Woman left out of pocket by court's mistakes

What happened

The defendant owed Mrs A over £2,000. She submitted a claim form to HMCTS. The county court ordered the defendant to pay Mrs A. But when the defendant failed to pay the money, the county court issued a warrant to the bailiffs to collect the debt. Mrs A had to pay a fee of £100 for the warrant.

The bailiffs made attempts to collect the debt and notified Mrs A of their continuous efforts. However, during the process HMCTS altered the original judgment many times because the defendant had applied to stop enforcement action, but the warrant was not updated in line with the judge's orders. In the final order the judge included the warrant fee that had been missed in the previous orders. HMCTS could not give evidence that it had updated the warrant with the final order.

The debtor paid the amount written on the incorrect court order, but did not settle the remaining £100 warrant fee that was included in the final court order. HMCTS did not keep Mrs A updated on the action its bailiffs took on her case. When Mrs A complained to HMCTS, it did not identify that it had failed to amend the warrant in line with the court order and it did not respond to all aspects of Mrs A's complaint. Mrs A complained to us because HMCTS's administrative errors caused her distress and she wanted it to pay the bailiffs' fee of £100.

What we found

The bailiffs made reasonable attempts to enforce the warrant, but HMCTS made mistakes with the court orders. Even though HMCTS corrected its mistakes quickly, it did not update the warrant with the correct information about the debt owed. Had the warrant information been updated correctly, the defendant would most likely have paid the remaining £100 owed to the court.

HMCTS' communication and complaint handling was also poor. It should have given Mrs A more information about the bailiffs' attempts to collect the debt. This caused Mrs A unnecessary stress and frustration at an already stressful time and meant she had to bring her complaint to us.

Putting it right

HMCTS apologised to Mrs A and paid her £200. This was made up of the £100 she would otherwise have received from the defendant for the bailiff's fee and £100 consolatory payment for the stress, frustration and inconvenience she experienced as a result of HMCTS' mistakes. HMCTS also reviewed what it had learned from this case, particularly in relation to record keeping.