How Sherbet Works

Shergroup along with other enforcement officers have a clear responsibility to enforce the orders and judgments of the courts. However out of that very clear duty they felt they wanted to help those who were really in hardship and were being pursued by creditors who probably didn’t appreciate how tough it was for the family they were visiting.

Shergroup has developed unique “Insight Process” into the debtor’s circumstances to recognise the signs of genuine hardship so that Sherbet can offer some form of assistance. That assistance is being termed a “Helping Hand” grant, we are not paying off the debt or stopping eviction but we are offering some form of help to the family.

How Does The Insight Process Begin?

What we can start to do is use the time when the Officer is at the door or standing with the debtor inside the home, to evaluate if the family could use a “helping hand”. Perhaps the washing machine is on the blink and the children need clean clothes, perhaps the parents would welcome a break from the children so a children´s holiday can be organised or perhaps mum and dad just need some counselling on what to do next. The Enforcement Officer can offer the family a leaflet which encourages them to apply for a Sherbet grant.

An Enforcement Officer will only offer a grant form when there are clearly no goods available to be taken to pay the debt and the family and the children appear to be in genuine hardship. As Shergroup Enforcement Officers photograph where they go and what they see, it becomes easier for the Trustees to see some of the insight which has led the Enforcement Officer to suggest the family apply for a Sherbet grant.

What If The Family Has Goods Which Can Be Taken?

Of course if the debtor and his or her family have goods which can be taken to sell at auction and a payment arrangement cannot be negotiated then the creation of Sherbet won´t affect the Enforcement Officer´s ability to enforce the judgment.

Nevertheless, what Sherbet does is open the eyes of the creditor to the situation that the family is living in. Enforcement Officers are the eyes and ears of those who instruct them.

Shergroup is encouraging creditors who work with them to take the “garden path test” and try to visualise what the term “goods” really means. In a domestic setting the item which is worth something is going to the family car. If that is available and checks bear out that the vehicle is registered to the debtor then in the absence of payment or a plan for payment the car is likely to be removed.

However, imagine what an Enforcement Officer might find inside a typical British home. If we move inside the house and visualise the type of goods that could be removed, usually it's pretty standard bits and bobs, much of which is covered by legislation which prevents it from being taken anyway.

What Legislation Controls The Seizure and Removal of Goods?

High Court Enforcement Officers are guided in statute by Section 99, Schedule 7, paragraph 9 (2)(a) of the Courts Act 2003 which lays down what an Enforcement Officer may seize. The goods which may be seized and ultimately sold include:

Enforcement Officers when visiting the homes of the general public use this guidance to evaluate what can and cannot be seized. Luxury items such as Plasma TV´s, cinema surround sound systems, laptops, antiques, paintings and jewellery all fall outside the statutory guidance.

Much of what the Enforcement Officer sees will be in the sitting room, dining room and kitchen. Officers don’t go routing through drawers and cupboards to locate “goods”. Efforts are made to maintain the dignity of the debtor through what must be seen as a humiliating and traumatic ordeal. Look at the picture below: is this all this poor person had to offer us – her engagement, wedding and eternity rings? How would we even convince that person to remove those rings from her fingers and allow her to keep her dignity?

But of course there are always people in the system who are less than honest, who try to hide their assets and play the system. Sherbet is not designed to be of any assistance to these types of judgment debtor.

How Does The Grant Making Process Work?

Naturally the initial Insight Process is based on what the Officer sees and this may be misleading. It is therefore important that the Grant Making Process helps to fill in the blanks so that only those people in genuine need are helped.

Once the Enforcement Officer hands out a Grant Form the person in debt has to complete this and send it to Sherbet’s Grant Assessment Team. Criteria are set on how a grant can then be made. If an application meets the criteria the “Helping Hand Grant” can be made. Sherbet is currently working to offer a number of types of different grant to help families affected by enforcement action.

Four times a year the Sherbet Trustees meet to evaluate the cases that come through the Grant Assessment Process to make the final decision on grants that need further evaluation.

What Insight Do The Trustees Have?

As part of the Grant Making Process Enforcement Officers are asked to include in their reports a separate comment on why they feel a Sherbet Grant should be offered to the person or family in debt.

From being with that family and seeing its difficulties first hand Sherbet can identify families who have been affected by enforcement action and their wider debt problem.

Perhaps the children saw the bailiff talking to mummy about taking the car away, or saw daddy’s prized plasma loaded on to a removal van. Perhaps dad came home from work and shouted at mum or mum just sat on the bottom of the stairs crying about how what would she do if she lost her home.

Sherbet is a way to help in these very real, very human problems. Imagine that the Enforcement Officer – instead of being the baddie – actually recognises that here is a family who could do with a “helping hand”.

Perhaps the children could go on a holiday to give mum and dad a break, or perhaps some professional stress counselling for either mum or dad could take some strife out of family life and enable them to cope with their situation.