England & Wales • Plain English • Scotland & Northern Ireland use different systems
This is general legal information, not legal advice.

Enforcing a County Court Judgment — Methods Explained (UK)

Order to obtain information • warrant and writ of control • attachment of earnings • third party debt order • charging order • the insolvency route
Quick summary: a judgment is permission to recover, not recovery. Each enforcement route has its own prescribed court form, its own fee and its own limits — and choosing before you know what the debtor actually has is how creditors spend money for nothing.
This page sets out the routes GOV.UK names for England & Wales, the court rules that govern the timing, and the two hard rules people most often miss: after six years you need the court’s permission before a writ or warrant can issue, and a charging order is security rather than payment.
Specialty: England & Wales judgment enforcement — matching the route to the asset, the sequencing rules in CPR Parts 71 to 84, and the point at which a route stops being worth its own cost.
If you hold an unpaid judgment and are deciding between goods, wages, a bank account, a property charge or an insolvency petition, this page helps you rank the options against what you actually know about the debtor.
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Route selection
Form numbers
Six-year check
Cost vs recovery
Best for people saying:
  • “I won at court and they still have not paid.”
  • “Do I send bailiffs or go for their wages?”
  • “Can I take it out of their bank account?”
  • “They own a house — can I secure the debt against it?”
  • “The judgment is from 2019. Is it too late?”
  • “Should I wind the company up?”
You can start with one paragraph. We’ll ask only what’s needed.

How this guide helps

Three steps — evidence first, then route, then cost.
1) Establish what the debtor has
Wages, a bank account, goods, a property interest, or nothing recoverable. The court has a procedure for finding this out and it is designed to be used first.
Example: “I do not know if they are employed.”
2) Match the route to the asset
Goods, wages, bank balances and land each have their own application and their own prescribed form. There is no single “enforcement application”.
You’ll know which form the route needs.
3) Weigh the cost against the odds
Every route carries a fee, and one of them carries a large deposit. Enforcement can cost more than it returns, and GOV.UK says so itself about the insolvency route.
So you stop before good money follows bad.

Step one most creditors skip: find out what the debtor has

CPR Part 71 — order to obtain information from a judgment debtor.
Under CPR 71.2 a judgment creditor may apply for an order requiring the judgment debtor — or an officer of a company debtor — to attend court and provide information about their means and other matters relevant to enforcing the judgment. The forms are N316 where the debtor attends and N316A where an officer of a company attends.
This is not a polite request. Under CPR 71.6 the person ordered to attend is questioned on oath, normally by a court officer unless a judge is presiding. Under CPR 71.8, failing to attend, refusing the oath or otherwise breaching the order is referred to a High Court judge or Circuit Judge, who may impose contempt sanctions — such an order being suspended provided the person complies with the conditions in it.
Picking a warrant of control when the debtor has no goods, or an attachment of earnings when they are not employed, spends a fee to learn something a Part 71 order would have told you.

The enforcement routes and the form each one needs

Each route has its own form and its own court fee. GOV.UK does not publish the fee amounts on its enforcement page, and this page does not invent them — check the current fees before you apply.
Warrant of control — N323
County court route, for £5,000 or less. Enforcement agents attempt to take control of the debtor’s goods.
Only worth it where there are goods worth selling.
Writ of control — N293A
High Court route, requiring a minimum of £600 owed. GOV.UK: where you are owed between £600 and £5,000 you can apply to either a county court or the High Court.
Same asset class as N323 — goods, not money in an account.
Attachment of earnings — N337
Deductions taken from an employed debtor’s pay under a court order.
Deduction mechanics are not set out here — not verified today.
Third party debt order — N349
Under CPR 72.2 the court may order a third party — typically a bank — to pay you a debt due or accruing due to the judgment debtor, or enough to satisfy the judgment debt and the costs of the application.
Two-stage: interim, then a hearing.
Charging order — N379
Under CPR 73.4 an interim charging order imposes a charge over the debtor’s interest in the asset; under CPR 73.10, after the objection period, a judge or legal adviser may make a final order confirming it continues.
Security, not payment — see the warning below.
Order to obtain information — N316 / N316A
Not a recovery route, but the one that tells you which of the others is worth paying for.
Use it before, not after.
Two mechanics worth reading twice
Third party debt orders are two-stage. Under CPR 72.4 a judge first considers the application without a hearing and may make an interim order directing that the third party must not make any payment reducing what it owes the debtor below the specified amount. The hearing must be not less than 28 days after the interim order. At that hearing, under CPR 72.8, the court may make a final order, or discharge the interim order and dismiss the application.
A charging order does not get you paid. Under CPR 73.10C, enforcing it by sale requires a separate claim under the Part 8 procedure, with the charging order filed alongside the claim form. Treating the matter as finished once the final charging order is made is a mistake — you hold security, and turning it into money is fresh litigation.

