Research

Overview

As part of the ECB’s commitment to ensure everyone subject to enforcement action is treated fairly, we are commissioning independent research into enforcement.

This research will give us a clearer picture of the current enforcement practices and experiences of individuals and agents during the enforcement process.

This page explains why we are doing this; how we will do it; the timetable for this work; and other important things for you to know.

Background

There is a lack of independent  and objective evidence regarding the experiences of those who face enforcement action in England and Wales.

To ensure that we can be targeted, impactful and proportionate in our oversight, we require a robust evidence base to inform our work. Initially, we are seeking to establish a reliable baseline to give a true sense of how often issues arise and, when they do, of what is happening.

We have partnered with M.E.L Research, an award-winning social research agency to support us in this work.

Project Outline

Researchers from MEL will be visiting a selection of enforcement firms, of all sizes, and choosing and viewing random samples of body worn video (BWV) taken during enforcement visits. The samples of 750-1000 videos will be assessed by the researchers against criteria that we have developed in collaboration with debt advice and enforcement industry experts.

This will include areas that we believe may be higher risk, such as responses to vulnerability, misrepresentation of agents’ powers and threatening behaviour both by and to the enforcement agent.

Timelines

Fieldwork for the research will start from the Spring, and we hope to publish the full report during  Summer 2024.

The work will also help to inform the development of our future policies such as our standards

We will publish our full methodology alongside the report which will clearly detail the criteria against which the footage was assessed.

Things to know

It is crucial that the ECB protects the rights of individuals experiencing enforcement action throughout the course of this research.

We have engaged lawyers and other sector experts to ensure that the project is fully compliant with data protection and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

 We are also putting in place a number of mitigations to ensure that all personal data is protected.

Our final report will not contain any data that identifies individual people and will be fully anonymised throughout.

You can read our privacy policy here  for further information, including the lawful basis upon which we will be processing data for the project.

If you have any questions, please email us at research@enforcementconductboard.org