On 28 August the government announced that independent oversight will be made mandatory for private bailiffs in England and Wales, requiring them to be accredited by the Enforcement Conduct Board themselves, or to work for an enforcement firm that is, in order to obtain or renew the certificate they need to work.
That is the government’s own wording: a statement of intent, not a rule.
Announced is not in force
The release gives no commencement date for the bailiff measure; the September dates elsewhere in it belong to a separate home-improvement trader scheme. StepChange, responding the same day, describes what is coming as secondary legislation the government “will be introducing”. The Ministry of Justice consultation behind it closed on 21 July 2025, and its GOV.UK page still said “We are analysing your feedback” when we checked on 3 September 2026.
Still a voluntary body
That consultation document is blunt: “ECB accreditation is voluntary.” It carries the ECB’s report that, in June 2025, firms with about 96 per cent of the market share of private enforcement under Taking Control of Goods were accredited, and the government’s conclusion that voluntary arrangements are insufficient. StepChange said the announcement falls short of comprehensive statutory powers, and that a full statutory regulator would need primary legislation in the next session. The announcement covers England and Wales; Scotland’s sheriff officers and messengers-at-arms are a separate system.
Why it sits on this desk
The lever is the certificate. Certificated enforcement agents, the consultation says, apply to a district judge in the County Court under section 64 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and must reapply every two years. Withhold it and the agent cannot work.
A defaulted personal loan is not usually what those agents are collecting. The same document says they enforce debts mostly from the magistrates’ court or the County Court Traffic Enforcement Centre — council tax liability orders, traffic penalties, criminal fines. It also says a county court judgment can be passed to the High Court if it is above £600 and is not a consumer credit debt; county court bailiffs, HMCTS employees, enforce judgment debts without that certificate. Both 28 August statements speak of “all” bailiffs; the mechanism named is the certificate.
StepChange’s chief executive, Vikki Brownridge, put enforcement at one in ten of its clients, rising to one in three of those in council tax arrears. What is promised, for anyone facing a certificated agent, is one consistent ECB complaints process; the County Court already hears complaints about such agents. For now it is a plan — the kind of distinction we drew when motor finance redress was partly suspended.
Loan Herald publishes; it does not lend, does not broker credit, and holds no permissions from the Financial Conduct Authority, which neither authorises nor regulates this title. Nothing above is advice about a debt or an enforcement visit. If a bailiff is already involved, free help is available from Citizens Advice, StepChange and MoneyHelper.