When families face unpayable debts, a knock at the door from bailiffs can be hugely traumatising.
Council tax debt has soared in recent years, and rates just keep going up. 4.4 million people are now in debt. For many, it’s becoming impossible to pay when the cost of living crisis and economic turmoil have squeezed budgets to the limit.
But instead of supporting families to get out of debt, councils are using violence, harassment and intimidation - sending in the bailiffs. Worse, the cost of a bailiff visit is added to people’s debt – leaving them hundreds of pounds worse off.
Recently, over 1.3 million orders were made for bailiff visits despite there being little evidence that they increase collection rates.
But there is another way. Some councils have stopped using bailiffs to collect council tax debt, and introduced new support to help people get out of debt.
We want to see all councils in the UK stop using bailiffs to collect council tax debt. It’s completely unjust that the government are using a form of legalized harassment to try and collect debts. No matter what people's financial circumstances are, everyone should be treated with dignity and respect.