Part 1: Tribunals and Inquiries Background Enforcement
32.Tribunals have no enforcement powers of their own. If a monetary award is not paid then, in England and Wales, the claimant must register it in the county court and use the enforcement methods available there (for example see section 15 of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996). Transforming Public Services undertook to simplify the system so that an award of compensation, whether ordered by the tribunal or agreed between the parties (under compromises involving the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)), can be enforced with the minimum of bureaucracy as if it were an order of the civil courts.
33.The Act will remove the need for registration of unpaid awards in the county court or the High Court and provide that they can be enforced as if they bear the right to a warrant of execution. Claimants will be able to go directly to the county court or High Court for enforcement.
34.Essentially, the legislative changes will (a) allow claimants to proceed immediately to enforcement (levelling the playing field between tribunal users and other civil claimants), and (b) ensure that those owed money as a result of a tribunal hearing can benefit from improvements to the wider civil enforcement system.
35.The procedure for enforcing tribunal awards in England and Wales (and Northern Ireland), and ACAS brokered agreements (see section 142), will become similar to the Scottish process, in that the award will be treated as enforceable without any intermediate steps being necessary. Part 1 of the Act does not alter the methods of enforcement either in Scotland or in England and Wales (or Northern Ireland), but allows tribunals to benefit from them.
36.In addition, the Act provides for unpaid awards to be entered on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, see paragraph 55 of Schedule 8, (which may be searched by banks, building societies, and credit companies when considering applications for credit). The Act also makes it easier for the courts to obtain information about the debtor, as claimants will be able to make information requests under the provisions contained in Part 4 of the Act, which will help them to identify what kind of court action it would be appropriate to take to recover the debt.