The government has made a u-turn over its plans to privatise court fine enforcement. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has notified its employees that the National Compliance and Enforcement Service will remain within Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), and retain responsibility for collecting court fines. After a process costing in excess of £7 million of public money and the identification of multinational US-based firm Synnex-Concentrix as the preferred bidder, the government has decided that privatisation will not ‘completely’ meet their needs or provide best value for the taxpayer.
The decision has been made following sustained campaigning by PCS and its members in the justice sector, who have faced several years of uncertainty. The government identified Synnex-Concentrix despite it being a company with a track record of having failed to achieve savings on a former contract with the HMRC, where it only generated savings of £500,000 compared to an original estimate of £285m.
For more information, please see PCS’ press release.
