Press Release - Lord Chancellor's Department: Collection of
fines and other financial penalties in the criminal justice
system
15 March 2002
The majority of financial penalties imposed by the courts are
collected. But the significant cost of failing to bring in the
remainder is highlighted today in a National Audit Office report.
In 2000-2001, impositions which included fines, compensation awards
to victims and prosecutors’ costs, totalled £385 million and
collections £242 million – some of which related to penalties
imposed in previous years – giving a payment rate of 63 per cent.
In the same year, £74 million was written off, largely because
the offenders could not be traced, and a further £77 million was
cancelled by the courts.
The process of enforcement is often over-complex and time
consuming, in some cases requiring many court hearings and other
enforcement action, and including delays in executing warrants
issued by the courts. The collection of financial penalties is
hampered by unreliable management information making it difficult
to compare performance between court areas.
Magistrates’ courts do not always initiate enforcement action
promptly – a key factor in successful collection. However, from
April 2002, magistrates’ courts committees will be allowed to use
some of the money collected to strengthen their enforcement
activities and recruit extra staff.
The report, presented to Parliament today by the head of the
National Audit Office, Sir John Bourn, makes a number of
recommendations to the Lord Chancellor’s Department, the Home
Office and Magistrates’ Courts Committees. They include:
- raising the profile of enforcement of financial penalties
across the 42 magistrates’ court committees responsible for
collection. Some enforcement staff considered that it was accorded
a lower priority than other court work;
- strengthening arrangements to obtain and verify details of
offenders’ means prior to sentence Although magistrates often
inquire into an offenders’ means prior to sentence, courts rarely
have systematic arrangements in place to obtain this
information;
- reviewing with the Home Office the scope for legislative
changes to enable magistrates’ courts to offer incentives to
encourage prompt payment of financial penalties, for example a fine
might increase if not paid promptly. Aside from the threat of
enforcement action, there are no incentives to encourage immediate
payment by offenders;
- reviewing the scope to permit further delegation from
magistrates to administrative staff of responsibility for taking
enforcement action, to help expedite enforcement;
- improving the completeness and accuracy of management
information and introducing relevant and challenging indicators so
that the performance of magistrates’ courts in collecting financial
penalties can be measured and compared;
- expanding the range of enforcement training provided to court
staff and improving the sharing of good practice across courts,
building on recent conferences organised by the Department. Most
staff expertise on enforcement issues is acquired on the job rather
than as a result of specialist training;
- examining, with the Home Office, whether the current range of
sentencing options is wide enough to minimise the imposition of
uncollectable fines; and
- explore the possibility of creating "centres of excellence" at
local, regional or national level to take responsibility for
enforcement.
Sir John Bourn said today:
"The majority of financial penalties are collected, but
£74 million had to be written off in 2000-2001. Apart from the
cost, the failure to bring in the remainder could undermine the
credibility of financial penalties as a form of punishment.
Significant improvements are needed to the management of the
enforcement process, for example by improving the information
available to magistrates on offenders’ means prior to sentence,
ensuring that enforcement action is taken promptly, and providing
greater support to staff through better training and improved
management information."
Notes for Editors
- The Lord Chancellor’s Department meets 80 per cent of the costs
of magistrates’ court committees with the remainder contributed by
local government. The Department does not control the committees
directly but can give directions to them to meet specified
standards of performance including in relation to the collection
and enforcement of financial penalties. Magistrates’ courts are
responsible for enforcing the collection of all financial penalties
imposed by the Criminal Justice System. On 28 February 2002,
the Department announced (Press Notice 68/02) details of new steps
it is taking to help improve performance. These steps included
setting a target, for the first time, to increase the payment rate
in 2002-03 by 5 per cent from 63 per cent and allocating
magistrates’ courts committees nearly £10 million extra from April
2002 specifically for enforcement. The Department also announced
its intention to establish a Criminal Enforcement Policy
Advisory Group to bring together the different criminal justice
agencies involved in enforcement, for example magistrates’ courts
committees, the police and the probation service.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at http://www.nao.org.uk/ Hard copies can
be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office employing some 750 staff. He and
the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 25/02
All enquiries to NAO Press Office:
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7798 7400