Following a campaign by Registry Trust, the organisation which maintains the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, and a consultation carried out by the Ministry of Justice, the Government says it intends to implement the proposal to amend the law to allow for the names of claimants of money judgments in the County Court and High Court to be published.
The Register contains information about individuals, businesses or organisations that have had unpaid judgments, orders or fines made against them by a court or tribunal. This information can be accessed publicly and is used in a number of different ways. For example, banks and lenders can use data from the Register when deciding whether to lend money.
Currently, the name of the claimant is not included on the Register. The Government considers that the inclusion of the name of the claimant could be beneficial. It could, as set out in the consultation:
- help consumers who have had a default County Court judgment made against them and do not know who the claimant is;
- help regulators to monitor how regulated firms use the courts to enforce debts, and;
- help lenders to make more informed credit decisions.