The Further Steps Notice: when a court fine goes unpaid
Checked 17 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it is
When a criminal court imposes a fine, a Collection Order normally comes with it, and from then on Schedule 5 of the Courts Act 2003 governs: a fines officer, not the bench, runs the account, and the court's ordinary powers stand behind the Schedule rather than in front of it, para 12. Drivers and defendants alike file the result as a letter from the fines office. Two things the paperwork undersells: on a first default the designed response is an attachment of earnings or benefit deductions unless that is impracticable or inappropriate, wages before bailiffs, and the increase the Schedule allows is waived where co-operation leads to full payment (Courts Act 2003, Sch 5 and its Explanatory Notes). This guide is about the court-imposed fine; the registration route for unpaid fixed penalties is a different machine, covered in the three tickets guide.
Reading the notice
A Further Steps Notice is a menu with a fuse: it lists the steps the fines officer may take, and once 10 working days pass without an appeal, any step on the list may be taken, and taken again, Sch 5 para 40.
An increase notice is the other letter: it gives 10 working days to contact the fines officer and explain the default, and the increase it announces falls away where co-operation carries through to full payment (Sch 5, Explanatory Notes).
The steps themselves mirror para 38: attachment of earnings, deductions from benefits, a warrant of control for enforcement agents, registration of the sum, through to county court and High Court routes such as charging orders (Sch 5 para 38; Collection of Fines (Final Scheme) Order 2006).
The decision in front of you
Contact the fines officer and reset the terms: payment terms can be varied on application at any time, in default or not, since the 2015 amendments, and the decision must come in writing (Sch 5 para 22; Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, s. 56); the application alone does not freeze enforcement, and sustained co-operation is what lifts the increase.
Appeal against the notice to the magistrates' court within 10 working days: no listed step may be taken while the appeal waits, and the court can confirm or vary the notice, Sch 5 para 40; a fines officer's decision on payment terms carries its own appeal on the same clock, where the court can confirm or vary the terms, impose the attachment order itself, or discharge the Collection Order and resume its ordinary powers, para 23.
Changed circumstances are a route, not an excuse: the variation application under para 22 is built for the income that fell away, and the recorded means figure from sentencing, the relevant weekly income guide's territory, is what the new plan is argued against.
Do nothing and the fuse burns down: after the 10 working days every listed step is open, wages and benefits first by design, enforcement agents with their fee scale next, and at the far end a means inquiry before the court, where imprisonment is reserved for wilful refusal or culpable neglect, s. 82 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980.
What happens next
A warrant of control hands the account to enforcement agents, whose fees stack on top of the fine under the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014, revised in 2026; the figures move, so they are not quoted here.
The wage route is the intended first resort: attachment of earnings or benefit deductions on first default unless impracticable or inappropriate, Sch 5 Part 7 as the Explanatory Notes describe it.
The far end runs through a referral back to the magistrates and a means inquiry; custody is the last resort and needs wilful refusal or culpable neglect, s. 82 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, with payment ending the matter at any point along the way.
The numbers
The appeal and contact windows: 10 working days from the notice (Sch 5 paras 23 and 40 Courts Act 2003, checked 2026-07-17).
The increase: its amount is set under the Schedule and it is waived where co-operation leads to full payment without further default (Sch 5, Explanatory Notes).
Enforcement agent fees: set by the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014, revised in 2026 (SI 2026/366), and deliberately not quoted here because they move.
The deadlines
10 working days from a Further Steps Notice to appeal to the magistrates' court; after that, any listed step may be taken, Sch 5 para 40.
10 working days from an increase notice to contact the fines officer with the reason for the default (Sch 5, Explanatory Notes).
The para 22 variation application has no deadline and survives default, Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, s. 56.
What people get wrong
Reading the notice as a reminder: it is a list of authorised steps with a 10 working day fuse, and after the fuse each step may be taken and retaken, para 40.
Going quiet out of fear of the increase: the Schedule points the other way, since co-operation through to full payment is what makes the increase fall away.
Saying nothing when the income collapses: the variation route is open at any time, even in default, and the fines officer's written decision is itself appealable within 10 working days, Sch 5 paras 22 and 23.
Authority
Schedule 5 Courts Act 2003, paras 12, 22, 23, 38 and 40 and Parts 7 to 9, with Explanatory Notes; Collection of Fines (Final Scheme) Order 2006 (SI 2006/1737); Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, s. 56; s. 82 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980