On 17th March 2009, the Ministry of Justice announced plans for a new code regulating the activities of bailiffs and one of the changes was to introduce a much needed Certificated Bailiff Register allowing debtors to search on-line to see if a bailiff is legally certificated.

Start your search by clicking here: Bailiff Register

Note: A search can be made by either first name, surname or employer. At present when searching by company name... for some comapnies you will have to put in the full name of the company as follows:

Bristow & Sutor....same name

CCS....CCS Enforcement Services Ltd

Dukes....Dukes Certificated Bailiffs

Equita....same name

JBW....JBW Enforcement Ltd

Marston....Marston Group

Newlyn....Newlyn Collection Services

Philips....same name

Rossendales....Rossendales Ltd

Swift....Swift Credit Services

Task....Task Enforcement

All County Courts are required to advise the Ministry of Justice when they grant.... or even cancel.... a Bailiff's Certificate. However...... mistakes and delays can be made by the Courts...... therefore if a search reveals that a bailiff is not listed as certificated we strongly advise that you ask the bailiff to provide a copy of his certificate or you may even send him or her a text message to say that you have searched the HMCS on-line Certificated Bailiff's Register and that this search does not show this bailiff as certificated or that it shows him to be certificated to work for a different company. You then need to ask him to confirm by text message which Court granted his certificate and on what date.

If your search reveals that the bailiff is working for a different company it is important to be aware that statutory regulations laid down by Parliament state that if there are "any changes" to the bailiff's certificate then the bailiff must "without delay" give notice to the County Court that issued his original certificate and a new certificate will be issued to him reflecting the changes. This is vitally important because, in almost all cases, the bailiff's bond will be cancelled when he leaves his previous employer.

It is always the case that if you have a complaint about a certificated bailiff that you first write to the bailiff company to allow them the opportunity to deal with your complaint.

Please Note:  A bailiff's certificate is valid for 2 years.