City authorities sent more than 18,000 debts to bailiffs last year

A national money advice charity has called on Peterborough City Council (PCC) to improve its debt collection practices across the city.

The call follows a recent revelation that PCC referred 18,399 debts to bailiffs in 2022/23. These figures represent a 21% increase on pre-pandemic levels recorded in 2018/19.

The data, which was revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request, was compiled by the National Debtline and the Centre for Social Justice.

Bailiffs have the right to visit a property and seize goods to repay certain debts, including council tax arrears, parking penalty charge notices and other debts (image: adobe)

placeholder image — Bailiffs have the right to visit a property and seize goods to repay certain debts, including council tax arrears, parking penalty charge notices and other debts (image: adobe)

National Debtline, which is a free debt advice service run by the Money Advice Trust charity, has written to the Leader of PCC urging the council to commit to improve the way it collects council tax arrears and other debts.

“Bailiffs should only ever be used as a last resort,” said Steve Vaid, chief executive of the Money Advice Trust.

“Unfortunately, Peterborough City Council's use of bailiffs remains high; and our research shows the council is one of 41% of authorities which had increased bailiff use compared to pre-pandemic levels.”

Mr Vaid believes action is needed to improve collection practices so that fewer debts are sent to bailiffs – also known as Enforcement Agents (EA’s) – to begin with.

“We have written to the [Council] Leader with steps they can take so that fewer debts need to be passed to bailiffs in the first place.”

The charity would like PCC to adopt all six of its ‘six steps’ – which includes exempting residents receiving local Council Tax Support from any form of bailiff action – to improve collection practices.

A spokesperson for PCC insisted the figures needed be put into perspective:

“The number of properties in Peterborough increased by 7.2 per cent between 2018/19 and 2022/23,” they said, “which is likely to have contributed to the increasing use of EAs.

"We have [seen] increased parking enforcement in the same period, which could also be factor in rising EA usage.”

The spokesperson also pointed out that the data could be affected by the fact the council now uses three different EAs (compared to just one in 2018/19).

"If a debt is now returned uncollected from one EA it is likely to get referred back out to a different EA, counting as two or three separate EA referrals,” they explained.