New agency set up to regulate bailiffs and debt collection enforcement

The Enforcement Conduct Board has been set up as what is reported to be the first independent regulator for debt collection in the UK, according to a January 2023 report¹. The development was recorded on 26 January 2023¹.

The Finance Innovation Lab, an independent organisation, noted the change in its monthly round-up of developments in UK finance, published on 20 February 2023¹. It described the absence of an independent regulator for debt collection as something readers might not have known, and pointed to the new body as the point at which that changed¹.

The same round-up covered other regulatory and policy developments. It said the UK government had agreed to reform corporate criminal liability, and would make failure to prevent fraud and money laundering an offence, in line with bribery and tax evasion¹. It also reported that MPs had described the Payment Systems Regulator's plans to let Pay UK take charge of reimbursing scam victims as flawed¹.

On household finances, the round-up cited a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report stating that 20% of the UK population are living in poverty¹. It also reported that NatWest had posted its largest profits since 2007¹, and that the North of England receives one of the lowest levels of investment of all developed countries¹.

Why it matters for households

People who fall behind on debts in the UK can be pursued by bailiffs, also called enforcement agents, and by debt collectors. The creation of the Enforcement Conduct Board is reported as the first time an independent body has taken on the regulation of debt collection¹. The report does not set out the board's powers, its remit, which firms or individuals it covers, how it will handle complaints, or the date from which its oversight takes effect. Those details have not been reported in the material available.

The round-up also records that the government has agreed to reform corporate criminal liability and to make failure to prevent fraud and money laundering an offence, in line with bribery and tax evasion¹. It does not give a timetable or the form the legislation will take.

Separately, MPs are reported to have said the Payment Systems Regulator's plans to let Pay UK take charge of reimbursing scam victims are flawed¹. The report does not say what happens to scam reimbursement in the meantime.

What happens next

No next steps for the Enforcement Conduct Board are set out in the report. The round-up does not give a start date for the board's work, a date for the fraud and money laundering offence reform, or a date for a decision on the Payment Systems Regulator's reimbursement plans¹.

For background on how enforcement works and what people are entitled to, see bailiffs and enforcement agents: your rights, bailiffs, enforcement agents and sheriff officers compared and debt collectors and sold debts: your rights. The wider picture of who makes the rules is covered in financial regulation in the UK, and the payments side in the Payment Systems Regulator.