Hundreds of ACORN members from across England and Wales came together in Leeds this week for the first national day of action in our Bailiff Free Britain campaign.
Over 300 members from branches across the country disrupted the annual conference of the Civil Court Users Association, one of the main events for bailiff and debt collection companies. The conference hosted representatives from some of Britain’s largest enforcement firms, but when ACORN arrived, they didn’t stick around for long. Members filled the building, hung banners from the balconies, and within minutes the event was abandoned.
With the building taken over, ACORN members inside hosted our own panel on the fight for a Bailiff Free Britain. Members shared experiences of being in council tax debt, bailiff harassment, and the impact on families and communities. Together we made it clear that the days of bullying and intimidation for profit are numbered.
After shutting down the conference, members marched to Leeds Civic Hall where a group occupied the lobby to demand that Leeds City Council and Cllr Asghar Khan meet with ACORN Leeds. The council had ignored requests for a meeting for months, but after hundreds of members arrived and made themselves heard, Cllr Khan came down to meet us in person. A formal meeting to discuss ACORN’s demands and the wider campaign was quickly confirmed.
The Leeds action was part of ACORN’s national Bailiff Free Britain campaign, which is calling for an end to the use of bailiffs to collect council tax debt and for fairer, more supportive alternatives. Across England and Wales, council tax debt has now reached almost £7 billion, and more than 1.4 million households were referred to bailiffs last year. Meanwhile, bailiff companies are making tens of millions of pounds in profit while people already struggling through the cost of living crisis are being pushed even deeper into debt.
ACORN is demanding an end to the use of bailiffs for council tax collection, proper support for people in arrears, caps on excessive fees, an end to imprisonment for non-payment, and a fairer alternative to the council tax system. These changes would protect millions of people and stop councils from relying on private companies that profit from poverty.
The day in Leeds showed what happens when working-class people stand together. Hundreds of members forced the bailiff industry to abandon its own conference, won a meeting with the council after months of being ignored, and made our demands impossible to ignore.
From Leeds to Cardiff to Bristol, ACORN members are proving that when communities get organised, we can take on powerful industries and win. The fight for a Bailiff Free Britain has only just begun, join ACORN today to be a part of it.