New bailiff association (CEAA) launched today to represent Certificated Enforcement Agents

[Bailiff Advice]

The following press release has been issued today,1st September;

 

New Professional Association founded for Certificated Enforcement Agents.

 

Following the implementation of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 in April 2014, and a year of consultation with Certificated Enforcement Agents, a New Professional Association has been launched to represent Certificated Enforcement Agents and will be known as The Certificated Enforcement Agents Association (CEAA).

 

It has been formed by Enforcement Agents for Enforcement Agents, representing those that act on the front line of enforcement and hold a current certificate under “The Certification of Enforcement Agents Regulations 2014”.

 

For further information please refer to our website

http://www.ceaa.co.uk

[brassnecked]

Another talking shop to big up enforcement and bailiff rights.

[brassnecked]

Result of WHOIS query:

 

Domain name: ceaa.co.uk Registrant: ENFORCEMENT BAILIFFS LTD Registrant type: UK Individual Registrant's address: First Floor 45 High Street Egham Surrey TW20 9DP United Kingdom Data validation: Nominet was able to match the registrant's name and address against a 3rd party data source on 03-Jun-2015 Registrar: Freeola Limited t/a Freeola and Get Dotted [Tag = FREEOLA] URL: http://GetDotted.com Relevant dates: Registered on: 01-Dec-2014 Expiry date: 01-Dec-2016 Last updated: 04-Jun-2015 Registration status: Registered until expiry date. Name servers: ns3.freeola.net ns4.freeola.net WHOIS lookup made at 23:34:11 01-Sep-2015

 

Before anyone gets precious about the details they are all public domain and are not subject to any privacy issues.

[mikeymack2002]

Site still not fully active yet I assume as the links do not work....

 

It makes you wonder whether or not this will be more hot air or other. Also what certification do they hold to fully train the EA? Or is this the EA holding the EA'S hand?

[brassnecked]

Site still not fully active yet I assume as the links do not work....

 

It makes you wonder whether or not this will be more hot air or other. Also what certification do they hold to fully train the EA? Or is this the EA holding the EA'S hand?

 

Probably EA's holding hands, as an alternative to CIVEA for individual bailiffs rather than the Companies. The site appears to be created using one of the site builder tools on a Domain Hosts website, or the provided account Cpanel.

 

interestingly domains such as bailiff.co.uk, .org , .com have been registered. I think I will register a few domains of interest to the Enforcement and Debt Collection Industry and cybersquat them.

[Bailiff Advice]

In fact, I am very much in favour of this new association for a variety of reasons.

 

Firstly, up until now, there has only been one bailiff 'association' called CIVEA but they represent the enforcement agencies as opposed to the enforcement agents. The absence of a separate 'association' was particularly noticeable during the recent consultation on bailiff reform given that the people who enforce the millions of debts each year (the bailiffs) did not have a 'voice' (under the consultation) and instead, CIVEA made representations to the Ministry of Justice on their behalf as well as their employers.

 

It is a known fact that the enforcement agency train the enforcement agent on how they should enforce the debts but until now, the agent himself would have to rely upon his employer (or the internet) for information. It is my understanding that CEAA (pronounced SEE-ER) intend to provide all their members with full details of the new regulations and details of all legal cases and any amendments made to the regs. Regular newsletters /bulletins are also planned.

[E Munch]

Regardless of who trains the enforcement agent (EA) their level of knowledge is supposed to be assessed independently in two ways:-

1. When the judge considers issuing a certificate regulation 3 of the Certification of Enforcement Agents Regulations 2014 he must be satisfied that "the applicant possesses sufficient knowledge of the law and procedure relating to the powers of enforcement by taking control of goods and of commercial rent arrears recovery to be competent to exercise those powers."

2. When the prospective EA makes their application to the County Court, Practice Directive 70th update inserted into Practice Direction 84 at rule 84.18 and that specifies the "Documents to accompany application for issue of a certificate." In paragraph 2.1(e) it says this must be included with the application:-

(e) proof that the applicant—

(i) has achieved at least a qualification on Taking Control of Goods at

 

(or above) Level 2 of the Qualifications and Credit Framework or

 

equivalent as determined by a nationally accredited awarding body; or

 

 

(ii) has been authorised to act as an enforcement officer in accordance

 

 

with the High Court Enforcement Officers Regulations 2004.

 

 

 

[josephbloggs]

The real reasons this association has been set up.

 

The county courts have downsized massively leaving many Bailiffs out of work.

