Court Fines: Do a Change of Circumstances

The court has the discretion to decrease the fine if there has been a change in your financial situation.


The Law:

Section 85 of the Magistrates' Court Act 1980 states;

(1)Where a fine has been imposed on conviction of an offender by a magistrates’ court, the court may at any time remit the whole or any part of the fine, but only if it thinks it just to do so having regard to a change of circumstances which has occurred—

(a)where the court is considering whether to issue a warrant of commitment after the issue of such a warrant in respect of the fine has been postponed under subsection (2) of section 77 above, since the relevant time as defined in subsection (4) of that section; and

(b)in any other case, since the date of the conviction.

(2)Where the court remits the whole or part of the fine after a term of imprisonment has been fixed, it shall also reduce the term by an amount which bears the same proportion to the whole term as the amount remitted bears to the whole or, as the case may be, shall remit the whole term.


template

The law excludes costs. Paragraph 12 of the Sentencing Council Guidelines states;

Compensation and costs cannot be remitted but, where payment is unlikely or impractical due to the defaulter's means or circumstances, the sum may be discharged or reduced. Victims and claimants should be consulted and given an opportunity to attend the hearing.

Download and fill out a court Form MC100, then use this template to send an email to the fines officer at the magistrates' court overseeing the fine, and notify the bailiff via text message.


This now provides a chance to directly pay the fine to the court, effectively terminating the enforcement power permanently.