Last week, an urgent distress call came through via Twitter. The message was short and straightforward: “Guys, please help me.” I was tagged in the tweet, along with a few others. The sender, Sharron Spice, has been sharing her experiences as a poor individual living in a wealthy country in the heat or eat diaries series for The Guardian over the past year. She highlighted the struggle of dealing with the cost of living crisis, which has persisted for decades rather than just a few years. However, this time her distress signal was due to the repossession of her car by bailiffs. She desperately tried to locate her car by calling local pounds, but to no avail. Nightfall added to her anxiety and distress.
I personally knew the environment she was in, as I grew up in the same neighborhood in outer London, Edmonton. Contrary to the common perception of London as a city of wealth and abundance, Edmonton serves as a stark contradiction. It used to be a hub for light industry, but it now houses some of the most disadvantaged communities in England.
When a neighbor is in trouble, it is only natural to offer assistance. In doing so, I discovered that the issue at hand was not simply the repossession of a 20-year-old car, but rather a deeper issue of economic disparity that is rarely explored by the media and seldom addressed by government officials. This problem is widespread and rapidly growing.
Sharron Spice is not alone in her struggles. Since the onset of the cost of living crisis, over 2 million people have been contacted by bailiffs, while debt-enforcement companies are reporting record profits.
While the media portrays rising prices as a temporary inconvenience for the middle class, caused by global events and resulting in higher mortgage rates and reduced trips to luxury grocery stores, there are millions of individuals for whom the problem isn’t rising prices but rather stagnant and falling incomes.
A recent book titled “When Nothing Works” exposes the groups that have seen the greatest increase in take-home pay since the turn of the millennium. The authors discovered a striking pattern: the wealthier you are, the more money you receive. The top 10% of society has experienced a 25% increase in pay, while the bottom 10% has only seen a 3% rise over the past 20 years. This meager increase does not cover the rising costs of food and transportation, nor does it protect them from the recent surge in energy prices.
Spice falls into that bottom 10% category. She takes on short-term jobs in the precarious labor market, championed by politicians but leaving workers struggling to make ends meet. Currently, she works as a youth worker for the local council, primarily assisting troubled teenagers. “I believe I can make a difference,” she says, expressing her desire to open their eyes to the opportunities of higher education or stable employment. Unfortunately, on her two contracts, one of which is based on zero-hours and the other guaranteeing only nine hours of work per week, she can barely cover her expenses, let alone save.
Adding to this precarious financial situation, Spice encounters two parking tickets. While others might consider it a minor annoyance, simply paying with a credit card, for Spice, it becomes an insurmountable burden as she is already behind on rent, water bills, electricity bills, and council tax payments. Like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, she ignores the letters demanding payment, until ultimately finding herself in the clutches of bailiffs. At this point, her troubles truly begin.
Think interest rates at 6% are bad? Within a few weeks of the tickets falling into the hands of the bailiffs, her debt increases by over 100%. As outlined in a breakdown provided by the company, every action they take adds to her bill. A simple letter demanding payment costs her £75, a visit from a company representative at her doorstep costs an additional £235, and the seizure of her car incurs an extra £110. On top of that, she faces a daily storage charge of £24 for every day she is unable to drive her car. These fees, set by the government based on industry calculations, result in debt-enforcement firms making significant profit margins while pursuing some of the most financially vulnerable individuals in the country.
One of Spice’s sisters is currently battling long Covid, and she heavily relies on her car to transport her sister to the hospital, pick up her children from school, and assist with family groceries. Losing her car equates to losing her freedom. Spice has a history of anorexia and, when we meet, she discloses that she has returned to eating only one small meal per day, late at night. “With everything feeling so out of control, I want to control what I eat.”
Speaking of being out of control, consider this: one of the parking tickets is issued by the very same council that employs Spice on a zero-hours contract to support troubled young individuals. During the day, she fulfills the role of a low-paid key worker, but at night, she becomes a struggling debtor. This is a testament to the brokenness of our economy. Furthermore, the years of austerity have allowed bailiffs to rebrand themselves as “enforcement agents,” and some have even garnered television shows like “Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away!” which is watched by millions.
The enforcement agents in Spice’s case are from a large corporation called CDER. After a few days, a director from the company responds, asserting that they have followed all necessary regulations. Upon reviewing the letters, the debt-advice charity StepChange confirms that CDER’s claim is accurate. However, these regulations are almost nonexistent, imposing only minimal requirements on bailiffs, such as not knocking on a person’s door in the middle of the night or entering a house when only a child is present. While an independent oversight body is in the process of being established, it will only have a core team of five members at full capacity. This state of affairs allows bailiffs to profit at the expense of families who have fallen into debt. The poor are left with a poor legal system.
Spice is not a reckless spender, but in this situation, she would have been better off accumulating a large credit card debt. Middle-class individuals with such debt enjoy far greater legal protections. StepChange highlights that, as a charity, they are subject to much stricter regulations compared to the bailiffs they interact with.
A week after Spice’s crisis began, there is some positive news. Firstly, CDER agrees to hold off on selling her car and reduces their fees by a few hundred pounds. Additionally, a friend lends her money to cover part of her debt, and after some negotiation, the director of CDER agrees to a settlement. It took a week of distress and the intervention of a national newspaper to achieve this small respite for a woman trying to navigate an economy that is stacked against her. “A happy ending!” Spice exclaims before heading to the pound. But I can’t help but think that this is only a momentary reprieve. Being poor in Britain is so expensive that it can lead to one’s downfall.
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