Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
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Summary
The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 reshaped the tribunals system and the law on civil enforcement in England and Wales. Part 1 created a unified two-tier structure — the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal — under a Senior President of Tribunals, with a standard route of appeal on a point of law from the First-tier Tribunal to the Upper Tribunal and onward, with permission, to the Court of Appeal; the Upper Tribunal is a superior court of record and can exercise a limited judicial-review jurisdiction. Part 3 replaced the old remedies of distress with a single codified procedure for 'taking control of goods' (s.62 and Schedule 12), carried out by certificated enforcement agents, and the Act also reformed the enforcement of judgments, attachment of earnings, charging orders, and statutory debt-management and relief schemes.
Key Points
- Created the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal as a unified two-tier structure (s.3)
- The Upper Tribunal is a superior court of record and may exercise a judicial-review jurisdiction in defined classes of case
- Appeals on a point of law from the First-tier Tribunal to the Upper Tribunal (s.11) and onward to the Court of Appeal (s.13)
- The Senior President of Tribunals leads the tribunal judiciary (s.2)
- Replaced distress with the codified 'taking control of goods' procedure (s.62 and Schedule 12)
- Enforcement must be carried out by certificated enforcement agents (s.63)