were 754 decrees issued against all businesses in Scotland during Q3 2018, 34 percent more than during the same period the previous year. The sharp rise contrasts with the 3.6 percent quarterly rise in corporate insolvency reported last week by the Accountant in Bankruptcy. A 44 percent rise in the number of decrees issued against companies accounted for most of this increase. In contrast the number of decrees registered against unincorporated businesses, which are generally smaller, increased by just two percent. The total value of all business decrees rose by 21 percent to 2,874,044 over the year. Within this, the total value of company decrees, rose 17 percent to 2,116,734 and the average company decree s value fell by 19 percent to 3,398, the lowest corporate average for a third quarter, despite rising in number. The total value of non-corporate decrees increased 31 percent to 757,310 with the average at 5,781, a 29 percent increase on Q Northern Ireland In the third quarter of 2018, the number of small claims judgments fell by 22 percent and the average value of judgments at 2,302 fell by 15 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. The total value, at 3,939,566, fell by a third compared to Q In the High Court, only 11 judgments were registered in Q3 2018, three fewer than during the third quarter of 2017 and the lowest on record. However the total value of High Court judgments more than doubled, as a result of an increase of 162 percent in the average size of judgment at 109,048. Republic of Ireland In Q3 2018, 137 business judgments were issued, 10 percent fewer than Q3 of last year and the lowest of any third quarter. But the average value nearly doubled (after making allowance for a single unusually large judgment in Q3 2017). In Q3 2018, the total value of consumer judgments rose 12 percent to 50,564,363 and the average value rose to 93,811, four percent up on Q figures. The number of consumer debt judgments registered rose seven percent on the same quarter of 2017, to 539. In total there were 676 judgments registered in the third quarter of

6 Jersey In Q3 2018, a total of 273 debt judgments were made, 32 percent fewer than in the same quarter of last year. However the total value of judgments rose by a quarter, to 2,433,579, on last year (the increase amounts to 114 percent if two business judgments that totalled over 800,000 in Q are taken out of the equation). The number of judgments against businesses fell by 16 percent while the number of judgments against consumers fell by 34 percent. The average value of a business judgment value fell by 11 percent to 20,517. In the third quarter of 2018 the average consumer judgment was 7,095, 172 percent higher than a year ago and well above the average value of consumer judgments over the past ten years, which stands at 4,202. 6

7 Graphs and statistics The following section contains graphs and tables for the following jurisdictions and data types: England and Wales county court judgments England and Wales high court judgments England and Wales administration orders England and Wales fines England and Wales tribunal awards Scotland.small claims and summary cause decrees Scotland.ordinary cause decrees Northern Ireland..default and small claims judgments Northern Ireland..high court judgments Republic of Ireland.registered judgments Jersey...petty and royal court judgments Isle of Man default judgments All jurisdictions..volumes of register search requests (See Annex A for further information about the data sources.) Each set of information in this section contains data covering the previous fifteen months. Consumer data is shown in blue and uses the left hand axis while commercial data is shown in orange and uses the right hand axis, where there are two axes. (See Annex B for further explanation of the terms consumer and commercial.) Each set of information shows the following: The total number of records for that category by month. The total value of all the records in that category by month. The average value of the records in that category by month. The value distribution for all records received during the last fifteen months for that category of data. 7

8 England and Wales County Court Judgments Consumer 119, ,299 92,242 91,543 83,232 52, ,768 97,097 92,012 78,516 98,712 88,450 92,106 99,838 84,153 Commercial 7,128 8,902 8,668 8,206 11,902 7,440 12,017 9,082 10,904 9,540 11,664 10,245 10,559 12,242 9,828 Consumer ( ) 175,596, ,549, ,714, ,502, ,124,586 70,955, ,089, ,773, ,635, ,731, ,180, ,813, ,765, ,485, ,880,178 Commercial ( ) 24,019,792 27,669,778 28,816,640 28,618,528 30,877,185 22,570,416 39,261,940 29,233,162 32,754,884 30,449,323 32,639,940 86,499,634 32,655,442 33,586,988 33,980,861 8

