Monitoring local courts

Court procedures should be monitored on a local basis by debt advisers. Having collected information about how a particular court operates, it is important to decide whether pressure for change needs to be exerted on the court staff, the judiciary, or both.

Individual sheriffs are not open to being lobbied by groups about individual decisions or the types of decisions they are required to take. However, particularly if you work for a charitable organisation with a good reputation locally, it may be possible to arrange meetings with the sheriff principle to discuss how the advice centre can assist the courts in their work or other issues of mutual concern. In practice, this means it is generally possible to discuss procedures and engage the decision makers in an analysis of the effects of their judgments.