Nearly 1,800 additional families faced enforcement action in the first year after big cuts were made to council tax support scheme, reports James Cracknell

The number of Enfield households where bailiffs have been sent to collect council tax debts has risen by almost 10% since cuts to support for vulnerable people were introduced, new figures show.

Ahead of the 2024/25 financial year Enfield Council decided to cut its council tax support scheme for a range of people, including disabled residents and carers, with the aim of saving tens of millions of pounds from its budget.

Concerns were raised about this move by Enfield resident Jamie Thunder, who had previously worked as a debt advisor, as he warned that it would impose “a huge burden” on the borough’s most vulnerable people.

Jamie has now obtained data under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act showing that, in the first financial year following the cuts being agreed, an additional 1,791 Enfield families faced enforcement action for council tax debts, representing a 9.6% increase on the year before the cuts.

The data obtained also shows that of those households whose support was reduced from 100% to 50%, so were newly required to pay council tax, more than 60% missed at least one payment in 2024/25, with 16% of these cases (around 1,600) eventually being passed to bailiffs.

The council explained at the time of the cuts that over the previous decade the amount of government funding available for funding its support scheme for residents had fallen by 32%, while the number of people becoming eligible for that support had also risen substantially over the same period.

The civic centre estimated the scheme’s cost would rise to £50m a year by 2026 without cuts, but that it was aiming to bring it down to the London average of £22m.

The growing use of enforcement agents by local councils across the UK has been strongly criticised by a range of national charities, including The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute run by consumer journalist Martin Lewis, which has described the use of bailiffs for debt collection by local councils as “grotesque”.

In total, Enfield sent bailiffs to 20,471 households with council tax debt in 2024/25, up from 18,680 in 2023/24.

Jamie said: “Enfield Council was warned at the time that its proposed slashing of council tax support would heap misery upon its lowest-income residents, and make it one of the worst places in England to be poor.

“These figures show that this is exactly what has happened. It’s outrageous that the council has not only cut the support available, but has shown no restraint in sending in the bailiffs to these households, adding more stress and fear to people already in difficult circumstances.

“Enfield should never have made these short-sighted changes – and it must now act on this evidence and reverse them.”

Enfield’s use of bailiffs is not among the highest in London, however, with campaign group Stop The Knock highlighting Croydon as the most likely borough to use enforcement agents, sending them to 86,295 households during 2022/23, including 36,122 for council tax debts.

Enfield Council has not responded to requests for comment.

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