The timing rules that decide whether you can still enforce

CPR Part 83 — writs and warrants, general provisions.
  • Six years or more since the judgment — CPR 83.2(3)(a). A relevant writ or warrant must not be issued without the permission of the court. The same applies under 83.2(3)(b) where any change has taken place in the parties, whether by death or otherwise.
  • What the court must be satisfied of — CPR 83.2(4). That the applicant is entitled to proceed, and that the defendant is liable to execution on the judgment or order.
  • Permission itself expires — CPR 83.2(7A). A permission order lapses if the writ is not issued within one year of the date of the permission order.
  • The writ or warrant expires — CPR 83.3. A writ or warrant, other than one using the taking-control-of-goods procedure, is valid for 12 months from issue, extendable by the court for further 12-month periods. Priority runs from the original date of receipt or issue regardless of extensions.
What this page will not say is that a judgment “expires” after six years. CPR 83.2(3)(a) requires permission, which is not the same thing, and the separate limitation position is not verified here.

What an enforcement agent can and cannot do

Useful to both sides — creditors overestimate these powers and debtors fear them.
Enforcement by taking control of goods runs under CPR Part 84, using the procedure in Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. CPR 84.4 requires a notice of enforcement but does not state the minimum period — it points to the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013, which we could not open today, so no figure from that source appears here. What GOV.UK does state plainly about bailiffs visiting a home:
  • They must usually give at least 14 days’ notice of their first visit.
  • They cannot visit between 9pm and 6am.
  • They cannot enter your home by force — for example by pushing past you.
  • Forced entry is allowed only for unpaid criminal fines, Income Tax or Stamp Duty, and then only as a last resort. A county court judgment debt is not on that list.

The insolvency route — thresholds, and why it is not a default next step

A pressure tool with a real chance of returning nothing.
Bankruptcy of an individual — including a sole trader or a member of a partnership — requires £5,000 or more: you must prove you are owed at least £5,000, or a share of debts totalling at least £5,000. You must either issue a statutory demand, confirmed by a certificate of service on form N215, or provide a sheriff’s or bailiff’s statement showing you obtained a judgment and the officer could not recover enough to satisfy the debt.
Winding up a company requires that you and any other creditors are owed £750 or more. GOV.UK guidance checked on 8 August 2026 gives court fees of £352 and a petition deposit of £2,600 — fees change, so confirm both before you file.
Once a statutory demand is served, the debtor has 21 days to pay or reach an agreement to pay. GOV.UK warns the costs of this route are high and you may recover nothing. It is a commercial decision, not an escalation reflex.

Four assumptions that cost creditors money

Each one set against the actual rule.
  • “I have six years, so I can leave it.” After six years you need the court’s permission before a writ or warrant can issue.
  • “A charging order gets me paid.” It secures the debt. Turning it into money needs a separate Part 8 claim for an order for sale.
  • “Bailiffs will break in and take the television.” Not for a county court judgment debt — no forced entry to a home, no visits between 9pm and 6am, and usually 14 days’ notice.
  • “I will just wind them up.” Hard thresholds, a 21-day statutory demand period and a £2,600 petition deposit on top of court fees.
  • “Enforcing will clear the record.” It will not. Enforcement action is not a register event — the six-year entry and the “satisfied” marking follow the payment rules, not the enforcement.

