Advice for dealing with a County Court Judgement (CCJ) Not responding to and ultimately not paying a CCJ can have very serious consequences for a business. If you find yourself in this position, it is possible that your business is insolvent and you should act swiftly to agree on and implement a business rescue plan.
Thousands of county court judgements are issued to companies in England and Wales every month. Receiving a CCJ will make trading made more difficult and may lead to a petition for the winding up of the business.
If a creditor of a company or sole trading business is unable to collect the money that it is owed, it can apply to the court to issue a County Court Judgement (CCJ). A CCJ is an order made by the local court to force the payment of the debt.
There is no lower limit to the amount of debt for which a county court judgement can be applied for. However, a creditor will generally employ a solicitor to carry out the application process on their behalf and therefore it would be unusual to apply for a CCJ for a debt of less than GBP100.
When a county court judgment is applied for, the person or company who owes the money normally has 14 days to confirm or dispute the debt.
If you receive notice of a county court judgement application and agree that you owe the debt, it is important that you respond with a proposal of how the debt will be repaid. The court will normally accept the proposal of a sensible repayment plan (for example a certain amount per month). Once the judgement is made, the creditor is then legally bound to accept the plan. They cannot add further interest or collection charges and take further action as long as the terms of the judgement are met.
Ability to trade affected if you ignore the CCJ
DO NOT just ignore the CCJ application. Doing so will mean the Court will accept the debt is valid and order immediate repayment in full with no flexible payment terms.
If a CCJ is issued, the company's ability to trade will be affected. The first and most obvious effect of the judgement will be that the company's credit rating is damaged. The judgement will be advertised in the Stubbs Gazette and recorded on the company's credit file. Once this happens it will be much harder for the business to borrow from its bank in terms of a company overdraft or business loan.
Another issue that will be created by the CCJ is the impact on new business relationships. If a potential new client or supplier performs a credit check they will turn up the CCJ and this is very likely to affect the relationship even before it starts.
Possible winding up action
If you receive a County Court Judgement but cannot afford to pay the debt, it is important that you do not ignore it. Generally if a CCJ is issued and not paid, the next form of action by the creditor will be to issue a statutory demand for the payment of the debt. After 21 days from receiving a statutory demand, the creditor can then apply for a petition to wind up the company.
For this reason, not responding to and ultimately not paying a CCJ can have very serious consequences for a business. If you find yourself in this position, it is possible that your business is insolvent and you should act swiftly to agree on and implement a business rescue plan.
What happens to the directors if a company is wound up?
Once a company is being wound up a Liquidator will be appointed. The liquidator will undertake an investigation into the conduct of the directors to see whether they have knowingly allowed the business to trade while insolvent thus making the creditor's position worse. If this is the case, a director may face being disqualified and held personally liable for the company's debts. As a Director we look at the options you have.
What will having a County Court Judgement do to my company
If a county court judgement remains unpaid, this could lead to more serious action being taken against the business. We look at the impact and what you can do.
Company debt restructure to improve cash flow
Ensuring that enough cash is available to maintain their business must be a priority for companies. Those that do it well will survive. Those that do not are likely to fall. As such identifying problems and implement solutions which may require a radical restructuring of debt must be a priority. We discuss some of the solutions available.
