York MP calls for crackdown on 'rogue' bailiffs after disabled man 'threatened'
An MP has called for a crackdown on "rogue bailiffs" after claims a constituent was threatened with the removal of disability equipment and another left without carpets.
Luke Charters said firms should be put on a statutory footing to drive up standards in the industry.
The Labour MP for York Outer said vulnerable people were being made to feel "absolutely petrified in their own homes".
Mr Charters introduced the Regulations of Bailiffs Bill through a 10-minute rule motion in parliament. It would require the Secretary of State to publish an assessment of the effectiveness of current regulations, and report to Parliament on the potential merits of statutory regulation.
He said: "We are in this place to speak up, when others can't, to put right what is clearly wrong.
"This Bill, to get a grip on rogue bailiffs, does exactly that."
During his speech, Mr Charters raised the case of his constituent, Adam, who "got into debt through falling behind on council tax and card repayments after losing an agency job and struggling to find new work".
He added: "As is often the case with rogue bailiffs, the visits were aggressive and intimidating. One forced his foot into the door, threatening to come in and, of course, this breaks virtually every rule in the book.
"Adam told me, 'it was like someone was trying to boot down the door'. He immediately told the bailiff that he had a disability and was classed as vulnerable. The bailiff said he didn't care and would take away Adam's belongings regardless.
"The bailiff saying he didn't care - what cruelty. The enforcement system is broken and punishes those already struggling when rules allow such passive, cruel indifference to people in crisis."
Mr Charters said the bailiff also threatened to take away Adam's "government-funded equipment for his disability, a specially adapted device".
According to Citizens Advice, one in three people who have had contact with a bailiff have experienced behaviour that breaks Ministry of Justice expectations.
"And even among the bailiffs that are regulated under their current scope, 1% of visits were deemed too aggressive by the ECB (Enforcement Conduct Board). And by the way, that would equate to hundreds, if not thousands of visits a year.
"That is why we need a fair and proportionate debt collection system."
Mr Charters also referred to another constituent, Michael, a soon-to-be father who was "left without carpet, with a broken bed and a broken boiler".
He said Michael was involved in a "horrific" motorbike accident which left him "bedridden" and "getting by on sick pay alone" after losing his job.
"Michael went from being a homeowner with a near perfect credit score to nearly losing everything, and I'm pleased to say that he's back on his feet and, although he's still paying the debt off, he is hoping to clear it soon,"
The MP concluded his speech by suggesting that while the Enforcement Conduct Board do a good job, there are many bailiffs not in their perimeter.
The ECB was set up in 2022, with ministers of the then-Conservative government promising to review whether it needs to be put on a statutory footing within two years.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
MPs could vote to force government to build 150,000 social homes a year
A proposed change to the Planning and Infrastructure bill would demand a 150,000 target for building social homes this Parliament LIb Dem MPs will push for a vote to force the government to set a target on social homes. A proposed change to the Planning and Infrastructure bill would demand a 150,000 target for building social homes this Parliament. It comes amid reports Deputy PM Angela Rayner is locked in a struggle with the Treasury over the Housing budget ahead of this weeks spending review. Agreement has yet to be reached on funding for the Housing department, which is responsible for delivering Labour 's target of 1.5 million new homes - including a promised social housing 'revolution' - by the end of the Parliament. The Lib Dems amendment would also make it mandatory for new car parks to have solar panels on them. And it would create a pubic register of donations made to the Housing Secretary from developers whose projects they have commissioned, dating back ten years. Liberal Democrat Housing and Planning Spokesperson Gideon Amos MP said: "For too long, planning and infrastructure regulations have been in the slow lane, preventing economic growth that would help put money back into British families' pockets. 'If the Government is serious about kickstarting the economy, they need to be far more ambitious. This starts with finally setting a social housing target, and pushing ahead with the healthcare, GPs, transport and energy infrastructure that communities want to see come first where new housing is proposed.' The Party is also pushing for stricter protections for local wildlife and habitats, with requirements on ministers and Natural England to take steps to prevent and reduce adverse effects on the environment. One of their amendments would also ensure development corporations provide green spaces in all new developments.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
ECB should watch out for price hikes from U.S. tariffs, Schnabel says
