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<p>This Government takes recovery and enforcement of financial impositions very seriously
and remains committed to finding new ways to ensure impositions are paid and to trace
those who do not pay. The amount of money collected has risen year on year since 2012,
and reached an all time high of £290 million at the end of 2013/14 and collections
continue to rise.</p><p> </p><p>The victim surcharge is an ancillary order made by
the court when it sentences an offender. Revenue from the surcharge is ring fenced
for victim services and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) distributes this through grants
to Police and Crime Commissioners and centrally managed national victim services.</p><p>
</p><p>The Government set out its commitment to ensure offenders contribute more to
the cost of victim support services and from October 2012 the victim surcharge on
fines was increased and extended to a wider range of court disposals with the amount
payable dependant on the seriousness of the sentence.</p><p> </p><p>The table below
shows the value of all victim surcharge orders made in each financial year since 2011/12
along with the amount of those impositions that were collected or cancelled in the
same year of imposition and the amount that remained outstanding at the end of that
year. This data is only available from 2011-12 onwards.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Value imposed</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Value
collected in year of imposition</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Value cancelled in
year of imposition</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Value outstanding at end of year
of imposition</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>£12,199,956</p></td><td><p>£6,810,532</p></td><td><p>£645,381</p></td><td><p>£4,744,043</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>£15,508,307</p></td><td><p>£7,607,886</p></td><td><p>£888,027</p></td><td><p>£7,012,395</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>£33,726,535</p></td><td><p>£15,343,460</p></td><td><p>£2,265,389</p></td><td><p>£16,117,686</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p>It is not possible to provide the figures above separated by adults, youths
and organisations without carrying out a manual search of all victim surcharge accounts.</p><p>
</p><p>It is not possible to identify how many times the victim surcharge has been
imposed, collected, cancelled and outstanding by the type of sentences. The Ministry
of Justice does not collate the information in the manner requested and could only
be obtained by undertaking a manual search of all financial accounts which would incur
disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice holds information on
defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in
England and Wales but not the specific circumstances of each case. This also does
not include details of the amount of victim surcharge imposed for the majority of
cases. Below is a link to our most recent statistics.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/343330/sentencing-tables.xls"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/343330/sentencing-tables.xls</a></p><p>
</p><p> </p><p>The total value of victim surcharge impositions outstanding, regardless
of imposition date, at the end of 2013/14 was £21,110,000.</p><p> </p><p>The ‘value
outstanding’ figures includes accounts that were not due to be paid by the end of
the period specified (either because they were imposed close to the end of the year
or because they had payment timescales set by the courts for beyond the end of the
financial year) and those that were being paid by instalments on agreed payment plans.
Outstanding balances of victim surcharge impositions can also relate to amounts imposed
on offenders who have also been given a custodial sentence and the victim surcharge
cannot be enforced until they are released.</p><p> </p><p>The value cancelled includes
both administrative and legal cancellations. It is not possible to split the figures
between the two types of cancellation.</p><p> </p><p>Administrative cancellations
only take place in certain circumstances and after all attempts to collect the amount
outstanding have been made. These circumstances include where the offender has died,
where they have emigrated with no prospect of return, where the offender has been
sent to a psychiatric hospital for 12 months or more or where the offender cannot
be traced and there has been a least 12 months from the point of imposition. It should
be noted that administrative cancellations can be re-instated if the prospects of
recovery improve (where, for example, a new address is found).</p><p> </p><p>Legal
cancellations occur after the case has been reconsidered by a judge or magistrate
and further evidence has been presented. Legal cancellations can be as a result of
a successful appeal, a change in financial circumstances of the offender or a committal
to prison for non payment.</p>
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