CRAR has virtually wiped out the small business putting a great deal of one man bands out of business.

The big firms who have the vast majority of work have the industry pretty much sewn up and can treat the self employed EA's however they want - and they are doing exactly that.

 

People are leaving the industry at an alarmingly fast rate.

For example, last month Marstons who had bought out Collectica, swift & rossendales merged them all together and so far over 50 people have gone!!

 

It's all good having a voice of the bailiff, but ultimately they wont get a say in who gets the contracts, and telling a company they aren't paying enough. They will be shown the door and an advert goes in the paper the next day!

And the training is being offered so that it looks better to members so it seems it is giving value for money rather than just a few emails.

[Bailiff Advice]

The real reasons this association has been set up.

 

The county courts have downsized massively leaving many Bailiffs out of work.

CRAR has virtually wiped out the small business putting a great deal of one man bands out of business.

The big firms who have the vast majority of work have the industry pretty much sewn up and can treat the self employed EA's however they want - and they are doing exactly that.

 

People are leaving the industry at an alarmingly fast rate.

For example, last month Marstons who had bought out Collectica, swift & rossendales merged them all together and so far over 50 people have gone!!

 

It's all good having a voice of the bailiff, but ultimately they wont get a say in who gets the contracts, and telling a company they aren't paying enough. They will be shown the door and an advert goes in the paper the next day!

 

And the training is being offered so that it looks better to members so it seems it is giving value for money rather than just a few emails.

 

Thank you for posting and sharing your views on the forum. If it is the case that CEAA are able to get between 500 and 1,000 members in the first year (which should be relatively easy given that the membership is a modest £25 PA) would it not be the case that they would have a 'voice' (so to speak).

 

Taking up on your comment that people are leaving the industry at an alarming rate. I do know that there is a lot of truth in this but from my point of view, I would have assumed that the vast majority were bailiffs working on RTA cases. Prior to the new regs the fee scale was simply outrageous and bailiffs were charging attending to remove fees (sometimes at each visit), aborted van fees, HPI fee etc and of course 'multiple fees' for enforcing more than one debt. The fixed fees have brought these practices to a virtual stop and must surely have led to many leaving the industry. I would of course welcome your comments.

[josephbloggs]

These aren't my views they are the views of friends within the industry.

in principle it sounds good that EA's are getting a voice.

But what exactly are they getting a voice for?

the word of EA's "moaning" about conditions on the street?

where is that going to get them?

The MOJ aren't going to call the bailiff companies and say please give your staff more money, please be nicer to them and give them the best work are they?!

 

It is my understanding that apparently the vast majority of EA's leaving are from collectica who as you know dealt with court fines.

The new regs are nothing to do with people leaving nor the fees.

Its primarily because of the payment rate per collection dropping significantly.

And due to the courts back office outsourcing proposal the fines sent over to collect for all companies have been extremely poor old recycled fines.

[Bailiff Advice]

 

It is my understanding that apparently the vast majority of EA's leaving are from collectica who as you know dealt with court fines.

 

The new regs are nothing to do with people leaving nor the fees.

 

Its primarily because of the payment rate per collection dropping significantly.

 

And due to the courts back office outsourcing proposal the fines sent over to collect for all companies have been extremely poor old recycled fines.

 

The reduction in the number of bailiffs at Collectica is simply due to the fact that Collectica was purchased a short while ago by Marston Group and Marston's are now amalgamating the two companies.

 

The courts back office outsourcing proposal is at present just that....a proposal. An agreement has not yet been signed (although it is common knowledge which company are the preferred bidder) and therefore this should not affect the number of court fines being sent to the enforcement agencies.

 

PS: I have just checked with the HMCS register and the number of bailiffs currently holding a certificate is higher than at any time at 2,155

[Bailiff Advice]

I notice that the CEAA website has been updated in the past few days. Of interest is that John Kruse is going to be providing copies of his Bulletins etc to the association. If individual bailiffs can have first hands access to accurate information then hopefully this will go some way to improving behaviour.

 

 

https://ceaa.co.uk/further-information/member-benefits/

[brassnecked]

I notice that the CEAA website has been updated in the past few days. Of interest is that John Kruse is going to be providing copies of his Bulletins etc to the association. If individual bailiffs can have first hands access to accurate information then hopefully this will go some way to improving behaviour.

 

 

https://ceaa.co.uk/further-information/member-benefits/

We can hope.

[mikeymack2002]

Who is going to keep an eye on this new group? Will it be themselves or others? (for and on behalf of EA's)