Acas now part of Fast Track scheme
by David Carter on 22 October 2010
This April the new fast track scheme was launched which gave employees with unpaid employment tribunal awards a faster and easier route to enforce their award through High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEO).
From October 2010, the fast track scheme was extended to include the enforcement of employment tribunal claims settled through Acas.
The fast track scheme was set up by the Ministry of Justice in response to research which showed that a high number of awards were either not being paid at all, or not being paid in full: 39% of those interviewed had not received any payment of their award at all, and only 53% had been paid in full.
The process is simple once the employee has the award and has not been paid:
- There is no minimal value to the award which can be enforced by an HCEO
- The employee or their solicitor completes Form N471A and returns it to their HCEO with a cheque for £60 made payable to HMCTS (Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service). This court fee will also be recovered from the defendant
- The employee can add interest at 8% to the award value
- The HCEO will obtain a writ of fieri facias and enforce the judgment
- If judgment is unsuccessful, there is no abortive fee
With the removal of the abortive fee, the maximum outlay for the employee if enforcement is unsuccessful is just £60.
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Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sheriffs High Court Enforcement Ltd, trading as The Sheriffs Office. Sheriffs High Court Enforcement Ltd does not take any responsibility for the views of the author. The author will not be held responsible for any comments posted by visitors to this site. Please note that this article does not constitute legal advice. The author has used his best endeavours to make this article as accurate and complete as possible, but requests that the reader be aware that the law of England and Wales frequently changes. The author strongly advises the reader to take legal advice before embarking on any enforcement action.
