It’s been a few months now since my last blog and keeping me particularly busy has been the development of our draft 2024/5 business plan – a document that we are launching for consultation today.
It’s the second of our full business plans and sets out our key strategic priorities and planned deliverables for the year ahead.
You can read it and the accompanying documents here.
I am very pleased to be sharing this with you and to be opening it out to consultation, following significant conversations throughout the year with stakeholders about our future work and direction.
Feedback from our Stakeholder Engagement Forum, which includes representatives from the enforcement industry and the debt advice sector, was a particularly valuable part of the development process and has been reflected in the draft plan.
My thanks to them for their ongoing input and support for our work.
Key priorities
Where we have landed is to propose four key priorities for 2024/25, which will sit alongside an ongoing focus on evidence and evaluation, and communications and engagement.
The main activities are continuations of work set out in our existing 2023/24 business plan, which are focussed on developing and launching our new standards and starting operational oversight and complaints handling.
We are also introducing a new priority around engaging and influencing creditors. This has already been a focus for us during 2023/24 but we are keen to expand it even further over the course of the coming year. Creditors have an important role to play in driving fair enforcement and we want to work in partnership with creditors to build on the momentum that has been achieved so far.
Budget and Levy
The draft business plan also sets out the proposed budget and levy for 2024/25.
This is the mechanism through which we can ensure that we are able to fund our operations and to continue the mission of ensuring that everyone who experiences enforcement action is treated fairly. Payment of the levy is also a condition of our accreditation scheme.
The 2023/24 levy of 0.4% of turnover for fees from Taking Control of Goods work was collected from all ECB accredited firms: monies that have enabled us to undertake the important work set out in that year’s business plan.
Our budget for this coming year has been developed to provide us with the continuing resources that we need in order to deliver our business plan.
As trailed last year, the levy will increase this year as the ECB scales up our staff team to begin operational oversight.
Care has been given to ensuring that the budget remains proportionate and what this means in practice is that in order to meet its budget, the ECB intends to set the levy for 2024/25 at between 0.44% and 0.45% of turnover, based on accredited firms’ turnover for enforcement work during 2023.
We will determine the exact level following consultation, taking account of the feedback that we receive.
There is more detail in the budget section of the draft plan – and we welcome thoughts and representations on what we are proposing.
Seeking feedback
Whilst much of our business plan has already been informed by our work and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders over the course of the past year, we are now keen to hear more from anyone interested in what we do – be that consumer groups, industry, the debt advice sector, creditors and any others with an active interest in effective oversight of the enforcement industry.
The consultation will close on 4th April 2024.
So, please do take some time to think about the questions and send your responses to contact@enforcementconductboard.org
Change is coming
With the ECB soon to be fully operational, change is coming to the enforcement industry.
But in order for this change to be as effective as it possibly can be, we want, and need, people to contribute their advice, perspectives, and views. Helping us to finesse and refine our business plan is an important step to doing so.
With your help, we will build a new oversight framework that is impactful and enduring – and which reassures us all that fairness is at the heart of all enforcement work.
Until next time – my best wishes, and thanks in advance to you all.