Push to regulate bailiffs in England and Wales too slow, warns supervisory body | Regulators

The UK government has been accused of dragging its feet over plans for the mandatory regulation of bailiffs amid concerns about harmful practices in an industry that collects more than £1bn a year from indebted Britons.

A year on from an announcement by the Ministry of Justice that it would legislate to make independent regulation of bailiffs mandatory, the body that now oversees the industry in England and Wales, the Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB), criticised the lack of “visible progress”.

“Government has rightly committed to act but a year on from announcing this, there is still no clear plan,” said Chris Nichols, the ECB chief executive. “Every year hundreds of thousands of people are receiving enforcement action from unregulated providers. This is not fair and government should now address this.”

The UK bailiff sector is big business: more than 7m cases are sent to enforcement each year, affecting millions of people. The industry collects more than £1bn a year, most of which relates to unpaid parking and traffic fines and council tax arrears.

It is not currently a statutory requirement for enforcement firms to be authorised by the ECB and some companies have refused to sign up to its standards or oversight.

This has led to calls from consumer groups for tighter regulation amid concern about poor practices. These range from aggressive behaviour on the doorstep and overcharging, to clamping vehicles used by disabled people, and threatening to remove “exempt” possessions.

Last summer, the Guardian revealed that Britain’s biggest bailiff company, Marston Holdings, had overcharged people it was pursuing for unpaid debts and had been forced to launch a refunds programme.

On 9 June 2025, the government outlined a package of measures designed “to deliver a fairer system of debt enforcement” and launched a consultation on the mandatory regulation of bailiff services.

A year on and those eagerly awaiting the changes fear the policy has stalled.

Nichols said: “Regulation of enforcement (bailiff) services must be mandatory so that everyone who experiences enforcement has the same protections. It cannot be right for companies to simply refuse to comply with our standards for fair enforcement. Statutory regulation is supported by the public, debt charities and the majority of the enforcement industry itself.”

Last week, Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, said on his podcast it was “outrageous that we still don’t have a proper independent regulator”. Lewis said he saw “far too many cases of distress, upset, bullying, bad treatment … That’s not to say all bailiffs are bad, but it is to say that there are too many cases of bad behaviour from bailiffs”.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the government “remains committed to strengthening the regulation of the bailiff sector and fully supports the [ECB’s] work. Following our consultation about statutory independent regulation of the sector, we are developing proposals to ensure fair treatment for people in debt. We will announce next steps soon.”