Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps courts must take to ensure that (a) they have the correct personal details of defendants and (b) defendants are aware of their summons.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The general principles governing the process of communicating and providing notice of proceedings to the defendant of documents in civil legal proceedings are contained in the Civil Procedure Rules. The claimant provides the court with an address for service of the claim.
Courts are not required to ensure that they have the correct personal details of defendants or that defendants are aware of claims issued against them. The onus is on the parties to provide the correct information. Claimants must sign a statement of truth confirming that the details in their claim, including the address of the defendant, are true. Anyone who deliberately provides false information to the court may be subject to contempt of court proceedings and, if contempt is proved, the penalty is a fine or imprisonment.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of people who have been found guilty in their absence in civil debt cases and (b) number and proportion of those cases in which the defendant was absent as a result of not having been aware of the summons due to the court holding an incorrect home address in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Justice publication “Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly” contains statistics about the number of default judgments made in the county court in England and Wales each year. A default judgment means judgment without a court hearing, where a defendant has failed to acknowledge a claim has been made against them; or has failed to file a defence. A court hearing would only be listed if the defendant had responded to the claim and stated that they wanted to defend it.
In response to part a) of the question, the number of default judgments made in the latest period for which statistics are available is set out in the figures for 2021 below. It is not possible to say how many of these judgments relate to money claims. However, the majority of claims made to the county court are money claims.
For the reasons stated above, the figures in the table do not and cannot show the number of cases in which a money judgment is made by a court, in a case where the defendant did not appear for the hearing.
Year | Number of default judgments |
2021 | 877,984 (provisional) |
In answer to part b) it is not possible to determine what number and proportion of default judgments are as a result of the defendant not being aware of a money claim being made against them where it was sent to the wrong address. A default judgment can also arise when a defendant chooses not to respond to the money claim.
It is not possible for the courts to investigate the reasons behind why a defendant has not responded to the money claim.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps people are able to take to appeal court decisions made in their absence as a result of the court holding an incorrect home address.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
If an individual discovers that they have had a county court judgment issued against them as a result of the claim forms being sent to an incorrect home address, they can apply to the court to have the judgment cancelled. This is known as getting the judgment ‘set aside’.
In order to apply to get a judgment cancelled, the individual is required to fill in an application notice (Form N244) and send it to the court. They may have to pay a court fee. They will have to go to a private hearing at the court to explain why the judgment should be cancelled.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps a debt collection agency is required to take to verify the personal details, including home address, of the person they are attempting to collect debt from.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The general principles governing the service, of documents in legal proceedings, are contained in Part 6 of the Civil Procedure Rules. A claimant must take “reasonable steps” to establish the defendant’s current address. Where the claimant is unable do so, they must consider whether there is an alternative place or method by which the claim may be served with the permission of the court. If the claimant is unable to establish either the defendant’s current address or an alternative method of service, the claim may be served on the defendant’s last known address. The premise being that individuals are responsible for updating their creditors with their new address and/or having their mail redirected.
Claimants, including debt collection agencies, in civil court proceedings must sign a statement of truth that they believe the facts stated in the claim form are true. This includes the names and addresses of the parties. Anyone who deliberately provides false information may be subject to contempt of court proceedings, and if contempt is proved the penalty is imprisonment or a fine.
The Ministry of Justice has not undertaken an assessment of the process that claimants, including debt enforcement agencies, use to ascertain the address of defendants who have had a court judgment made against them.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the process for a debt collection agency to ascertain the address of people against whom judgments have been made.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The general principles governing the service, of documents in legal proceedings, are contained in Part 6 of the Civil Procedure Rules. A claimant must take “reasonable steps” to establish the defendant’s current address. Where the claimant is unable do so, they must consider whether there is an alternative place or method by which the claim may be served with the permission of the court. If the claimant is unable to establish either the defendant’s current address or an alternative method of service, the claim may be served on the defendant’s last known address. The premise being that individuals are responsible for updating their creditors with their new address and/or having their mail redirected.
Claimants, including debt collection agencies, in civil court proceedings must sign a statement of truth that they believe the facts stated in the claim form are true. This includes the names and addresses of the parties. Anyone who deliberately provides false information may be subject to contempt of court proceedings, and if contempt is proved the penalty is imprisonment or a fine.
The Ministry of Justice has not undertaken an assessment of the process that claimants, including debt enforcement agencies, use to ascertain the address of defendants who have had a court judgment made against them.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps are the Courts required to take to ensure that (a) they have the correct personal details of defendants and (b) defendants are aware of their summons.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of people found guilty in their absence in civil debt cases; and how many of those cases were as a result of the defendant not being aware of the summons due to the Court holding an incorrect home address.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps people can take to appeal court decisions made in their absence as a result of the court holding an incorrect home address.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps a debt collection agency is required to take to verify the personal details, including home address, of the individual they are attempting to collect debt from.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has undertaken an assessment of the adequacy of the process used by debt collection agencies to ascertain the address of people against whom judgments have been made.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.