Council meetings have been thrown into chaos across England and Wales as ACORN embark on a ‘month of action’ as part of the Bailiff Free Britain campaign.
The union has held protests at 20 council meetings across England and Wales over the last month, calling on councils to cut their use of bailiffs to collect council tax debt from residents, as council tax debt soars to £7billion as people are slammed by the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Protests have taken place in Sheffield, Southwark, Preston, Oxford, Manchester, Bristol, Brighton, Cambridge, Cardiff, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bradford and Norwich, with more planned in the coming days.
Meetings have been delayed and abandoned, with ACORN members recounting their harrowing experiences of bailiffs coming to their homes from the public galleries.
In Bristol, ACORN members occupied the council chambers before a meeting was due to take place, holding a ‘People’s Council Meeting’ in its place, and not leaving until an agreement to meet to discuss the campaign demands was secured. Meanwhile, ACORN Cardiff members went directly to councillors at their surgeries.
In Birmingham, council security tried to snatch speeches out of the hands of protesters in a bid to stop them speaking, before attempting to forcibly remove them.
In Bradford police were called, while in Norwich a council meeting was abandoned and all doors to the Town Hall were locked when councillors heard that ACORN members had assembled nearby.
Brighton councillors refused to listen to members’ stories and walked out of the chambers – but their chants were so loud they could not be ignored anywhere in the building.
The actions have been calling on councils to drop their use of private bailiff firms that rely on aggressive tactics, piling additional fees onto already struggling households and trapping people in debt spirals. In their place they are calling for a fairer system, based on early intervention, support and affordable repayment plans for struggling residents.
They have also been demanding councils to support their calls on the Government to end imprisonment for council tax debt, to end the postcode lottery dictating how people in debt are treated when struggling to pay by bringing in a standard, nationwide protocol, and to reform the council tax system and replace it with a proportional property tax, a fairer system of local government revenue creation.
Chelsea Phillips, ACORN National Chair, said:
“Over the past month, ACORN has taken our Bailiff Free Britain campaign to 20 councils across England and Wales.
We are demanding an end to the cruel use of bailiffs against our communities when people are at their most vulnerable.
Council tax debt is rising, with nearly £7billion people in England and Wales falling behind on their payments as the cost of living crisis rumbles on.
Councils exist to serve and protect people, and it is a disgrace that thugs are sent to people’s homes on the council’s behalf.
But bailiffs are part of the problem, not the solution. Private bailiff firms are making a killing – literally in some cases – as struggling residents are hounded and harassed. This hurts people, it harms our communities, and in the long run it costs our councils.
That’s why we’re calling for councils to replace them with early intervention and support for people falling behind, for reform of the unfair and ineffective council tax system, and for dignity, not debt for our families and our communities.
Join us in demanding that every council across England and Wales ends the use of bailiffs. Become a member, sign our letter to the government demanding change, and stand with your neighbours to protect our communities from intimidation and harm. Together we win!”