ENGLAND & WALES CONSUMER CCJs FALL SIXTEEN PERCENT IN Q1 2020 BUT THE AMOUNT OWED CONTINUES TO RISE

The number of County Court Judgments (CCJs) issued against consumers fell 16 percent in Q1 2020 compared to the same period last year, according to figures released today (23/04/2020) by Registry Trust. The number is down from 321,281 in Q1 2019, to 269,249 this quarter.

The number of consumer judgments issued this quarter is the lowest number of consumer CCJs recorded in Q1 since 2016. Despite declining judgment numbers, consumers owed a total of £455million in judgment debt in Q1 of 2020 alone – a rise of one percent from the £449million owed in Q1 2019.

Significant rises in the average and median value of consumer CCJs, at the rate of 21 percent and 18 percent, respectively, suggest that claimants are issuing fewer judgments but for greater amounts.

In the High Court, judgments against consumers rose 133 percent, from 33 in Q1 2019 to 77 in Q1 2020. High Court Judgments totaled £15.1million, and averaged at £196,506 in value, both falling, 11 percent and 62 percent respectively. Due to the small number of judgments registered by the High Court, the numbers are subject to large fluctuations in percentage increases/decreases.

Registry Trust is the Registrar of Judgments, Orders and Fines in England and Wales (on behalf of the Ministry of Justice). This excludes claimant data which is public and available from the courts but not centrally registered.

On behalf of Registry Trust, Mick McAteer, chairman said: “After record numbers of consumer CCJs in 2019, it is encouraging to see numbers decline sharply. Interventions by government and regulators, and forbearance by creditors, in response to Covd19 crisis means we will see another major fall in numbers next quarter. But, the damage to household finances will show up later”.