PROTESTERS have derailed a conference that brought together some of Britain’s biggest bailiff firms – forcing attendees to flee the event.

About 300 members of community union Acorn stormed the Civil Court Users Association conference in Leeds, featuring delegates and speakers from across the “debt recovery landscape,” on Tuesday.

Activists took over the building, unfurled banners and staged their own conference in the main hall, delivering powerful testimonies about the devastating impact of bailiff harassment.

Demonstrators then marched to Leeds Civic Hall to demand the council meet with their union and act immediately to end the use of bailiffs for council tax collection.

As the cost-of-living crisis tightens its grip, council tax arrears have soared to £6.6 billion.

Debt recovery firms have profited handsomely amid rising demand, with a recent BBC investigation revealing that more than 1.4 million households had been referred to bailiffs in the past year.

Acorn spokesperson Eleesha Taylor-Barrett said: “No-one should fear opening their curtains – but after falling behind on his council tax bills due to serious illness, my dad was left scared in his own home, worried that any sign of life from inside would mean a bailiff banging down his door.

“My dad’s not alone, across England and Wales bailiffs are terrorising our communities, forcing their way into homes and taking everything from TVs to kids’ toys when we’re already struggling.

“Meanwhile council tax debt continues to rise and bailiff companies are lining their pockets, and today they’re here eating their fancy dinners at our expense.” 

The action marked the first in Acorn’s Bailiff Free Britain campaign, which calls for councils to use early intervention, support and debt assistance instead.

Acorn spokesman Martin Mawdsley said “Bailiffs don't just profit from this crisis, they actively make it worse, driving people further into debt and making it harder to repay – which ultimately hurts the pockets of councils too.” 

The union is also demanding the end to imprisonment for non-payment of council tax debt and for the government to commit to exploring council tax alternatives such as proportional property tax.

A CCUA spokesperson said its conference “brought together professionals from across the public, private and third sector of the civil litigation landscape” and was “not ‘the conference for bailiffs’ as the protesters have said.”

“The protest action which forced us to evacuate and end the event less than halfway through was misdirected.”