June and July was a busy period at the ECB, so August has allowed me to take some time to reflect on all that we have achieved over the past few months.
Three weeks ago, we launched the consultation on our new standards for enforcement work, and as such, we are now halfway through the consultation period.
This is an important milestone for the ECB as we continue our mission of ensuring that all those experiencing enforcement action are treated fairly.
You can find the consultation here: https://enforcementconductboard.org/standards/
Getting to this point would have been impossible without the invaluable feedback from all our stakeholders and I am grateful to all those who have taken the time to give us their views. And since the start of this year, we’ve been actively engaging and gathering a wide range of insight – all of which has shaped our thinking.
Thinks Insight research
We commissioned independent research agency Thinks Insight and Strategy to run a series of workshops with enforcement agents as well as carrying out a number of depth interviews with those who have lived experience of enforcement action.
This research was conducted in May, and the purpose was to gather views on how the current standards work and to test some of our initial ideas for the standards with these two important groups.
We have now published an executive summary of this research, which can be found on our website here:
Workshops with debt advisors
We used the outputs of the Thinks Insight research to synthesize our proposals and pull together a more developed set of ideas for the standards.
These proposals were explored with Step Change, Christians Against Poverty and Money Advice Trust who hosted a series of workshops with their debt advisors.
These sessions generated a good level of challenge on areas of the standards such as ‘foot in the door’ and misrepresentation of powers and the advisers provided a unique perspective on the experiences of their clients and the real-life examples they hear of enforcement agents on the doorstep.
The insight we gathered in these sessions has helped to shape our proposals throughout the standards and it was particularly helpful to have some real life examples to inform development of the guidance we will issue alongside the standards to ensure it’s clear to agents and firms what the ECB expects of them.
Workshops with accredited enforcement firms
We also ran workshops with representatives from enforcement firms.
All ECB accredited firms were invited to participate, and we split the workshops based on a firm’s turnover, to ensure that everyone had the opportunity to express their opinion.
I wanted these sessions to provide the opportunity for firms to be open and honest with us about their views on what would and wouldn’t work in our proposals for the standards and to test the practicalities of implementation.
As with the advisor workshops, the sessions provided constructive challenge to our proposals on areas of the standards such as modes of entry, third party payments, body worn video (BWV) retention periods and complaints.
It was clear from these sessions that the firms who attended are supportive of ensuring consistent high quality levels of fair enforcement, with some firms already making preparations to adapt to the new requirements.
Events and conferences
The team and I have also been attending various conferences and events over the summer, including Institute of Revenues Rating Valuation (IRRV) and Local Authority Civil Enforcement Forum where there have been numerous thought-provoking discussions about the standards with Local Authorities and enforcement firms which have continued to hone our thinking.
Next steps
There is still time to get involved and share your views before the consultation closes on 13th September 2024. Responses can be sent to contact@enforcementconductboard.org
Change is coming, and for it to be as effective as possible, we need people from across the sector to contribute their advice, perspectives, and views.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Hannah Semple
Director of Policy and Oversight
