Welcome…
To our autumn client newsletter and to all new clients that have recently come on board we hope you’ve all had a good summer. We had a busy one and we are extremely proud to have been re-appointed a place on the prestigious LUPC
framework. We have been a supplier on this since 2013, recovering debts for many Higher Education organisations and other members on this framework.
Please read on for information on Mediation, the latest update regarding Court delays, the creation of the new Civil National Business Centre (replacing CCBC & CCMCC) and our new and improved Insight service!
Spotlight on Mediation
Mediation is the process whereby a neutral third party helps parties in a dispute to communicate, negotiate and reach a mutually acceptable settlement.
It is a requirement of the Civil Courts that parties consider mediation and the possibility of settlement both before a claim is issued and throughout Court proceedings.
If you have issued a claim for a money dispute up to the value of £10,000.00 (Small Claims) the current Court process may offer you a mediation appointment with the Small Claims Mediation Service however, the mediation will only go
ahead if both parties agree to use the service.
The government have now revealed plans to introduce compulsory mediation to all Small Claims meaning that a claim will not progress to a hearing until mediation has taken place.
The service is free and aims to help the parties reach agreement without the need for a Court hearing.
The main benefits of mediation are that it is cheaper and quicker than the matter progressing to a final Court hearing / trial. The Court offer a one hour appointment during which an independent mediator will listen to both parties’
views and help to negotiate a settlement of the dispute. The mediator will speak to each party separately and if agreement can be reached it will be recorded into a settlement agreement which is legally binding. This means that
if any party does not comply with it the other party can go back to Court to ask for judgment or hearing.
It is important that parties come to the mediation with a real intention of reaching agreement and listen to the points raised. You should also consider the costs and time that will be saved by reaching early agreement as well as the potential to reach a positive outcome for all parties which may be enough to salvage an ongoing trading or working relationship should this be desirable.
Legal Recoveries & Collections Ltd can attend your mediation appointment for you or guide you through the process should you wish to attend the mediation appointment yourself.
If you require further information regarding this article or advice in general please contact Rachael Ward @ rachaelward@legalrecoveries.com.
Civil Reform update.
Transfer of work from County Court Money Claims Centre and change of name to Civil National Business Centre
With effect from 14 August 2023 the County Court Business Centre and County Court Money Claim Centre has been replaced by the creation of the Civil National Business Centre (CNBC) at Northampton.
The aim of a singular CNBC is to streamline processes and just have one central hub rather than two. It is hoped that by having just one central location there will be less delays, greater eficiencies and, hopefully, the delivery of a faster civil litigation process.
It is our view that, since the onset of Covid, there appear to have been far greater delays with the Courts and, although these seem to be improving slowly please see below a table of current delays:
Current Court Delays – Working days
| Issue of new claim on paper | 20 |
| Issue of new claim electronically | Automated online issue |
| Help with fees New application | 19 |
| Acknowldgment of service | 4 |
| Ackknowledgment of service (online) | Day of receipt |
| Defence and or counterclaim before issuing DQ on paper | 12 |
| Defence and or counterclaim before issuing the DQ online | Day of receipt |
| Processing a DQ | 39 |
| Entering judgment manual | 27 |
| Entering judgment online | Automated online issue |
| General applicaton | 44 |
| Total processing time from receipt of application to order or coment being typed | 82 |
Insight Service
We believe that Insight is a great tool in the decision making process when considering whether to pursue a claim through to the legal stage. Insight will tell us whether or not the debtor is the subject of any insolvency process
(which would immediately be a red flag for not pursuing a case to the legal stage) as well as notifying of any paid and unpaid County Court Judgments (CCJs). Please note the service is only available for England addresses and must
have a full post code.
The old Insight gave us information about CCJs (the number of them and if satisfied), insolvency information, employment check indicator and salary information, total number of credit applications and Land Registry information.
The Insight Plus service gives us all of the above information plus the Residency checker – which double checks the propensity of your customer being at the address provided.
The new and improved Insight service continues to provide all of the above information but now also gives us a clearer idea as to the level of debt a customer may have as it now includes the value of any unpaid CCJs as well as
their value and age i.e. over or under 6 months old.
A great example of how to use Insight in the decision making process would be that you are far more likely to consider Court action (and obtaining Judgment) against someone who has 4 satisfied CCJs as opposed to someone who has 2 unsatisfied CCJs as this would lead you to the conclusion that although the debtor with the 4 satisfied CCJs has allowed Court actions to progress as far as they have their lever to pay is the entry of the Judgments.
In addition, the employment and credit application information gives a great overview as to a debtor’s financial position and coupled with the information that is obtained from HM Land Registry regarding property ownership.
If you wanted to verify the employment information, either because you are considering the debtorsfinancial position in general before proceeding with legal action or because you are considering an Attachment of Earnings application – an Employment Trace will provide the debtors employer and whether they are full or part time or self employed.
Don’t delay, instruct us today!
Review your ledgers and send over any late payers to us sooner rather than later – the fresher the debt the easier in theory it should be to collect.
We can offer Credit Control Services as well as Debt Recovery Services, so please do get in touch if you need help with this.
Please review any outstanding instructions regularly. Delays in providing us with them has an impact on our liquidation rates for you. If you need help or advice with any of your cases in order to progress matters, please email clientservices@legalrecoveries.com with the cases in question and ask for advice. At a minimum if you can action any payment offers or urgent cases this would help us both greatly!
Review meetings
If you would like to have a review on Teams or in person, please let us know, this can be helpful to review the overall performance of your cases and is a good opportunity to ask any questions, or iron out any issues. We can also make recommendations for automated authorities to help us to work your files in a speedier way.
Feedback
Good or bad we want to know! Please contact the client services team if you have any.
Calling us
If you need to call Andrea or Rachel (LRC’s Client Services Team) please use the mobile numbers below to contact us directly:
Rachel Rowbotham (Operations Director) – Mobile: 07985 725688
Andrea Nicholls (Client Services Manager) – Mobile: 07917 367081