9 England and Wales County Court Judgments Consumer ( ) 1,472 1,416 1,536 1,567 1,467 1,339 1,405 1,532 1,550 1,512 1,369 1,411 1,300 1,266 1,460 Commercial ( ) 3,369 3,108 3,324 3,487 2,594 3,033 3,267 3,218 3,003 3,191 2,798 8,443 3,092 2,743 3,457 < Consumer 3, , , ,324 71,543 81, ,817 Commercial 1,092 43,215 28,885 13,766 12,727 13,346 35,296 9

10 England and Wales High Court Judgments Consumer Commercial Consumer ( ) 1,314,838 1,173,586 1,610,846 37,956, , , ,427 98,037,469 16,456,060 9,270,324 7,767, ,003 6,766, , ,263 Commercial ( ) 80, , , , , ,489 76,151 26,929 5,186,928 16,814,740 4,261,503 5,431,019 34,010,647 16,977 1,129,680 10

11 England and Wales High Court Judgments Consumer ( ) 87,656 83, ,678 2,372,265 33,434 53, ,607 7,002, , , ,880 13, ,101 78,379 69,559 Commercial ( ) 20,067 44, , ,206 70, ,698 15,230 13, , , , ,860 2,834,221 5, ,968 < ,000 25,000-50,000 50, , , , , , ,000+ Consumer Commercial

12 England and Wales Administration Orders Consumer Commercial Consumer ( ) 60,481 41,148 62,434 47,224 55,566 8,702 48,861 42,362 27,964 53,926 35,622 73,496 50,292 32,978 47,139 Commercial ( )

13 England and Wales Administration Orders Consumer ( ) 4,032 3,429 3,286 3,633 3,269 2,176 2,874 3,530 3,107 4,148 3,562 3,868 3,869 3,664 3,626 Commercial ( ) < ,000 Consumer Commercial

14 England and Wales Fine Defaults Consumer Commercial Consumer ( ) Commercial ( )

15 England and Wales Fine Defaults Consumer ( ) Commercial ( ) Consumer Commercial 15

16 England and Wales Tribunal Awards Consumer Commercial Consumer ( ) 12,166 40,650 87,868 57,439 70,658 55,421 22,143 23,890 10,321 9,313 21,901 93,264 9,692 32,521 19,720 Commercial ( ) 5,854 72,589 26,208 52,354 16, ,179 43,209 72, ,413 81, , , ,431 71,102 16

17 England and Wales Tribunal Awards Consumer ( ) 2,028 5,081 7,322 3,829 5,047 18,474 1,384 2,986 1,720 1,863 5,475 11,658 3,231 4,065 4,930 Commercial ( ) 1,951 24,196 4,368 8,726 2, ,218 2,881 6,056 6,067 3,726 4,782 6,750 8,143 4,182 < Consumer Commercial

18 Scotland Small Claims & Summary Decrees Consumer 1,223 1,637 2,020 1,945 2,567 1,367 2,893 1,898 1,956 1,139 2,628 1,463 2,051 1,657 1,416 Commercial Consumer ( ) 2,062,810 2,446,635 2,983,827 2,844,553 3,847,535 1,929,486 4,068,092 2,747,116 2,940,892 1,837,563 4,179,013 2,362,572 3,151,812 2,588,493 2,233,221 Commercial ( ) 209, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,400 18

19 Scotland Small Claims & Summary Decrees Consumer ( ) 1,687 1,495 1,477 1,462 1,499 1,411 1,406 1,447 1,504 1,613 1,590 1,615 1,537 1,562 1,577 Commercial ( ) 1,476 1,531 1,549 1,796 1,900 1,688 1,660 1,668 1,567 1,692 1,661 1,750 1,533 1,519 1,512 < Consumer 17 4,238 7,737 5,633 3,265 3,682 3,288 Commercial

20 Scotland Ordinary Cause Decrees Consumer Commercial Consumer ( ) 3,611,506 2,020,227 2,002,869 2,016,796 2,918,073 2,371,465 3,304,027 2,005,640 1,717,157 3,596,141 3,960,553 2,580,068 1,910,717 2,579,495 2,637,014 Commercial ( ) 761, , , , , ,055 1,237, , ,561 1,032,828 1,012,620 1,058, , , ,865 20

