The Enforcement Conduct Board has launched its long-awaited Standards for enforcement work. This launch represents months of research, consultation, and collaboration with stakeholders across the whole sector and the new standards are being launched with strong support and endorsement from both the debt advice sector and the enforcement industry.
The Standards set a clear, measurable framework for how enforcement agents should conduct themselves and how firms should operate, seeking to raise professionalism and reinforce ethical conduct. They will serve as the new benchmark for what modern, fair enforcement looks like, ensuring that agents, firms, and individuals understand their rights and obligations every step of the way.
The Standards lay out specific requirements on several core areas:
- Standards for Firms
- Doorstep Conduct
- Clear Communication
- Complaints Handling
They outline how firms should handle complaints, specify response timeframes and mandate that complaints be accepted through multiple channels. Enforcement Conduct Board’s complaints function will launch in January 2025. After this time, ECB will accept any new complaint about the conduct of an enforcement agent or firm where a person feels their initial complaint to the firm in question hasn’t been dealt with fairly or in a timely way by the firm.
Chris Nichols, CEO of Enforcement Conduct Board, says:
“The Standards herald the start of a new chapter for the enforcement sector. Whilst some of the standards, such as those for enforcement agents, will be implemented by January 2025, we recognise that some of the new standards for firms will require some time to be implemented properly and sustainably. We will be writing to accredited firms to set out further detail on our expectations for implementing the full standards.
“We are looking forward to working with all stakeholders to achieve a smooth transition to full compliance with the new standards. We will also now be turning our attention to development of new standards on vulnerability and ability to pay, which will for part of version 2 of the standards later in 2025.”
Read the full Enforcement Conduct Board Standards here.