1 May 2012
183.Section 24 permits regulations to provide for the enforcement of a requirement to make a payment imposed by regulations under section 23. The regulations can include provision for the recovery of the costs of enforcement from the individual (subsection (2)) and can require documents and information to be provided (subsection (4)).
184.Under subsection (3) regulations will be able to provide that overdue sums are recoverable summarily as a civil debt, that is to say through magistrates’ courts in accordance with the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980. The regulations will also be able to provide that overdue sums are recoverable, if the county court or High Court so orders, as if they were payable under an order of the High Court or county court in accordance with rule 70.5 of the Civil Procedure Rules, thereby making it unnecessary to begin fresh proceedings in respect of the debt. These provisions are similar to the regulation-making powers relating to criminal legal aid in sections 17(4) and 17A(2A) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 (as inserted by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009).
185.Subsection (5) introduces Schedule 2.