Post by Trev Fairminer on Feb 9, 2007 13:38:17 GMT
Why does the Government resist regulating bailiffs? Why has it been reviewing them continually since 1992 but is still putting off regulation?
The simple reason is that Government has the most to lose. Central and local Government is the biggest user of bailiffs and wants them to collect as much as possible of the parking penalties, council tax, business rates, magistrates’ fines and all the other money that it’s owed.
Whenever you hear complaints about bailiffs, remember this. Almost certainly, the bailiffs are Government contractors following Government regulations to collect Government debt.
The Government wants a free enforcement service: this means that bailiffs must collect from the debtors who pay enough to pay for enforcement action against debtors who don't or can't pay. This is the main cause of the criticisms people have of bailiffs.
The reason we need a bailiff regulator is because central and local Government fails to manage its own contractors properly.
In 1992, the then Lord Chancellor started to review bailiffs because of concerns about how some of them enforced the poll tax for local authorities. That review finally ran into the sand in 1999, when the new Labour Government just tinkered with the way bailiffs get their certificates. This didn’t achieve much and the problems continued.
In 1998 (before the previous review was completed), the Government launched another review, one intended to make enforcement law tougher. Everyone agreed there should be a specialist regulator to oversee bailiffs but by the time the Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Bill was published in July 2006, all that was proposed was further tinkering with the way that bailiffs get their certificates.
As the Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Bill has gone through the House of Lords, the Government has continually resisted including proper regulation of bailiffs. Its latest tactic is to deflect criticism by publishing another consultation paper. This new consultation will close in April and the findings published in the Summer - long after the Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Bill has become law.
It is clear from the new consultation paper that the Government doesn’t want a bailiff regulator to do much more than issues licences to individual bailiffs. It doesn’t want the regulator to oversee training or qualifications. Most alarming, it doesn’t want the regulator to investigate complaints because (it says) this would undermine our Human Rights! (This is typical of the way the Government has resisted sensible argument with nonsense, almost as if it is deliberately insulting our intelligence. If this were correct, it would mean, for example, that the new Solicitors Regulation Authority is wrong to investigate complaints about solicitors and that the Scottish Parliament has just wasted its time passing an Act that sets up a new enforcement 'commission' than can hear complaints!) You can read the consultation paper on the internet at: www.dca.gov.uk/consult/enforce_agt/cp0207.htm .
In the House of Lords on 31 January, the Minister responsible said that if the responses to the new consultation are what the Government wants to hear, it will begin to make the changes in the Summer. She didn’t add that if the responses support proper bailiff regulation, we might have to wait many more years for another Bill to make it happen!
I have been a member of the Enforcement Law Reform Group since it was founded in 1999 and became its chair in 2002. All along we have realised that bailiffs, debt advisers and everyone else with a legitimate interest in bailiff law wants to see a proper bailiff regulator created. The only reluctance has been from Government.
What do I mean by a ‘proper’ regulator? One that is independent of both the bailiffs it regulates and the creditors that instruct them: that means it must be as independent as possible of Government! A regulator should:
licence bailiffs
approve the businesses and organisations that employ them
accredit the professional bodies that represent them
set standards of conduct
monitor performance
investigate complaints
punish failure to comply with law or professional standards and order redress where appropriate.
Lord Lucas is a backbench Conservative peer who has been trying to have bailiffs regulated. He has tabled an amendment to the Bill that will require Government to get on with regulation within a year. The amendment should appear on Parliament's website in the next few days.
Please express your support for Lord Lucas’ amendment before the House of Lords considers it on 20 February. You can do this by writing to Lord Lucas and copying your letter to the Minister. The more people who support the amendment, the more likely the Government is to take notice. Their addresses are:
Lord Lucas
The Lord Lucas of Crudwell & Dingwall
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
or e-mail: LUCASR@parliament.uk
The Minister
The Baroness Ashton of Upholland
Department for Constitutional Affairs
Selborne House
54 Victoria Street
London SW1E 6QW
or e-mail this official at DCA: AnneMarie.Goddard@HMCOURTS-SERVICE.GSI.GOV.UK
Keep your letter or e-mail short. You could say something like this:
Dear Lord Lucas
I am writing to support your amendment to the Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Bill that would require the Government to produce proposals for a specialist bailiff regulator within a year. I think the proposals in the new consultation paper issued in January 2007 by the Home Office and the Department for Constitutional Affairs are completely inadequate.
