Government pushes plan to regulate enforcement agents

Stricter regulation of bailiffs moved a step closer to realisation last week when the government published a positive post-consultation report on its green paper Towards Effective Enforcement.

The report says that most of the respondents to the green paper broadly endorsed legislation to introduce enforcement agent regulation and consolidate bailiff law, among other reforms.

The government aims to produce a White Paper by early next year.

The Lord Chancellor's Department simultaneously published national standards for enforcement agents.

Observation of the standards is voluntary, but Lord Chancellor's Department minister Baroness Scotland said: 'I regard this document as a step towards future legislation in this area.'

Jeremy Fleming