The government was accused of ‘economic illiteracy’ this week, as it emerged that the amount owed in outstanding court fines has risen to more than £600m in the past year, while the number of enforcement officers employed to collect them was slashed by 12%.

Solicitors expressed anger that the Ministry of Justice was failing to capitalise on such a significant revenue stream when the legal aid budget is facing fierce cuts.

The latest figures from the MoJ show the current outstanding balance for financial penalties stands at £609.5m - a rise of £21m in the past 12 months.

Over the same period, the number of enforcement officers employed in HM Courts and Tribunals Service fell from 453 to 396.

The MoJ said it takes the issue of fine enforcement ‘very seriously’ and can manage the service more efficiently even with fewer officers.

But legal aid lawyers criticised the decision to cut staff responsible for collecting income at a time when £350m has been sliced from the legal aid budget.

Carol Storer, director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said it was difficult to understand why the government was scaling back an important revenue stream.

She added: ‘Surely it would make sense to pour more resources into enforcement and recouping some money for the justice budget, rather than cutting this crucial element – especially at a time when legal aid is taking such a hit.’

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said: ‘The level of debt outstanding to the courts is an absolute scandal when you consider the jobs that have been cut and those that are threatened.

‘The government should be creating jobs, not cutting them, and investing in public services like our courts to help our economy to grow. The maths is simple, but decisions are being driven by economic illiteracy.’

Outstanding debts include fines imposed in magistrates’ and Crown courts, prosecutor costs, compensation orders, victims surcharges, and unpaid fixed-penalty notices. The amount outstanding also includes the balance of accounts being paid by agreed payment plans.

The MoJ said it has introduced better training and equipment for officers; new payment methods including online payments; more use of telephone debt chasing; and text messages to non-compliant offenders. HMCTS is also working with magistrates to get more fines paid on the day they are imposed.

‘The courts will do everything within their powers to trace those who do not pay,’ a spokesman said.