21 Scotland Ordinary Cause Decrees Consumer ( ) 20,289 14,127 15,059 11,081 13,962 12,351 16,687 12,614 11,078 15,773 14,094 13,438 12,738 12,770 13,734 Commercial ( ) 16,922 20,545 18,071 9,153 11,949 16,849 28,118 14,762 12,304 17,214 12,982 23,010 13,852 12,293 28,867 < ,000 10,000-12,500 12,500-15,000 15,000-20,000 20,000+ Consumer Commercial

22 Northern Ireland Default & Small Claims Judgments Consumer Commercial Consumer ( ) 1,139,769 1,968,121 2,446,457 2,401,904 1,494, ,300 1,153,162 1,232,958 1,420,748 1,317,353 1,670,440 1,296,371 1,267,614 1,121,188 1,119,436 Commercial ( ) 77, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,110 22

23 Northern Ireland Default & Small Claims Judgments Consumer ( ) 2,394 2,635 2,998 2,936 1,913 1,619 1,498 2,258 2,124 1,570 2,336 2,537 2,738 2,065 2,477 Commercial ( ) 1,771 2,504 2,936 2,579 2,210 1,265 1,731 2,802 2,520 2,095 2,743 1,770 2,016 1,840 1,362 < Consumer Commercial

24 Northern Ireland High Court Judgments Consumer Commercial Consumer ( ) 341, ,631 40,000 2,128, , , ,858 1,042,810 1,172,588 42, ,091 63, , ,345 39,258 Commercial ( ) 39,459 9, ,279 3,167 10, , ,425 31,

25 Northern Ireland High Court Judgments Consumer ( ) 42,644 51,210 40, ,780 20,399 48,770 26, ,703 78,173 21,009 45,364 31,602 75, ,673 39,258 Commercial ( ) 39,459 9, ,140 3,167 10, , ,425 31, < ,000 50,000-75,000 75, , , , , , ,000+ Consumer Commercial

26 Republic of Ireland Registered Judgments Consumer Commercial Consumer ( ) 14,471,592 22,521,064 8,256,296 15,691,321 23,349,762 20,977,806 29,012,046 16,226,057 55,025,543 18,154,299 24,880,965 17,118,782 14,081,459 10,384,604 26,098,300 Commercial ( ) 423,614 7,005, , , , ,344 1,343, , , , ,302 1,359,381 3,394, , ,558 26

27 Republic of Ireland Registered Judgments Consumer ( ) 79, ,165 49,145 86, , , ,869 94, , , , ,037 91,438 52, ,821 Commercial ( ) 11, ,754 12,749 10,829 19,410 14,216 29,201 11,276 26,285 8,774 14,506 20,914 64,054 17,925 10,364 <10,000 10,000-15,000 15,000-20,000 20,000-25,000 25,000-50,000 50, , ,000+ Consumer Commercial

28 Jersey Petty & Royal Court Judgments Consumer Commercial Consumer ( ) 343, , , , , , ,117 2,081, , , , , ,809 1,344, ,193 Commercial ( ) 28, ,760 22, ,234 71,322 88,258 46, ,137 24, , ,622 36,884 10, ,946 60,618 28

29 Jersey Petty & Royal Court Judgments Consumer ( ) 2,401 2,716 2,812 3,550 3,268 6,838 1,196 14,256 1,406 2,036 1,520 1,638 2,088 13,311 2,917 Commercial ( ) 3,583 37,106 2,281 6,275 3,242 4,645 2,587 7,759 2,689 8,731 32,770 5,269 1,055 42,997 5,511 < Consumer Commercial

30 Isle of Man Default Judgments Consumer Commercial Consumer ( ) 0 738,866 87, ,026 63, , , , , , ,481 Commercial ( ) 0 91,061 15, , ,687 20, ,516 15,016,667 1, ,719 19,773 24,716 30

31 Isle of Man Default Judgments Consumer ( ) 0 11,728 1,125 2, , ,199 19, ,037 18,124 1,946 Commercial ( ) 0 7,005 1,971 75,353 48,724 1, ,047 3,754,167 1, ,640 3,955 3,090 < Consumer Commercial

