In January 2025 we launched our complaints handling service – an important milestone in the ECB’s mission to make enforcement action fairer. We knew that the existing routes for complaints could be complex and hard to navigate, with firms and creditors taking a number of different approaches. Put simply, our aim was to create a simple, consistent and accessible way for people to complain if they believe an enforcement firm or agent has treated them unfairly.
To date we have received over 120 complaints, and the numbers are increasing week-on-week. We have not actively promoted the service, but we expect firms to ensure that their clients are informed about the option when they reach the end of a firm’s own process. A number of debt advice organisations are now signposting to our service.
How it works
We can only consider complaints about enforcement action that has taken place after 1 January 2025, and only in relation to firms that are accredited by the ECB.
Complainants must first go through a firm’s own complaints process, and our standards for firms set out the way that we expect firms to handle those complaints. If a complainant feels the firm has not addressed the complaint fairly, they can then come to the ECB for further investigation. Our decisions are based on whether the enforcement agent or firm has acted in line with our standards and met the usual standards of good service. Where we find breaches of our standards, we recommend appropriate redress for the person complaining – and implementing those recommendations is a requirement of ECB accreditation.
Working with the Local Government Ombudsman
We recognise that the there are other bodies operating in a similar space to us, and it is important to provide clarity about our remit and how we will work with these bodies. In particular, we are pleased to have published a Memorandum of Understanding with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) in May, setting out the ways we will work together.
The ECB provides a targeted, swift and direct independent complaints route for members of the public whose complaint is specifically about the actions of an enforcement firm or enforcement agent. The LGSCO can also investigate complaints relating to a firm or agent working on behalf of a local authority, alongside wider issues related to the actions of the local authority itself, with any findings of fault being against the local authority. Given the potential for overlap, our organisations have worked together to agree the following principles for managing complaints consistently and collaboratively:
- The LGSCO will take ECB standards and ECB decisions into account when considering a complaint
- We will signpost to each other as appropriate, and carefully consider which organisation is best placed to take a complaint forward
- The ECB will not investigate while the LGSCO is doing so, and nor will we re-open a case they have already heard
- The ECB will not consider or comment on the actions of a local authority in our investigations
Crucially, the ECB’s role in complaints does not take away or diminish people’s statutory rights to complain to the LGSCO, Public Services Ombudsman for Wales or any other relevant body if that is how they wish to proceed. So, in signposting to the ECB at the end of their internal complaints process, enforcement firms must not imply that these other routes are no longer an option. This issue is covered further in our complaints guidance, which can be accessed here.
We look forward to working with LGSCO colleagues to promote a seamless and positive experience for members of the public, however they choose to progress their complaint. The MOU, and our joint press release, can be found on the ECB website here.
Looking Ahead
We want our complaints service to be a catalyst for ongoing improvements in the wider industry. We intend to share the emerging learning from complaints later this year, through a series of workshops and briefings. This will include where we are seeing things going wrong, as well as notable good practice that we have found.
Chris Nichols
CEO, Enforcement Conduct Board