Where this page applies — and where it does not

Everything above is England & Wales.
Scotland. The court order is a decree and enforcement is called diligence. It normally begins with a charge for payment, which usually gives 14 days to pay; the types of diligence include earnings arrestment, bank arrestment, attachment, inhibition and money attachment.
Northern Ireland. Civil money judgments are enforced through the Enforcement of Judgments Office, a centralised body rather than county court bailiffs or High Court enforcement officers. Its orders include attachment of earnings orders, instalment orders, charging orders on land, receivership orders, garnishee orders and orders of seizure.
What does not apply outside England & Wales: every form number here (N316, N316A, N323, N293A, N337, N349, N379), the £600 / £5,000 split, and the whole of CPR Parts 71, 72, 73, 83 and 84. Nothing here applies in Ireland, the United States, Australia or Canada — in the US, enforcement of a money judgment is governed state by state, with no national rule.
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Long FAQ (enforcing a judgment, England & Wales)

Tap to expand. Written in plain English for England & Wales.
1) Which enforcement route should I use first?
Whichever one matches an asset you can actually evidence. Where you do not know, CPR Part 71 exists for exactly that — an order to obtain information on form N316, or N316A for an officer of a company.
2) County court or High Court for taking goods?
A county court warrant of control (N323) is for £5,000 or less; a High Court writ of control (N293A) needs a minimum of £600 owed. GOV.UK says that between £600 and £5,000 you can apply to either.
3) What does each application cost?
GOV.UK confirms a court fee is payable for each enforcement application but does not print the amounts on its enforcement page. We have not verified individual enforcement fees, so this page publishes none — check the current civil court fees before you apply.
4) My judgment is more than six years old. Is it dead?
Not dead, but harder. CPR 83.2(3)(a) says a relevant writ or warrant must not be issued without the court’s permission once six years or more have elapsed since the judgment date, and under 83.2(4) the court must be satisfied you are entitled to proceed.
5) How long is a writ or warrant good for?
Under CPR 83.3, 12 months from the date of issue for a writ or warrant other than one using the taking-control-of-goods procedure, extendable by the court for further 12-month periods. Priority still runs from the original date of receipt or issue.
6) Can I freeze the debtor’s bank account?
A third party debt order (N349) works on that principle. A judge considers the application without a hearing and may make an interim order stopping the third party from reducing what it owes the debtor below a specified amount, with the hearing not less than 28 days later.
7) If I get a charging order, when do I get my money?
Not automatically, and possibly not for years. CPR 73.10C requires a separate Part 8 claim to enforce the charge by sale. A charging order is security over the debtor’s interest, not a payment mechanism.
8) Can bailiffs force their way into a home over a CCJ?
No. GOV.UK states bailiffs cannot enter a home by force, for example by pushing past you. Forced entry is allowed only for unpaid criminal fines, Income Tax or Stamp Duty, and only as a last resort.
9) What happens if the debtor ignores a Part 71 order?
CPR 71.8 refers the matter to a High Court judge or Circuit Judge, who may impose contempt sanctions, with the order suspended provided the person complies with the conditions in it. The questioning itself is on oath under CPR 71.6.
10) How much do I need to be owed to bankrupt someone or wind a company up?
Bankruptcy of an individual requires £5,000 or more. Winding up a company requires that you and any other creditors are owed £750 or more. Both routes are expensive and GOV.UK warns you may recover nothing.
11) Does enforcing remove the CCJ from the register?
No. A judgment stays on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines for six years. Only payment in full within one month gets it removed; payment after that gets it marked satisfied. Enforcement is not a register event.
12) Does any of this work in Scotland or Northern Ireland?
No. Scotland uses decrees and diligence, normally starting with a charge for payment. Northern Ireland enforces through the Enforcement of Judgments Office. The forms and CPR rules here are England & Wales only.
13) Should I take advice before choosing a route?
Where the sum is significant, the debtor is a company, or a property is involved, yes — the cost of the wrong route is usually larger than the cost of an hour of advice.

 

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This is general legal information, not legal advice.