32 Register Search Requests by Jurisdiction County Court Judgments 7,870 7,889 7,326 8,592 8,662 6,319 8,552 7,460 8,335 7,510 7,645 7,483 7,744 7,769 6,897 High Court Judgments 3,544 3,635 3,747 4,148 4,778 3,219 4,450 4,000 4,259 4,021 4,093 3,817 4,058 3,999 3,774 Fine Defaults 2,714 2,770 2,844 3,161 3,692 2,544 3,348 3,049 3,233 2,846 2,981 2,864 2,931 2,956 2,710 Tribunal Awards 2,827 2,896 3,048 3,276 4,021 2,744 3,554 3,213 3,428 3,229 3,328 3,123 3,227 3,229 3,104 Scotland 2,640 2,571 2,711 2,942 3,691 2,500 3,165 2,909 3,048 2,812 2,911 2,762 2,857 2,847 2,669 Northern Ireland 2,478 2,438 2,582 2,829 3,536 2,406 3,013 2,753 2,880 2,717 2,810 2,645 2,738 2,715 2,599 Republic of Ireland 2,473 2,394 2,564 2,803 3,528 2,383 2,980 2,692 2,853 2,724 2,802 2,643 2,734 2,685 2,591 Jersey 2,439 2,382 2,556 2,774 3,488 2,361 2,958 2,679 2,840 2,683 2,757 2,580 2,676 2,656 2,541 Isle of Man 2,465 2,382 2,561 2,771 3,495 2,380 2,959 2,687 2,840 2,689 2,766 2,603 2,685 2,658 2,541 32

33 Annex A: Data sources This annex gives brief explanations of the data types and sources for the statistics contained in this report. 1. England and Wales Since 6th April 2006 all entries previously contained in the Register of County Court Judgments became part of The Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines under the 2005 Regulations by the same name. These Regulations require courts in England and Wales to supply details of qualifying cases to the Registrar for inclusion on the Register. a) County Court Judgments Subject to the exemptions contained in the Regulations, monetary judgments processed within the County Court Money Claims Centre, the County Court Business Centre or by a regional hearing centre are sent to the Registrar be registered. Judgments are registered immediately where no defence has been entered and the judgment is granted by default. When a case has been defended, registration occurs where payment is by instalment order or where action is taken to enforce payment of the debt. b) Administration Orders An administration order empowers the court to take over the administration of a individual s debts where these do not exceed 5,000 and while an agreed regular amount is repaid. It combines a debtor s debts under certain conditions enabling the debtor to make regular payments to the court which are then distributed to the various creditors. Any debtor against whom at least one county court or high court judgment is registered can make an application to the court for an administration order. If granted this provides protection from further action by creditors in respect of any debts listed under the order. Creditors not included in the order cannot pursue their debts separately through the courts, if they try their debts are automatically added to the order. c) Child Support Agency Liability Orders These orders normally relate to self-employed individuals where no attachment of earnings order can be made. Where it is believed that the individual could be contributing, the CSA takes out a liability order in a 33

34 magistrates court and, if the debtor is not willing to pay, the debt may be registered. The Registrar is notified by one of the six CSA Offices in the UK; Plymouth, Birkenhead, Dudley, Hastings, Falkirk and Belfast. d) High Court Judgments High court judgments are registered when they relate to monetary judgments made in the Chancery Division, the Queen s Bench Division, the Admiralty and Commercial courts and the Costs Office for England & Wales. All default judgments are registered while defended cases, and county court judgments transferred to the high court for enforcement, are registered upon enforcement. In the Admiralty and Commercial court, where judgment has been registered in a foreign currency, the registration will be converted to GBP at the exchange rate applicable on the judgment date. e) Magistrates Courts Fines Defaulted fines relating to individuals and businesses convicted in magistrates or crown courts in England & Wales have been added to the Register since 6th April A magistrates court may register a defaulted fine following an offender s failure to respond to a Further Steps Notice issued by the relevant court. Registration will include all outstanding monies owed on the fine(s) including costs, compensation and victim surcharge. f) Enforced Tribunal Awards Since 1st April 2009, details of enforced monetary tribunal awards relating to individuals, companies or businesses have been added to the Register. Details of an award are only added to the Register once steps have been taken in the high court or county court to enforce the award. The Register will then show the amount of the debt. 2. Scotland Details of undefended monetary decrees entered in the various sheriff s courts are collected under an agreement with the Scottish Court service. a) Small Claims and Summary Cause Decrees The small claims procedure is a procedure used where the value of the claim is up to (and including) 34

