The Government has realised in the last year
that the Employment Tribunal system is not
effective at getting successful employee claimants
paid out by their former employers. A report
by the CAB entitled "Justice Denied"
highlighted the plight of those involved and
asked the Government to do something to improve
the current system. As we mentioned in our
autumn bulletin, the Justice Minister, Jack
Straw, confirmed he would be looking to High
Court Enforcement Officers (HCEOs) to set
up a fast track system for enforcement.
At the time of going to press, we can tell
you that discussions between the HCEOs' professional
association and the Ministry of Justice have
moved the issue forward, and the Civil Rules
Committee has agreed to amend Part 70.4 of
the CPR to allow the new streamlined procedure
to come into effect on 1 April 2010.
As many of our clients will appreciate, the current system is tedious when it comes
to enforcing a Tribunal Award.
The employee has to file the Award at the County Court nearest to the respondent's
address to turn it into an enforceable court judgment by completing forms N322A and B.
Once that has been done, the employee has to ask the County Court to issue a Certificate
of Judgment, which in effect releases the Award to the High Court for enforcement.
The new process sweeps away all this paper pushing by combining the N322B and N293A into
one document so that HCEOs can use the new completed Certificate on which to issue the
Writ of Fifa, which then gives them the power to enforce the Award.
As a result, Sherforce will be offering a completely free service to the employee to
complete all the paperwork and enforce the resulting Writ. It will charge the employer
for the cost of the enforcement process.
Claire Sandbrook, who was first approached
by the CAB to review the current system, has
said: "We are delighted that the Lord
Chancellor has recognised the strength of
the High Court system of enforcement in that
we do what it says on the tin - if you don't
pay us, we will remove goods. We have felt
for a long time that we should be supporting
what we call "vulnerable creditors",
i.e. those who need support to get their judgment
enforced. People who take action against their
former employers fall into that category and
are entitled to have the support of the court
system when it comes to ensuring they see
their Award turned into monetary compensation
through a robust enforcement process. We fully
support this measure and congratulate the
Justice Minister and his team on getting to
grips with this issue and giving employees
real access to justice."
