A procedure called the Fast Track scheme was introduced in 2010 to make it easier and quicker for people who have won Employment Tribunal awards or ACAS Conciliation settlements to use High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEO) to actually get paid their award.

If you have an award or settlement that is up to six years old, you can enforce it through The Sheriffs Office by transferring the award to the High Court for enforcement.

What an HCEO can recover

There is NO minimal award value to use this route - normally a judgment must be £600 or above for transfer to the High Court for enforcement, but this does not apply to employment tribunal awards.

Even better, there is no compliance fee if enforcement is unsuccessful (for example, if there are no assets to seize, the defendant cannot be traced or is bankrupt, or insolvent in the case of a company).

This means that your maximum outlay is just the fee for the writ. And, if enforcement is successful, this fee is recovered from the defendant.
We will also collect interest on the award, plus all enforcement fees and costs are recovered from the defendant.

How it works

All you need to do is instruct us, then we will obtain the writ on your behalf and start the enforcement process by sending a notice of enforcement to the respondent, your former employer. This gives them seven clear days within which to make payment in full.

If they do not make payment, the next step will be enforcement stage 1 with a visit by one of our enforcement agents. The respondent will be asked to pay in full or enter a payment arrangement. IF payment is not made or there is an arrangement, enforcement will move to stage 2 and we will take control of the goods under a controlled goods agreement, which means they cannot be moved or sold until full payment is received. The final stage is the sale of the controlled goods to satisfy the debt.