We have a clear and focused mission: to ensure that everyone experiencing enforcement action is treated fairly and protected from bad practice.

We have a number of early priorities which are key to helping us achieve this mission:

Evidence

There is an urgent need for robust evidence in this sector, published in full and by an independent body.

We are currently working to develop this robust evidence base to inform our work, establishing a reliable baseline to give a true sense of how often issues arise in the enforcement process and, when they do, of what is happening.

We are also introducing quarterly data returns from the industry to help us to identify trends and to inform our own oversight and monitoring work.

Coverage & Accreditation

We will have oversight of as much work as possible under the Taking Control of Goods Regulations. This will include the civil enforcement industry, high court enforcement and also inhouse enforcement teams at Local Authorities.

Our accreditation scheme opened for applications on 18th September. It is through our accreditation framework that we will exercise our oversight in practice, to create meaningful accountability.

The scheme will provide enforcement firms with an opportunity to make a public commitment to both accountability and high standards. And it will also help creditors to drive good practice by ensuring that they only contract with accredited firms who have made an active commitment to ECB oversight.

Standards

We are developing new standards for work in the enforcement sector, to establish more clearly and comprehensively what should be expected of enforcement firms and enforcement agents.

This will include consideration of important issues such as vulnerability and affordability.

In developing these standards, we will be engaging and consulting widely.