If you have been awarded an Employment Tribunal award or ACAS settlement, but your employer has failed to make a payment, help is at hand.
You can enforce the judgment using the Fast-Track enforcement scheme to help people in your position.
The Fast-Track system was introduced in 2009 by the UK’s Ministry of Justice to make it easier and faster for people who have won Employment Tribunal awards or ACAS Conciliation settlements to get paid using the services of High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEO). HCEOs can act on your behalf and collect the money much sooner for you.
What an HCEO can recover?
A High Court Enforcement Officer will attend the paying party’s address and take goods into legal control when they see that the payment isn’t forthcoming. Usually, this will be the goods of the former employer, and occasionally it can be the goods of an employee who has lost their Tribunal claim.
However, the majority of Awards that we see here in Shergroup are where the employee has won their Employment Tribunal or ACAS claim and they are awarded amounts for unfair dismissal and other sums.
High Court Enforcement Officers will instruct enforcement agents (commonly known as bailiffs) to take the goods of the former employer into control, to create lawful leverage to negotiate payment in full or a satisfactory payment arrangement. If that’s not possible, the goods which have been seized will be sold to pay the outstanding judgment.
Any amount can be enforced using this route and it really does put some clout in the employee’s corner when going up against an ex-boss to get their money.
If the enforcement is unsuccessful (for example if the employer is insolvent, or if there are no assets to seize then the matter comes to a close with the satisfaction of knowing that all that could have been done has been done.
Through our law firm, Shergroup Legal we charge a one-time fee of £66 to transfer the Award to our enforcement team. This means the total amount you have to spend is just a £66 fee to issue the Writ of Control. If the enforcement is successful, this fee is recovered from the employer. You will also be entitled to interest on the award and all the fees of the High Court Enforcement Officer will be paid by the employer.
Shergroup’s Approach
We know from talking to people with Awards over the years we have been doing this that enforcing Awards can be very intimidating. In fact, it was Claire Sandbrook who took up the plight of people in this position with the Ministry of Justice when she was Chair of the High Court Enforcement Officers Association. By raising the problem of Awards not being enforced with the same rigour in the County Court, the Government-backed her idea of fast-tracking judgments to the higher court for enforcement.
The paperwork needed to transfer the Award was streamlined and High Court Enforcement Officers agreed with the Ministry of Justice to charge only the Writ fee to anyone using this service to enforce an Award.
If you have an Employment Tribunal Award or an ACAS settlement in your favour you can use Shergroup Enforcement’s website to get your Award transferred to Claire and her TEAM. Your Award needs to have been made within the last 6 years from the date the Award was made.
Lost Award Paperwork
In case you lost your Award paperwork, we can apply for a copy for you or help you apply yourself by writing to The Employment Tribunal Public Register at Bury St Edmunds County Court, Triton House, St Andrews Street (N), Suffolk IP33 1TR.
Call The Bailiffs and Get Your Award into a High Court Writ of Control
If you want to use the team that you see in “Call The Bailiffs” on Channel 5, then you’re in the right place.
Shergroup converts Tribunal and ACAS Awards into High Court Writs of Control, which give our High Court Enforcement Officer and her enforcement agents the legal authority to seize your former employer’s goods. If your former employer refuses to pay you your Award, then their goods can be taken to be sold to pay your Award.
And remember it’s us doing the enforcing not you – so we take the flack if your former employer gets upset – which we do see from time to time.
Summing-up
Our friendly and expert team of Business Solutions Advisors will help you through our process and keep you informed of what’s happening.
Mail us at hub@shergroup.com or call on 0845 890 9200 to get started.
By using our expert enforcement team you will get to work with the enforcement agents you can see on “Call the Bailiffs”. Raz and Sue who appear in the show are account managers and are part of the team who look after your judgment to get you the best outcome possible.
So don’t sit on a judgment you need to be enforced. Using our online channels to transfer it to us or contact us about any query you have. We are here to help you get your situation resolved.
Our contact channels are
By Phone | 0845 890 9200
Website | www.shergroup.com and you can chat to us from here
Email | hub@shergroup.com
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