For a full transcript of this week’s episode on the council’s use of bailiffs, click here.
Way back in 2018, the Cable launched a campaign calling for Bristol City Council to stop using bailiffs to collect council tax.
Reporting by Adam Cantrell-Corn, one of this organisation’s founders, had revealed how this practice was – because the use of debt collection agencies incurs extra costs – pushing people further into debt.
That’s before we even stop to consider the intimidating experience of having bailiffs on your doorstep, and how confusing it can be untangling bureaucracy around getting yourself back out of debt.
Luckily, the council was receptive to the Cable’s campaign, for which we also sought the advice of debt advice charities, and its use of bailiffs soon began to drop. Bristol’s deputy mayor, Craig Cheney, knew from personal experience what it was like having debt collectors at the door – and the council agreed in 2019 to take a more ethical approach around working with people to sort out their finances.
Soon afterwards, the pandemic descended and many things, including debt management, stopped working as they previously had done.
But after Covid receded, Cable reporter Matty Edwards decided to check in on whether Bristol City Council had stuck to its pledges around treating debtors more sensitively. The picture is not 100% clear – but the evidence, including some gathered via freedom of information requests in the last few days – suggests it has not.
In this latest episode of the Debrief, Matty talks to fellow Cable reporter Alex Turner about how the story has unfolded, the bleak interviews he has carried out recently with people being hounded for money, and what the new Green-led council administration could do next.
Tune into another informative discussion, which underlines why it’s so important for journalists to stick with the story – even when it plays out over a period of years.
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