DMBM665730 - Enforcement action: country court proceedings: the defendant’s response to the claim: admissions in CCBC cases
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Full admission
CCBC action
DTO action after determination
Part admission
Full admission
Upon receipt of an admission in full the CCCU:
- records receipt of the admission on IDMS using the action ‘County Court - admission received full’
- moves the item away from the automatic judgment in default process and changes the next action on IDMS to ‘CCCU Update’, and sets the B/F date to today
- forwards the admission to the debt technical office responsible for issuing the claim to deal with.
No offer of payment made
Where the claim has been admitted in full but no offer of payment has been made, apply for judgment with an order for payment forthwith by taking the following actions:
- highlight the master work item on TIS
- click on the [ Proceedings Details ] button
- confirm your proposed action by reference to the PROCEEDINGS DETAILS screen
- click on the [ OK ] button on the PROCEEDINGS DETAILS screen
- select the menu item [ Forms ] on the PROCEEDINGS HISTORY screen
- choose the option [ Judgment on admission without IO (instalment order) ].
IDMS will set the next action as ‘Issue Judgment W/L’ and B/F the case 7 days. If after 7 days the judgment debt is still unpaid take the appropriate action.
Offer of payment made
If the defendant is unable to pay in full and wants time to pay, they should complete the form showing details of their means and their proposals for payment.
You should consider whether the offer is acceptable based on the details provided and any information you already hold. For fuller details of what you should consider see DMBM665720.
Accepting the offer
Where the defendant admits the claim in full and you are content with any proposal for payment you should check that no changes have been made to the recovery or partner names and addresses and confirm the amounts on IDMS still agree the claim. Enter judgment using IDMS as described in the following paragraphs.
You do not need to send any supporting forms (N9A, N225A etc.) to the Bulk Centre.
To apply for judgment in the terms of the offer made by the defendant follow the procedures for judgment for payment forthwith, but choose the menu option [Judgment on admission with IO (instalment order)].
Selecting this option takes you into the INSTALMENT ARRANGEMENT function in order to enable IDMS to automatically monitor payments made without user intervention (see DMBM655160).
At the same time:
- issue a letter CCP4 to the defendant accepting the offer
- enclose a direct debit form.
You can have up to 10 Bulk Centre instalment orders at any one time using the INSTALMENT ARRANGEMENT function. Instalment orders are automatically set up as monitor only and the system will not produce any confirmation or cancellation letters.
IDMS will review the order and if the order is not kept to, the work item will appear on the C/W CCP worklist with a next action of ‘Review’.
Offer of payment unacceptable
Where the defendant makes a payment offer which is not acceptable the debt technical office can ask the Northampton District Judge to make a determination. To do this complete forms N9A, N225 and EX120 ‘Determination of Means Calculator’ and send the completed forms under cover of the CCCU stencil to the Bulk Centre.
B/F the case for 14 days awaiting receipt of form N30(2).
Rejecting the offer of payment
The completion of the EX120 is a requirement of the Bulk Centre’s Rules of Membership, whenever an application is made for a determination. You are required to complete parts A and B of the EX120, using the information contained on the N9A or from any other sources e.g. the defendant’s SA return, call reports etc. You must also complete the ‘Defendant’s offer’ and ‘Claimant’s figure’ boxes in Part C of the EX120. Failure to complete these boxes will result in the Bulk Centre making an order for payment in the terms offered by the defendant.
If the N9A shows that the defendant has substantial funds in a bank or building society account you should enter the details in part A of the EX120 to support your application for an order for payment forthwith. If you are making an application for an order for a substantial first payment with subsequent payments based on the defendant’s income and expenditure you should again show the account details on the EX120 to support your application.
If you want the Bulk Centre to disallow any of the claimed expenses you should list the relevant expenses together with your reasons on the N225. You should then include the total amount in the ‘Any expenses not allowed’ section on the EX120. The Bulk Centre will consider the validity of the disputed expenses and then calculate the defendant’s disposable income.
CCBC action
The Bulk Centre will consider the defendant’s offer, your proposals and the defendant’s disposable income before making a determination. On making a decision the Bulk Centre will then issue form N30 to both parties. As this is a manual process, the judgment details are not automatically recorded on the PROCEEDINGS DETAILS CCBC Judgment/Warrant screen nor is an Action History note generated. Instead, the CCCU will:
- record receipt of the N30 using RECORD ACTIONS ‘County Court - other’ with a free text entry of ‘N30 rec’d - together with a brief description of the order
- set the next action as ‘CCCU Update’ and B/F to today
- forward the N30 to the debt technical office.
DTO action after determination
Upon receipt of the N30 the debt technical office must:
- enter the amount of judgment, the judgment costs, date of judgment and the terms of the order in the Results of Proceedings section on the PROCEEDINGS DETAILS General screen
- enter RECORD ACTIONS ‘County Court - Judgment - other’ with a free text entry detailing the order. This will automatically set the enforcement signal to ‘J’
- set up the instalment arrangement using the INSTALMENT ARRANGEMENT function, ensuring that the case is set up as monitor only.
Part admission
When the Bulk Centre receives a part admission it will review the non-admitted amount and the defendant's reasons for saying why that amount is not due.
If the Bulk Centre views the defendant's reasons to be invalid, it will reject the 'defence' and treat the N9A as a full admission. The Bulk Centre notes the N9A 'FA' (Full admission) before serving it on the claimant.
Whenever you receive a N9A part admission from the Bulk Centre, which they have marked 'FA' you should apply for judgment for the full amount of the claim, using the on-line 'judgment on admission' function.
In all other circumstances, treat a partial admission as a defence (DMBM665780).