Southwark Income Enforcement Services
If you owe rent arrears, a housing benefit overpayment, a general invoice or a debt to our enforcement agents, this will be passed to Southwark Income Enforcement Services for collection.
You'll know if your debt has been passed to this team as any notices you receive about your debt(s) will specify this.
Depending on the type of debt there are various ways we can recover the money:
- Rent arrears - we can order your employer to take money from your pay, or apply to the court for a Charging Order and an Order for Sale to force your home to be sold.
- Housing benefit overpayment - we can order your employer to take money from your pay, order the DWP to take money from your benefit entitlement, apply to the court for a Charging Order and an Order for Sale to force your home to be sold or ask the court for an order to enforce an award, which is similar to a county court judgement.
- General invoice – we can ask the court to make you bankrupt.
- Enforcement agent for Council Tax or business rates arrears – we can take your goods and sell them to pay off the debt.
To prevent any of this action please pay in full or agree a payment arrangement with us. Depending on your circumstances we can agree a reasonable arrangement for all debts you owe to Southwark Income Enforcement Services.
Providing you stick to the arrangement and don’t fall behind on any ongoing charges (for example ongoing rent or Council Tax), we'll stop enforcement action for all debt types.
COVID-19
If you have a question or want to tell us about the impact COVID-19 has had on your Council payments, please use our form:
Tell us about the impact COVID-19 has had on your Council payments
We know these are difficult times for many residents and we want to help. If you're worried about debts or have missed payments, there is free, confidential and independent debt advice available. Money Helper can direct you to a debt adviser straight away.
Page last updated: 01 July 2022
