Guide to offender debt recovery notices

Part of the Fines and notices topic

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In short

An offender debt recovery notice is issued to offenders to recover money owed to victims.

If you have been given a notice and fail to respond by the due date, you risk consequences such as a State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER) enforcement order.

What you should know

The Queensland Government sends out debt recovery notices to offenders through the offender debt recovery program.

Notices are issued under the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 2009.

Money is recovered for either:

• a criminal injury compensation order
• financial assistance paid to the victim of the offence.

Where there are multiple offenders, a judge decides how much compensation each offender will pay, depending on the role in the act of violence.

We can only recover the money if you’re convicted in a Queensland court. This doesn’t include the Mental Health Court.

The decision to recover the money is made separately from the sentence you received. We may recover the money from you regardless of the age you were when convicted.

The victim of the offence can still seek financial help later, even if you didn’t pay compensation when sentenced. This is allowed under the Act.

Getting a debt recovery notice

After you are convicted you may receive a recovery notice from the offender debt recovery program.

It must be issued within 6 years of the date of either the:

• conviction
• victim’s application for financial assistance.

The date used is the latter of these 2 dates.

The recovery notice will tell you the:

• date of the conviction the debt relates to
• court you were convicted in
• crime you were convicted of
• amount of money owed
• process to follow if you want to dispute the debt.

You have 14 days to consider the notice and decide if you want to dispute the debt or not.

Getting a liability notice

If you do not dispute the debt, you will get a liability notice 28 days after you receive a debt recovery notice.

The liability notice tells you the:

• amount you must pay
• date it is due (usually 28 days from the notice date)
• payment process.

Getting a SPER enforcement order

If you miss the due date for the liability notice, your unpaid amount will go to SPER.

You will be issued an enforcement order.

If you don't pay the debt, we may take enforcement action against you.