The Treasury has launched a consultation on options to reform civil debt recovery.

Civil debt arises from a legal judgment where monetary disputes are resolved in court, and a debtor is ordered to pay a creditor.

A wide-ranging review of the current approach to collection of civil debt will cover all relevant legislation, organisational framework and procedures.

The process for reform is set out in an initial document which also asks for the public’s views on improving how civil debts are formally recorded and made accessible and the options for how they are then recovered by the coroners.

Treasury member Bill Shimmins MHK said: ’It is clear that the current framework and systems for civil debt recovery need to be updated and made more effective. Although various reviews have been undertaken over a number of years, it has proved difficult to find workable solutions to the underlying problems.

’The approach we are now putting forward builds upon the previous work undertaken but adopts a more structured and phased approach for reform.’

If proposals for change gain support, they will require primary legislation to implement them.

Any draft Bill will be subject to further full public consultation later in 2018. The consultation can be found at https://consult.gov.im/