The Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) is today (Tuesday 29th October) publishing new research which reveals that enforcement standards are being breached in 6% of doorstep interactions relating to civil enforcement (bailiff) cases.
The research, commissioned by the ECB and led by award-winning agency M.E.L Research, represents the first comprehensive study of its kind.
Researchers analysed a substantial, randomly selected sample of over 600 videos of interactions between enforcement agents and members of the public at their homes or places of work.
The research identified examples of good practice, as well as some episodes of enforcement agents being abused and physically threatened by the people they were trying to collect money from.
The reviewed footage also revealed a number of breaches against the current National Standards.
The most common breaches by enforcement agents were those which breached privacy, demonstrated a lack of acknowledgement of evident vulnerabilities, occurred when enforcement took place outside of appropriate hours or the enforcement agent acted in ways that were deemed likely to be publicly embarrassing to the individual.
There were also instances where enforcement agents were judged to have misrepresented their powers or had threatened to remove household goods that they were not permitted to take.
Following this research, the ECB is launching comprehensive new standards for enforcement work that place requirements on enforcement firms to have robust monitoring processes in place to pick up and address poor practice.
The new standards build on the existing National Standards and are tangible, enforceable expectations. They were developed with significant input and collaboration from both the debt advice sector and the enforcement industry.
The ECB will also shortly be launching its own monitoring and audit process to ensure that these standards are complied with, as well as a complaints handling service for people who believe they have not been treated fairly.
Chris Nichols, ECB Chief Executive said:
“Our research shows that too many people are currently not being treated fairly during the enforcement process.
“Six percent equates to tens of thousands of people being impacted every year.
‘’This is unacceptable – it must change, and the ECB will ensure that it does.
“Our new standards set a clear, measurable framework for how enforcement agents should conduct themselves and how firms should operate, placing requirements on them to have robust monitoring processes in place to pick up and address poor practice.
“Through these comprehensive new standards, our own robust monitoring process and forthcoming complaints’ service, the ECB will be here to stamp out any continuing bad practice and to ensure fairness for everyone who experiences enforcement action.
“Encouragingly, the research also identified plenty of examples of good practice – this now needs to become the norm for absolutely everyone who experiences enforcement action.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
About the ECB
The Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) is the independent oversight body responsible for overseeing the enforcement industry.
The ECB aims to enhance industry standards and ensure those experiencing enforcement action are fairly treated.
The existing National Standards can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bailiffs-and-enforcement-agents-national-standards
Over 95% of the enforcement industry has signed up the ECB’s oversight, including its new standards, monitoring, complaints and sanctions process.
About M.E.L
M·E·L Research is a full-service social research agency.
The agency is a values driven organisation, with a social, ethical and environmental conscience.
M·E·L Research have over 35 years of experience working across a range of sectors including health, education, waste and recycling, wellbeing, housing and development, policing and community resilience, arts, culture and heritage, transport, infrastructure, the wider public sector and employee and customer/citizen experience.
Research report
The research only analysed interactions between Enforcement Agents and members of the public captured on body worn video.
It did not include analysis of phone conversations, text messages or any other correspondence between Enforcement Agents of Enforcement firms and members of the public.
Scale of non-compliance
Based on informed assumptions about how many enforcement cases will proceed to an enforcement visit and end up with an Enforcement Agent interacting with a member of the public, we estimate that a 6% breach rate would suggest approximately 31,000 cases every year where the existing rules are broken.