1. What to do when you’re facing a debt emergency

Before we work out how much money you have to put towards paying off your debts, you’ll need to sort out any debt emergencies you’re facing first. Debt emergencies are what happens when not paying your debt escalates to the point where your health, living conditions or possessions are at risk.

Types of debt emergency

Debt emergencies mean action is about to be taken against you in the immediate future. Examples of this include:

Bailiffs at the door

If bailiffs come to your house, most of the time it’s to create a Controlled Goods Agreement (CGA). This means taking ownership of your valuables so that they can be sold at auction to make up the money you owe if you don’t pay your debts off.  

They’ll look for any item that can pay your debt off in full, so will usually start by looking for expensive things like vehicles, expensive electronics or jewellery. If these aren’t enough, they’ll look at what else they can take.

What you can do

Bailiff visits can be unpleasant even if you’re expecting them, but they can have a good outcome if you take the right steps.

  • Don’t let them in – unless you owe a debt to HMRC or for a County Court Judgment (CCJ) bailiffs can only enter your home via peaceful entry, which means through an unlocked door.

    If all your doors are locked they won’t be able to come into your house to seize goods, so you can talk with them through your letterbox or out of a window.

    This doesn’t mean they won’t come to your house again in the future, but having a chat with a bailiff out the window is probably going to be a lot more civil than if they’ve walked in through your front door without asking.

  • Stay calm – most of the time bailiff visits aren’t as bad or dramatic as what you might’ve seen on TV. The more in control you are the better the situation is going to be, so try to stay relaxed, talk calmly and don’t get angry or emotional.
  • Negotiate a payment plan – this is what happens most of the time when bailiffs visit, especially if it’s the first time they’ve called.

    If you can agree to a fair, affordable repayment plan to pay back the money you owe and stick to it, you won’t lose any of your items. This will involve letting the bailiffs take inventory of your goods for a CGA either by letting them into your home or through a virtual bailiff visit.


Bailiffs are currently making virtual visits to prevent the spread of Covid-19. This means that you can agree to enter into a Controlled Goods Agreement without letting bailiffs into your home.

Being evicted

Your landlord might apply to have you evicted if you don’t pay your rent and owe arrears. To get you evicted, your landlord has to go through the courts and get a possession order against you.

What you can do

Getting a court order to have you evicted takes time and money, so usually your landlord will only do this as a last resort. They should try to come to an agreement with you first to repay the money you owe them, but if it’s already got to the eviction stage there are steps you can take.

  • Try to come to an agreement – even if the eviction date is a matter of days away, it’s never too late to try and negotiate with your landlord if you haven’t already.

    If you can get your landlord to agree to let you stay in your home by increasing your repayments to them over a period of time, it’s going to be a much better outcome than trying to find somewhere new to live.

    If you are evicted, you can get help with emergency accommodation by contacting your local council.

  • Get help with paying your rent – if the reason you haven’t come to an agreement with your landlord is because you don’t think you can afford it, then don’t let this stop you – you might be able to get extra money to help you pay your rent.

    This could mean claiming housing benefit if you don’t already. If you’re already claiming housing benefit, you could apply for a discretionary housing payment (DHP) from the council. Use our benefits calculator to find out what you can claim or head over to Citizen’s Advice for help with a DHP.

  • Attend the court hearing – if your landlord has taken court action against you, you’ll get details about when your hearing is in the post. If you want to stay in your home, you need to attend the hearing.

    Depending on your individual circumstances and what you can afford to pay in the future, the judge might decide to let you stay in your home. Find out more about eviction court hearings on Shelter’s website.


There is currently a ban on evictions until after May 31st 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic – find out more here Coronavirus hub.

Cutting off your utilities

If you don’t pay your utility bills there’s a small chance that your utilities might but cut off. This doesn’t happen very often though, and your supplier has to take steps to help you before they even consider cutting you off.

What you can do

  • Pay your debts off through a payment plan – your supplier has to offer you a range of repayment options before they consider cutting you off, with the most common one being a simple repayment plan.

    This will let you pay your energy bills off in an affordable way over a period of months. You’ll continue paying your current energy bills at the same time so that your utilities aren’t cut off. 

  • Agree to a pre-payment meter – pre-payment meters are another way to help with energy costs, and your supplier should offer to fit one in your home if you’re struggling to pay for energy costs. Because you’ll have a meter fitted in your home, you might find it easier to keep up with payments.

    If you’ve already got a meter fitted and can’t afford to top it up, your supplier has to provide you with emergency credit. They also have to offer you help with payment if you’re vulnerable, so contact them and tell them that you need emergency help if you’re worried that your utilities are about to be shut off.

  • Use grants to help with energy costs – you can get free grants to help lower your energy costs and stop debt emergencies from happening again in the future. To find out if you’re eligible for one, visit the government website.

Court action

As a last resort, your creditors might take you to court to try and recover the money you owe them. In England and Wales this is usually done by making a claim in the county court and getting a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against you.

What you can do

  • Make an offer of repayment – if your creditor has decided to take court action against you you’ll be sent a letter of claim with details about the debt you owe them. You’ll also be sent a reply form that you need to fill in and send back to your creditor within 30 days of receiving it.

    If you admit that you owe the debt, you should complete an N9A admission form and return it to your creditor along with an offer of repayment. If you can come to an agreement with your creditor to repay what you owe, you might be able to avoid going to court.

  • Dispute the debt – if you don’t think that you owe the debt or feel that the amount your creditor wants you to pay is wrong, you should dispute the claim. You’ll need to file a defence to do this, though, and we recommend seeking specialist advice if you want to go down this route.
  • Make the CCJ more affordable – if the CCJ is awarded against you but you can’t afford the payments, you can apply to have them reduced. To do this, you’ll need to complete form N95, which is the form to vary the CCJ payments, and send it to the court who set the CCJ.

    You should also include a completed income and expenditure form – this will help the court to see how much disposable income you’ve got each month and how much you can afford to pay for the CCJ.

FAQs

How much do bailiffs charge extra for fees?

Bailiffs charge fees for visiting your property that will be added on top of any debt you already owe – here’s what they cost.

General bailiff fees:

  • Compliance stage £75 (plus an extra 7%)
  • Enforcement Fee £235 (+7.5% if over £1500)
  • Sale/Disposal Fee £110 (+7.5% if over £1500)

Fees for High Court bailiffs:

  • Compliance £75
  • First Enforcement stage £190 (+7.5% if over £1000)
  • Second Enforcement stage £495
  • Sale £525 (+ 7.5% if over £1000)

Do I have to let a bailiff in?

Most of the time you don’t need to let them in. Usually, bailiffs can only enter your home via peaceful entry, which means entering through an unlocked or open door.

This means that as long as all your doors are locked the bailiffs won’t be able to get in your home, and you can talk to them through your letterbox or out your window, or speak to them outside the house altogether.

The only time that bailiffs can force entry into your home (as seen on Can’t Pay, We’ll Take It Away) is if you owe money to HMRC or for a CCJ. Bailiffs can also visit your home virtually, due to the pandemic.

Have evictions been banned?

Evictions have been temporarily suspended in all parts of the UK due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Because of this, your landlord will not be able to begin eviction proceedings against you until 31st of May at the earliest.