The Government should create a regulator that will:
licence bailiffs
approve the businesses and organisations that employ them
accredit the professional bodies that represent them
set standards of conduct
monitor performance
investigate complaints
punish failure to comply with law or professional standards and order redress where appropriate.
I have sent a copy of this to the Minister, Baroness Ashton.
Yours sincerely….
This is not a party political issue, so please write to Lord Lucas whether or not you are a Tory supporter. But if you are a Conservative or LibDem supporter, please also send a copy of your letter or e-mail to their spokesperson in the Lords who is dealing with this Bill. They are:
Conservative Party
The Right Honourable The Lord Kingsland QC TD DL
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
or e-mail: Kingslandc@parliament.uk
Liberal Democratic Party
The Lord Thomas of Gresford QC
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
or e-mail: Thomasm@parliament.uk
Finally, persuade others to do the same. Please circulate this message.
If you would like to do more, please contact me and I can give you some suggestions. If you want me to keep you posted on developments, just send me an e-mail (see below).
It’s never easy to persuade Government to change its mind but if we believe democracy is a good thing, we should try. The Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Bill is the first and last opportunity for a generation to get bailiffs properly regulated. Don't let the Government waste it.
Philip Evans
pip@moneyabuse.org (e-mail)
020 8319 8888 (tel)
8 February 2007
Philip Evans is a former civil servant who, in his last years at the Lord Chancellor’s Department, was involved with bailiff law and policy. Since he resigned in 1997, he has worked with the professional bodies representing bailiffs in the UK and in 2002 he was elected to chair the Enforcement Law Reform Group. The ELRG website is www.elrg.org.uk . Philip now earns a living teaching personal finance to teenagers. His website is www.moneyabuse.org .
The simple reason is that Government has the most to lose. Central and local Government is the biggest user of bailiffs and wants them to collect as much as possible of the parking penalties, council tax, business rates, magistrates’ fines and all the other money that it’s owed.
Whenever you hear complaints about bailiffs, remember this. Almost certainly, the bailiffs are Government contractors following Government regulations to collect Government debt.
The Government wants a free enforcement service: this means that bailiffs must collect from the debtors who pay enough to pay for enforcement action against debtors who don't or can't pay. This is the main cause of the criticisms people have of bailiffs.
The reason we need a bailiff regulator is because central and local Government fails to manage its own contractors properly.
In 1992, the then Lord Chancellor started to review bailiffs because of concerns about how some of them enforced the poll tax for local authorities. That review finally ran into the sand in 1999, when the new Labour Government just tinkered with the way bailiffs get their certificates. This didn’t achieve much and the problems continued.
In 1998 (before the previous review was completed), the Government launched another review, one intended to make enforcement law tougher. Everyone agreed there should be a specialist regulator to oversee bailiffs but by the time the Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Bill was published in July 2006, all that was proposed was further tinkering with the way that bailiffs get their certificates.
As the Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Bill has gone through the House of Lords, the Government has continually resisted including proper regulation of bailiffs. Its latest tactic is to deflect criticism by publishing another consultation paper. This new consultation will close in April and the findings published in the Summer - long after the Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Bill has become law.
It is clear from the new consultation paper that the Government doesn’t want a bailiff regulator to do much more than issues licences to individual bailiffs. It doesn’t want the regulator to oversee training or qualifications. Most alarming, it doesn’t want the regulator to investigate complaints because (it says) this would undermine our Human Rights! (This is typical of the way the Government has resisted sensible argument with nonsense, almost as if it is deliberately insulting our intelligence. If this were correct, it would mean, for example, that the new Solicitors Regulation Authority is wrong to investigate complaints about solicitors and that the Scottish Parliament has just wasted its time passing an Act that sets up a new enforcement 'commission' than can hear complaints!) You can read the consultation paper on the internet at: www.dca.gov.uk/consult/enforce_agt/cp0207.htm .
