Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to support debtors during the covid-19 outbreak by (a) providing a mechanism for people who have historically been charged VAT on High Court enforcement debt fees to reclaim that cost where the judgment creditor is VAT registered and (b) notifying all High Court Enforcement Officers to stop charging debtors VAT on top of those debts with immediate effect.

The Ministry of Justice is working to produce guidance to clarify the circumstances and manner in which VAT costs can and should be recovered from judgment debtors as an enforcement cost. We have shared the draft guidance with interested parties for comment and will publish final guidance in due course.