SPER collections on the ball for first month of 2012
The Queensland Government’s debt collection agency, the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER) had a great start to the year, collecting $17.1 million in fines and fees in January 2012.
This comes on the back of $16.8 million collected in December 2011.
SPER’s financial year-to-date collections now stands at $116.59 million and means that since commencing in 2000 SPER has now collected over $1.144 billion.
SPER was established to collect and enforce unpaid court ordered fines and infringement notices on behalf of authorities including government agencies, councils, universities and health authorities.
SPER does not issue fines but acts as the collection agency for unpaid fines issued by these authorities.
More information about SPER’s collection rate can be found at www.sper.qld.gov.au
Anyone with unpaid fines should contact SPER on 1300 365 635 to arrange payment or discuss payment options.
Debts registered with SPER relate to:
Debts registered with SPER will fall within one of the following four categories depending on the status of the debt at any one time.
Debts registered with SPER - as at 31 January 2012
| Category | Number of penalties | Dollar Value |
|---|---|---|
| Total debts under active compliance | 932,843 | $234.9M |
| Total debts under active enforcement | 523,668 | $150.6M |
| Total debts under deferral | 196,990 | $75.4M |
| Total debts awaiting enforcement | 1,030,095 | $262.7M |
Total debts under active compliance - This represents the number and value of debts that are under a compliance arrangement to finalise the amount owing (for example, a payment arrangement, unpaid community service, or within the time to pay period).
Total debts under active enforcement - This represents the number and value of debts that SPER has taken enforcement action on as a result of them being overdue and not in compliance (enforcement action can include suspending a driver licence, garnisheeing money from a bank account or wages, or issuing a warrant of arrest and imprisonment).
Total debts under deferral – This represents the number and value of debts that are deferred from any further action being taken by SPER. This includes debts with reminder notices and the time period has not passed, debts under dispute (for example, disputes that have been raised with the court or the agency that issued the penalty) and debts deferred for people who are affected by natural disasters.
Total debts awaiting enforcement – This represents the number and value of debts that are pending enforcement (e.g. queued for Driver Licence Suspension) or where SPER is investigating to obtain additional information before further enforcement action can be taken.