35 3,000. It is used for resolving minor disputes (mainly relating to debts and consumer issues). The summary cause procedure is one which, if it relates to the payment of money, is used where the value of the claim is over 3,000 and up to (and including) 5,000. It is mainly used for disputes involving rent arrears, delivery of goods and debts. b) Ordinary Cause Decrees Since 1st January 2010, details of ordinary cause decrees have been added to the register. The ordinary cause procedure is mainly used in cases relating to divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership, children, property and claims for recovery of debt or damages exceeding 5,000. c) Simple Procedure Decrees From 28th November 2016, a change to Scottish law was evoked whereby simple procedure replaced the previous small claims procedure and part of the summary cause procedure. Simple procedure is a court process designed to provide a speedy, inexpensive and informal way to resolve disputes where the monetary value does not exceed 5, Northern Ireland Details of monetary judgments in the Northern Ireland courts are collected under an agreement with the Northern Ireland Court Service. a) Default Judgments The Northern Ireland register contains details of all undefended default and small claims money judgments registered in the individual county courts or at the civil processing centre. b) High Court Judgments This register contains details of high court money judgments from the Queens Bench Division. 4. Republic of Ireland Details of monetary judgments in the Republic of Ireland are collected under an arrangement with the Four Courts in Dublin. a) Registered Judgments These include judgments from the district and circuit courts which to aid enforcement the creditor has registered with the Central Office of the High Court at the Four Courts. Registration itself does not 35

36 directly enforce a judgment but it publicises the existence of an unmanaged debt. Creditors are obliged to give prior notification to the defendant of the intention to register the debt. 5. Jersey Details of monetary judgments in the Jersey Petty Debts Court and the Royal Courts are collected by agreement with the Judicial Greffe. a) Petty Debts Judgments Parties to cases brought to the Petty Debts Court are first encouraged to meet informally or use a mediator to settle the dispute outside the court room. The Petty Debts Court normally handle cases up to 10,000. b) Royal Court Judgments The Royal Court hears more complex cases and those with a value over 10, Isle of Man Details of monetary judgments in the Isle of Man are collected by agreement with the Chief Registrar of the General Registry at the Isle of Man Courts of Justice. a) Default Judgments These are cases where no defence has been entered and the judgment has been granted by default. 36

37 Annex B: Explanatory notes 1. All records remain on the registers for six years from the date of the court order, with the exception of England and Wales defaulted fines which remain on the register for five years. 2. Records may be updated while on the register to show when the debt has been fully repaid. Details of part payments or on-going payments are not received and are not reflected on the registers. 3. Records are only removed from the registers when entered in error or where the debt has been repaid within one month of the date of the court order. Where repayments are made after more than one month the record is shown as satisfied but remains on the register for the rest of its term (see point 1 above). 4. All data received by RTL is subject to various checks and validations before the data is processed and added to the registers. These measures include verification at both file level and record level. Data must be received in an agreed format, through an authorised and secure channel and according to a delivery schedule. 5. RTL takes all reasonable steps to validate the data which it receives, clarifying records with the courts where this is appropriate. The role of RTL does not replace the authority of the courts. Entries added to the registers convey the decisions of the courts and not RTL and reflect the records held at the courts. 6. For the purposes of these statistics the terms consumer and commercial are defined as follows. Consumer records are those where RTL has identified the defendant as a private individual. Commercial records are those defendants identified as corporate or non-corporate entities, i.e. Ltd/Plc or variants, LLP, trading styles or sole traders. 7. These statistics will be published at the following frequencies: January, April, July, and October. An annual summary of statistics will be published during the first quarter each year. 37

38 Annex C: Contacts Press enquiries on the contents of this report should be directed to the Registry Trust Limited press office: Tel: ( out of hours). General enquiries about the statistics available from Registry Trust Limited should be directed to 38