On 17th August, Jo, Dean and Uzma from our Greater Manchester community group marched up Downing Street and handed in a petition at No 10. Signed by 3,000 Debt Justice supporters, it called on the new Prime Minister to stand in solidarity with people in debt by banning bailiffs from council tax debt collection.
And it looks like it worked! Last week, the government announced it would step in and protect families from aggressive bailiff action, with all private bailiffs now having to register with the sector’s oversight body. After years of campaigning and working closely with other organisations through the Taking Control partnership, this is an important step towards full regulation of the bailiff sector.
This is a big win for people in debt across the country, but it’s not the end of the journey.
What’s actually changed?
This announcement means the government is reining in the unregulated parts of the bailiff industry. Currently, the Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) oversees the industry, but this is completely optional and requires bailiff firms to opt into being accredited by them.
This change will bring hundreds of thousands of referrals from councils to bailiff firms under ECB oversight. In an inherently harmful sector, a huge number of people are exposed to deeply damaging behaviour, and the introduction of mandatory oversight means everyone in debt will be covered by the baseline standards set by the ECB and be able to access their independent complaints process.
It also means greater independence for the ECB. Their budget is currently funded by a voluntary levy on accredited firms, leaving them dependent on the industry’s goodwill. While most of the industry has signed up, there’s always a risk this support could disappear if the ECB introduced something firms didn’t like. Mandatory licensing shifts that balance of power, and the ECB should now feel emboldened to go faster and further in introducing protections for people in debt.
There’s still more to do to stop bailiffs harming families
While accreditation is now mandatory, this still doesn’t provide the ECB with statutory underpinning: legal backing for the action it takes. It won’t function like a statutory regulator, like Ofgem or the Financial Conduct Authority, which means it will still lack some of the powers needed to properly regulate the bailiff industry. This includes imposing penalties for rule-breaking or having a closer strategic relationship with the Ministry of Justice.
There’s also a problem with the complaints process. An independent complaints process is important, but this year’s ECB impact report shows that the service is severely under-utilised. Across 3.7m enforcement cases over the course of six months, only 515 complaints were received by the ECB. Of those, only 19 resulted in a positive resolution for the person in debt (or put another way, just 0.0005% of enforcement cases). It’s essential that the ECB makes the complaints service more accessible and useful to people in debt.
Further, this announcement does nothing to address who is using bailiffs. New research from the Money Advice Trust shows that the number of council tax referrals to bailiffs has barely shifted, with 1.7m referrals in 2025/26. Even with a regulated bailiff industry, that is disproportionate for a debt that mostly affects people on low incomes and in poverty, where the vast majority can’t afford to pay. Proper regulation can only partly mitigate the widespread harm being done in the name of local authorities. With over £7bn of council tax debt in England alone, the government must take this issue seriously.
Finally, regulation is better than leaving bailiffs unregulated. But this is an industry that profits from the financial exploitation and harassment of people in debt. People are overwhelmingly in debt because they are struggling with a relentlessly high cost of living and stagnant wages. We need to treat people in debt with kindness, rather than sending professional bullies in to harass them into paying sums of money they simply don’t have.
What’s next?
We will not rest in our campaign to take bailiffs out of public life. This is a welcome first step from the new Prime Minister, but a kinder, more caring government should go further, faster.