HM Courts & Tribunals Service recognised unnecessary bailiff contact alongside administrative errors

What happened

Following court proceedings, a debt relating to Mr P was passed to a bailiff company contracted to act on behalf of HMCTS. However, although the company was told that the proceedings were void, bailiffs failed to act on this information and wrongly proceeded with enforcement action.

As a result, Mr P received unnecessary contact from the bailiff company, including a visit to his home, which was distressing for him. Following his complaints, the bailiff company accepted the error but only offered a small payment in recognition of the stress caused. HMCTS also considered Mr P's complaint and found that, in addition to some minor errors and delay in its handling of Mr P's complaint, the bailiffs had not acted correctly. HMCTS offered him a total of £370 for the failings, which he considered insufficient.

What we found

Although the bailiff company had made errors in its handling of Mr P's case, these were likely to be a result of human error and did not indicate a wider systemic issue. HMCTS had acknowledged and accepted the errors and we were satisfied that it had offered a sufficient financial remedy. During our investigation we found that HMCTS had accidently sent a letter to Mr P's previous address.

Putting it right

We confirmed HMCTS's previous financial remedy was still available and asked HMCTS to apologise for sending a letter to the wrong address.