BUSINESSES looking to recover their debts more quickly are being offered savings of up to 30 per cent on court fees by a North-East law firm.

Ward Hadaway, one of the region's debt recovery specialists, plans to start using a system designed to speed up the issuing of court proceedings on debtors.

The computer-based system will access the Claim Production Centre and the County Court Bulk Service at Northampton County Court.

These units have been set up to deal with straightforward volume debt collections and help free up more time at local courts.

Instead of filing a claim by post or in person at the local court, claims are sent and processed electronically, meaning they are issued to debtors on the same day that they are lodged. At present, claims pursued via conventional means can take up to two weeks to be issued.

As well as saving time, claims issued via the online system attract lower court fees with savings of up to 30 per cent.

Pauline Appleyard, head of debt recovery at Newcastle-based Ward Hadaway, said: "This will be a real saving in time and cost to anyone engaged in commercial or consumer debt recovery.

"While the Northampton County Court system will not be suitable for all claims, this will enable us to process a large number of claims quicker and cheaper for our clients. It also means less reliance on the postal system to get proceedings started."