Ed Miliband backs secret court warrants for utility entry
Ed Miliband’s government department has backed a court system that lets magistrates approve utility-company warrants to enter homes in private. Senior judges also support the arrangements, which allow batches of applications to be dealt with without open court scrutiny.
Uxbridge Magistrates' Court
The issue sharpened at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in November 2024, when a member of the press was granted rare access to a private session. An agent for a debt recovery company put forward the names and addresses of more than 100 properties, and the magistrate picked 10 applications to scrutinise in detail.
Two of those 10 applications failed to meet Judge Goldspring’s legal tests on warning occupiers about a possible warrant, and the debt agency withdrew them. Two more applications were selected and passed the tests, before the magistrate rubberstamped the whole batch without examining whether the failures were more widespread.
Paul Goldspring’s 2024 rules
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring drew up new rules in 2024 to toughen the process, and they took effect in April 2024. Under those rules, energy firms had to give at least 10 days’ notice to a property occupier, make at least 10 attempts to contact someone, and wait one month after a bill went unpaid before asking a court for approval.
Even with those changes, magistrates could still make decisions in private rather than in open court. Judge Goldspring said the law does not require magistrates to assess utility warrant applications publicly, and he said courts do not independently verify information presented to them.
Baroness Carr and Simon Francis
Judge Goldspring and the Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr, backed the existing system. The Government signalled that it supports the current arrangements, while Simon Francis urged ministers to use the upcoming Energy Independence Bill to “remove the threat of forced prepayment meters for households unable to pay their energy bills”.
Francis also said: “Court cases involving vulnerable energy customers are still being heard behind closed doors and decided in bulk.” He added: “If the Chief Magistrate does not see a problem with this, then it is time for ministers to act.”
The pressure on ministers comes after energy firms including British Gas, Scottish Power and OVO Energy were embroiled in a scandal in 2022 and 2023 over tens of thousands of pre-payment meters forcibly fitted in homes around the UK. The then-Conservative government paused the practice amid public outcry.
For households facing unpaid energy bills, the current fight is over whether a warrant for forced entry can still be sought and approved away from public view. Goldspring’s rules made the process tighter, but they did not move it into open court.
