'There were letters I didn't want to open': Rise in unpaid debt court cases

Mark Sumner got into more than £2,000 of debt when his energy bills jumped from £80 a month to £220, leaving him scared to look at letters coming through his door.

He was issued a County Court Judgement (CCJ), a legal document forcing him to pay his energy supplier what he owed.

Mark is one of a rising number of people who have faced court action over unpaid debts.

In the first quarter of this year 270,537 new CCJs were registered - up 17.5% on the same period last year, data from the Registry Trust suggests.

That increase comes against a backdrop of rising energy debt. Across all energy companies in Britain debt has reached a record high of more than £4.5bn.

Mark is a single dad living with his two teenage sons, 17 and 15 near Redditch.

He had been struggling to keep on top of household bills for a number of years - but things came to a head 18 months ago when the amount they were paying for energy soared over the space of a few months.

"The energy bills definitely pushed us over the edge," Mark says.

He started to fear letters coming through the door.

"I didn't want to look at [the letters] because you could tell by the front of the envelope exactly who it might be."

When he eventually received the CCJ he says it felt "horrible" and "quite scary".

Mark was using a credit card to cover some everyday spending and started to use a food bank. Eventually he sold his family home to pay off what he owed.

The family is now in social housing and with the help of a local charity is in better financial shape. But he worries about the impact of the war in Iran pushing up energy prices in the coming months.

"When's it ever going to end?" he says. "We can't just keep going and going and going.

"If your energy bills are taking a third of your money and then rent's taking a half of your money, you're left with very little at the end of it."

The latest figures from the industry body UK Finance also show the number of debit card transactions fell by 3.5% in January, while the number of credit card transactions increased by 3.6%.

It is another indicator that like Mark, more people are relying on debt to cover everyday essentials.

A CCJ is a court order in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that can be issued to an individual if they fail to repay money they owe. In Scotland the judgements are called decrees.

It is an action creditors like energy companies, councils and landlords can take as part of the debt collection process. If the debt is not paid, the CCJ can be filed on an individual's credit report and remain on it for six years.

That can lead to problems getting things like a mortgage, credit card, a lease on a rental property and a mobile phone contract.

The file can be removed from a credit report if the debt is paid within one month of receiving the judgement. If it is settled later, it remains on an individual's credit report with a note marking that it's been paid.

Like Mark, Jane in Coventry has fallen behind on her energy bills. She has a number of health issues including arthritis and diabetes. She receives PIP and Universal credit and currently owes £800 to her energy supplier.

"I have to count pennies and everything has to be accounted for," she says.

"I have to have probably one meal a day because I just can't manage to do two meals or even three and I get really upset and emotional because it's just constant."

She describes herself as "just staying afloat", often turning to her family for financial support. She's now being helped by a debt charity and has had to get savvy to make her money last.

She buys herself a supermarket gift card to help budget for food.

"It's very easy to just give them your debit card and pay it and worry about the cost later, if I've got a gift card I know I can't go over that amount," she says.

Act on Energy is an energy advice organisation in the West Midlands. Staff there have been supporting Mark and his family.

Chief executive Rachel Jones says energy debt is the main issue people contact them about but it is often the tip of the iceberg.

"There's actually normally other debt that's around that from mortgages, rent, insurance, the list goes on, struggling to pay for food," she says.

"And people are living off credit cards. Or having to look at loans to pay bills, their day-to-day bills, that in itself is not sustainable."

The charity used to support predominantly older people and those on lower incomes. But Rachel says that's changing.

"It is across the board that people are struggling. And for us, that's where it's really worrying. We're seeing families, working families, single people that are working, all struggling with energy debt."

The Registry Trust is the not-for-profit organisation which maintains the Register of Court Judgments, Orders and Fines on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Chief executive Chris Dick says this latest data suggests continued cost-of-living pressures on households.

"The existence of large numbers of CCJs at national, regional, or local level can help identify whether there may be more systemic economic or financial factors at play, or that policy and regulatory interventions may not be having their intended effect."

Additional reporting by Adam Clarkson and Bobbi Huyton.