Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the amount of unpaid court imposed fines on individuals who are not able to pay; and what steps they intend to take to deal with this matter.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service actively manages all outstanding court ordered financial impositions and uses a number of intelligence tools to identify and implement suitable enforcement sanctions against those who fail to comply with the order.

The Court uses the information it has available to it when setting a financial imposition to determine the level at which the fine should be set together with any repayment terms.

If an offenders’ circumstances change after a fine has been imposed they can request a means hearing where the court will review the amounts they owe and their circumstances. The Court may as a result decide to remit some of the amounts outstanding or change the payment terms previously agreed.

This Government takes recovery and enforcement of financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to finding new ways to ensure impositions are paid and clamping down on fine defaulters is a continued priority nationwide. There are a number of sanctions available to HMCTS and the courts for offenders who default on the payment terms of their orders. These can include deductions from the offender’s benefits or attachment of earnings orders if they are employed, clamping of vehicles, issue of warrants of control to seize goods to the value owed and ultimately imprisonment for non-payment.