In the House of Lords on 31 January, the Minister responsible said that if the responses to the new consultation are what the Government wants to hear, it will begin to make the changes in the Summer. She didn’t add that if the responses support proper bailiff regulation, we might have to wait many more years for another Bill to make it happen!
I have been a member of the Enforcement Law Reform Group since it was founded in 1999 and became its chair in 2002. All along we have realised that bailiffs, debt advisers and everyone else with a legitimate interest in bailiff law wants to see a proper bailiff regulator created. The only reluctance has been from Government.
What do I mean by a ‘proper’ regulator? One that is independent of both the bailiffs it regulates and the creditors that instruct them: that means it must be as independent as possible of Government! A regulator should:
licence bailiffs
approve the businesses and organisations that employ them
accredit the professional bodies that represent them
set standards of conduct
monitor performance
investigate complaints
punish failure to comply with law or professional standards and order redress where appropriate.
Lord Lucas is a backbench Conservative peer who has been trying to have bailiffs regulated. He has tabled an amendment to the Bill that will require Government to get on with regulation within a year. The amendment should appear on Parliament's website in the next few days.
Please express your support for Lord Lucas’ amendment before the House of Lords considers it on 20 February. You can do this by writing to Lord Lucas and copying your letter to the Minister. The more people who support the amendment, the more likely the Government is to take notice. Their addresses are:
Lord Lucas
The Lord Lucas of Crudwell & Dingwall
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
or e-mail: LUCASR@parliament.uk
The Minister
The Baroness Ashton of Upholland
Department for Constitutional Affairs
Selborne House
54 Victoria Street
London SW1E 6QW
or e-mail this official at DCA: AnneMarie.Goddard@HMCOURTS-SERVICE.GSI.GOV.UK
Keep your letter or e-mail short. You could say something like this:
Dear Lord Lucas
I am writing to support your amendment to the Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Bill that would require the Government to produce proposals for a specialist bailiff regulator within a year. I think the proposals in the new consultation paper issued in January 2007 by the Home Office and the Department for Constitutional Affairs are completely inadequate.
The Government should create a regulator that will:
licence bailiffs
approve the businesses and organisations that employ them
accredit the professional bodies that represent them
set standards of conduct
monitor performance
investigate complaints
punish failure to comply with law or professional standards and order redress where appropriate.
I have sent a copy of this to the Minister, Baroness Ashton.
Yours sincerely….
This is not a party political issue, so please write to Lord Lucas whether or not you are a Tory supporter. But if you are a Conservative or LibDem supporter, please also send a copy of your letter or e-mail to their spokesperson in the Lords who is dealing with this Bill. They are:
Conservative Party
The Right Honourable The Lord Kingsland QC TD DL
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
or e-mail: Kingslandc@parliament.uk
Liberal Democratic Party
The Lord Thomas of Gresford QC
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
or e-mail: Thomasm@parliament.uk
Finally, persuade others to do the same. Please circulate this message.
If you would like to do more, please contact me and I can give you some suggestions. If you want me to keep you posted on developments, just send me an e-mail (see below).
It’s never easy to persuade Government to change its mind but if we believe democracy is a good thing, we should try. The Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Bill is the first and last opportunity for a generation to get bailiffs properly regulated. Don't let the Government waste it.
Philip Evans
pip@moneyabuse.org (e-mail)
020 8319 8888 (tel)
8 February 2007
Philip Evans is a former civil servant who, in his last years at the Lord Chancellor’s Department, was involved with bailiff law and policy. Since he resigned in 1997, he has worked with the professional bodies representing bailiffs in the UK and in 2002 he was elected to chair the Enforcement Law Reform Group. The ELRG website is www.elrg.org.uk . Philip now earns a living teaching personal finance to teenagers. His website is www.moneyabuse.org .
