Affluent fine defaulters to be shamed into paying

Middle-class areas are likely to become the target of a public shaming policy to help to recoup £177m of unpaid fines written off by the courts each year.

The Government is urging magistrates to use local media to publish the names of the most persistent defaulters in districts where people are more likely to be prompted to "settle their debts".

In March, a National Audit Office (NAO) report showed that thousands of offenders were getting away with their crimes because courts were failing to collect fines. It found that penalties totalling £385m were imposed last year but less than two-thirds of that amount was collected.

Last week 30,000 magistrates were sent new Home Office guidance on fine enforcement, which warned that Crown Courts were imposing fewer fines on offenders because of the perception of a "high level of write-offs".

The document states: "If the fall in the use of fines is to be halted or reversed, sentencers need to be confident that the sums imposed will be collected."

Magistrates are now responsible for the collection of Crown Court fines as well those imposed in their own courts. Rachael Lipscomb, deputy chairman of the Magistrates' Association, said magistrates would look at all the Home Office proposals and match the best scheme for the most suitable area.

"The best use of each will depend on the local circumstances and what's most appropriate. Fine collection has been a large problem for a long time." She added that a pilot project on naming and shaming persistent fine defaulters had already shown how effective the measure could be, but she thought that it would be most effective in better-off areas where people had more to lose by being identified in the media.

Magistrates' courts, which took over responsibility for fine enforcement from the police in April 2001, will also telephone defaulters at home, urging them to pay. Ms Lipscomb said that had already proved successful in one or two courts.

The Home Office recommendations are based on the results of pilot projects in 18 courts across the country.

The report says: "Be innovative with the introduction of different tactics into the enforcement processes to promote prompt payment ... Seek 'forthwith and in full' payment wherever possible; only allow 'time to pay' where it is genuinely necessary."

The NAO report found that more than £70m in fines, costs and even compensation awards to victims were written off as unenforceable, largely because the offenders could not be traced.

Another £77m was cancelled, sometimes because of successful appeals but also because offenders' circumstances changed so much that they could not pay.

Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, said: "Significant improvements are needed to the management of the enforcement process."