DUBROVNIK, Croatia, June 7 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank has made "great progress" in taming inflation but it should watch out for fresh price hikes caused by U.S. tariffs, ECB policymaker Isabel Schnabel said on Saturday. The ECB cut interest rates on Thursday for the eighth time in the past year and signalled at least a policy pause next month as it waits for the growth and inflation outlook to become clearer. Schnabel, the most prominent voice in the hawkish ECB camp that favours higher interest rates, celebrated inflation returning to the bank's 2% target. "I think we've made great progress, and as you know, our most recent inflation number was even below 2%," Schnabel told a conference in Dubrovnik. "Of course, that was to a very large extent driven by energy, but we do see that also the more persistent components are coming down and that is that is very, very good news." Croatian central bank governor and fellow hawk Boris Vujcic said the ECB was "nearly done" cutting rates provided that inflation settles at 2% as expected. But with the ECB now projecting inflation at 1.6% next year, other ECB policymakers, and especially Portugal's central bank governor Mario Centeno, are even worrying it may slow down too much. Schnabel said the ECB should rather switch its focus on possible, new "shocks", such as a global trade war waged by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration against its trading partners. She cited academic research showing that a 1% increase in producer prices around the world would result in a 0.2% increase, on average, in domestic producer prices in major economies. "Even in the absence of retaliation, the tariffs would be expected to be inflationary and even more so if there is retaliation," she said. As an example, Schnabel cited China's decision to restrict its exports of rare earths, which is forcing automakers and their suppliers to shut down production of certain models. China said on Saturday it was willing to accelerate the examination and approval of rare earth exports to European Union firms. Schnabel also cited ECB research showing that the effect of so-called trade diversion -Chinese producers shut out of the United States flooding European markets with their goods - was small. "If the effects were not small, you can be sure that there would be counteracting measures coming from the European Commission," Schnabel said. She argued all this suggested trade tensions would affect all economies, limiting the scope for the ECB's and U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policies to diverge. "I expect this trade conflict to play out as a global shock that's working through both lower demand and supply," she said at the conference hosted by the Croatian central bank. "We can discuss which of the two effects on inflation is larger because that determines the net effect. But in any case, I would not expect a sustained decoupling (between the ECB and the Fed)," she said. Speaking on the same panel, Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene stuck a different tone, saying trade fragmentation should help bring down inflation in Britain, giving the BoE an "opportunity for monetary policy divergence going forward".
Powys County Times
3 hours ago
- Powys County Times
Home Office plans to spend £2.2bn of foreign aid on asylum support this year
The Home Office plans to spend about £2.2 billion of foreign aid to support asylum seekers this financial year, according to new figures. The amount of overseas development assistance (ODA) budgeted by the Home Office – which is largely used to cover accommodation costs such as hotels for asylum seekers – is slightly less than the £2.3 billion it spent in 2024/25. International rules allow countries to count first-year costs of supporting refugees as overseas development assistance (ODA). The figures, first reported by the BBC, were published in recent days on the Home Office website. The Home Office said it is 'urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs' which will cut the amount spent to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. It also said it was expected to have saved £500 million in asylum support costs in the last financial year, and that this had saved £200 million in ODA which had been passed back to the Treasury. A total of 32,345 asylum seekers were being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March this year. This figure is down 15% from the end of December, when the total was 38,079, and 6% lower than the 34,530 at the same point a year earlier. Asylum seekers and their families are housed in temporary accommodation if they are waiting for the outcome of a claim or an appeal and have been assessed as not being able to support themselves independently. They are housed in hotels if there is not enough space in accommodation provided by local authorities or other organisations. Labour has previously said it is 'committed to end the use of asylum hotels over time', adding that under the previous Conservative government at one stage 'more than 400 hotels were in use and almost £9 million per day was being spent'. Jo White, chairwoman of the Red Wall group of Labour MPs, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday: 'We need to be looking at things like ECHR article eight. I don't think anything's off the table … including looking at new options such as processing abroad. 'So, we have to be open to see how we can move move that backlog as quickly as possible. I'm getting impatient. 'I know my colleagues in parliament are getting impatient and we're pressing the Government as hard as we can on this.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We inherited an asylum system under exceptional pressure and are urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs. 'This will ultimately reduce the amount of official development assistance spent to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. 'We are immediately speeding up decisions and increasing returns so that we can end the use of hotels and save the taxpayer £4 billion by 2026. 'The Rwanda scheme also wasted £700 million to remove just four volunteers – instead, we have surged removals to nearly 30,000 since the election, are giving law enforcement new counter-terror style powers, and increasing intelligence sharing through our Border Security Command to tackle the heart of the issue, vile people-smuggling gangs.'
