Millions could face harsh enforcement as bailiff collection due to resume, warns charity

Millions of people across the UK could face harsh enforcement as bailiff collections are due to resume next week, with carers, key workers and those who have been shielding set to be most at risk, a charity warns.

New research from Citizen’s Advice indicates that one in nine people – the equivalent of 6 million individuals across the UK – have reported falling behind on household bills because of coronavirus.

With protections against eviction for renters and the ban on face-to-face bailiff collection both ending this weekend, the charity warns that many of those struggling will now face the repercussions of “lockdown debt”.

The figures will intensify existing concerns about an impending “wave of homelessness” when the government’s moratorium on evictions for England and Wales ends on Sunday, despite pleas from charities to extend the suspension.

New government figures released on Thursday revealed that 4,740 households had been served a section 21 (no fault) eviction notice between January and March 2020 – a 24 per cent increase on the previous quarter – prompting concerns that the issue will be made worse by a backlog of evictions from the months prior to the pandemic.

Sixteen leading public health bodies, including the British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners, have written to the housing minister Robert Jenrick urging the government to scrap its plans to lift the ban on evictions, warning that this could lead to a “catastrophic wave of evictions” and “significantly contribute to an increase of Covid-19 infections”.

The new findings from Citizens Advice, based on a survey of 6,000 people, show that certain groups are more likely to have fallen behind on household bills, with this applying to one in four parents or carers surveyed, one in five people in the shielded group and one in five key workers.

Black people, those aged 18 to 34 and disabled people were also at least twice as likely to have fallen behind, the research suggests.

The charity said the coronavirus debt crisis had already had “serious consequences” for those behind on bills, with around a fifth forced to go without essentials – half of whom have gone without food – and one in five having had to sell possessions to make ends meet during the pandemic.