| Thomas Higgins Limited

Services Overview

Thomas Higgins specialises in legal debts owed by businesses to other businesses. Debt collection is the process of pursuing payments of debts owed by individuals or businesses.

We are a specialist undisputed debt recovery law firm. We can progress your claim through the courts in the quickest possible time, ensuring our costs are kept to a minimum.

The Debt Collection Process

There are three main stages to the debt collection process. It starts with a letter to the debtor stating the value of the outstanding debt and reserving the right to proceed to court action. Often debts are quickly settled without the need to take the matter further, but should payment not be made then court action can be issued and a claim form filed with the Court. If the debt is still not paid after the time authorized by the Court has elapsed then a Judgment can be issued and an application for Enforcement made.

Why Choose Us?

Debt recovery is an important part of running a business as it can seriously affect your cash flow when customers and clients refuse to pay.

This can be time-consuming and costly, so having someone you can rely on to arrange your business debt recovery quickly and easily is a vital consideration. Explore our pages to find out more.

The New Civil National Business Centre

County Court Business Centre (CCBC) and County Court Money Claims Centre (CCMCC) Merge

Last July, it was announced that two of the civil business centres, the County Court Business Centre and the County Court Money Claims Centre, would merge.

This is important because these are the courts to whom your claims are submitted, and where any applications are usually processed.

This amalgamation has been described as “a very sensible structure where claimants and issuing solicitors will get that end-to-end view of the service lines”.

As of May 2023, all work has been moved from the CCMCC in Salford to the former CCBC in Northampton. The name has also officially changed to the Civil National Business Centre (CNBC) as of August 18th, 2023 to reflect the joining of both courts.

What does the merge mean for claims?

Understandably, this move was, and continues to be, a huge undertaking - and one that has caused us, as submitting solicitors, and you, as claimants, delays, frustrations and inconvenience.

Fortunately, these delays do not relate to the electronic submissions we make to the court on your behalf, which is something we always try to work towards. However, delays are occurring with “paper” submissions that we have no choice but to submit in certain circumstances.

For reference, the most common paper submissions are:

Claims in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Amended claim forms
Applications, consent or Tomlin orders

The merger is for the future benefit of legal processes.

As a claimant, we would like you to be aware that Thomas Higgins Ltd is working hard to get these documents processed as quickly as possible.

Moving forwards with the Civil National Business Centre

The new Civil National Business Centre acknowledges that they have significant backlogs, and are working hard to ensure they get back up-to-date, as well as maintain a more realistic turnaround.

We have been informed that the CNBC has already increased its workforce from around 220 to 350, and hope to increase this to 400 - with the aim to clear the backlog by the end of October 2023. The court also hopes to maintain a more acceptable turnaround thereafter.

Please therefore bear with us, as we are working hard to progress your claims as quickly as possible.