It took three visits from the bailiffs before Khadijah Kamara decided she wanted to tell her story. Sometime later, she answered the door to a member of Acorn, a community union with a branch in Brighton, England, where she lives. ‘We ended up talking for one or two hours,’ she says.
Kamara explains that she has been struggling to deal with debt, unable to work due to multiple health issues. She says she fell behind on payments of council tax, which is charged to all house-holds in England, Scotland and Wales as a way for local authorities to raise money.
The first time a bailiff came to her house, Kamara says they also approached her children – who were around 17 and 18 years old at the time. ‘I said “it’s not their debt, I don’t appreciate you talking to my kids about my debt”, and then he started talking to me harshly.’
She says that she was due to have a hysterectomy just days after one of the bailiff visits, and that the stress has made her other health conditions worse.
‘Just because people are poor it doesn’t take away their human dignity,’ says Kamara. ‘They should be treated with respect.’
Brighton & Hove City Council said the bailiff action referred to by Kamara was not related to council tax collection. The authority did confirm it had sent an enforcement letter relating to council tax to Kamara, but said this was in error and she had since been issued with an apology.
As costs have continued to rise, one in four people in Britain are now behind on bills, credit card payments and other debt (not including mortgages and car finance). More than two million have been contacted by bailiffs over the past 18 months. Many say they have been subject to heavy-handed behaviour, including bailiffs forcing their way into homes.1
Today, Kamara is joined by a group of Acorn activists on a street stall in Brighton, to campaign against the use of bailiffs for council tax debts. By 2023 the equivalent of 1.3 million households in England and Wales were behind on their council tax payments.1
‘If so many people are using food banks, if so many people cannot pay their rent, if so many people cannot pay electricity, is it actually the system that’s the problem?’
But thanks to the work of Acorn and Debt Justice, in January Manchester And it seems like a cause people here in Brighton are keen to get behind. It’s been raining heavily but passers-by are happy to stop and during the two hours we stand outside the small supermarket not one person has a negative response.
