Ross & Roberts: what a letter means and what to do

If you have a notice of enforcement from Ross & Roberts, you have a short window before an agent can visit, and a visit adds at least £247 to what you owe. Use that time to check the debt, contact the council, offer a payment you can afford and get free advice. This guide covers England and Wales.

Who are Ross & Roberts?

Ross & Roberts is registered at Companies House as ROSS & ROBERTS LIMITED, company number 03365520. It is an active private limited company, incorporated on 6 May 1997, with its registered office in Birkenhead. The firm says it has provided debt resolution and High Court enforcement for local authorities and commercial clients for over 28 years.

Who owns Ross & Roberts?

Companies House shows Ross & Roberts was owned (75% or more) by Capita Holdings Limited until 31 July 2023. Since that date it has been owned (75% or more) by ColX Limited. ColX Group says it was formed in 2024 through the merger of four enforcement companies: Equita, Jacobs, Ross & Roberts and the Scottish firm Stirling Park. The Ross & Roberts website footer is copyright ColX Group.

So Ross & Roberts is a sister company of Jacobs and Equita. It is not part of Marston, which is a separate group. If your letter is from one of the sister firms, their guides cover the details, but the rules are the same.

Is Ross & Roberts regulated?

The Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) lists Ross & Roberts Limited as an accredited firm, with accreditation dating from October 2023. It is a member of CIVEA, the Civil Enforcement Association. The ECB is independent but voluntary and industry-funded, and CIVEA is a trade association: there is no statutory regulator for bailiffs yet. Bailiff work is not regulated by the FCA, and we found no FCA register entry for Ross & Roberts.

Why are Ross & Roberts contacting you?

A council has passed a debt to Ross & Roberts. Its FAQs say councils instruct it to collect council tax, business rates, parking fines, commercial rent arrears, former tenant arrears, housing benefit overpayments and sundry debts, including associated High Court enforcement. It says you will have had reminders and other notices, with chances to challenge the debt, before it reached the firm. Each type of debt has its own legal route:

• Council tax and business rates: the council gets a liability order from the magistrates’ court, and can then instruct enforcement agents. Our guide to council tax bailiffs covers this in detail.
• Parking and bus lane penalties: after an order for recovery, you have 21 days to pay or challenge it. If you do neither, bailiffs can be sent under a warrant of control.
• Sundry debts, housing benefit overpayments and former tenant arrears: Ross & Roberts says a debt collector, not an enforcement agent, visits about these. Without a liability order, warrant or court judgment, a collector has no power to take your goods.
• High Court enforcement: if a council or business has a court judgment, it may be transferred to the High Court and enforced under a writ of control. See our guide to High Court enforcement officers.

Is the debt yours, and is it right?

Check the name, address, council, reference number and amount. Ross & Roberts says that if you do not think you owe the debt, you should contact it straight away, and it can ask the council to check. It warns that you may still be liable for fees already added, and that High Court enforcement may continue while the query is checked.

Only the council or creditor can cancel the enforcement or confirm what the order covers, so contact them too, using the details on their official website.

• For council tax, the council can tell you which years and amounts the liability order covers.
• For a parking penalty, you can only challenge the order for recovery on limited grounds, such as never receiving the penalty notice.
• If a letter at your address is for someone who does not live there, tell Ross & Roberts in writing. Bailiffs cannot take goods that belong to someone else.

What can Ross & Roberts do, and what can they not do?

Ross & Roberts’ agents follow the same law as every bailiff in England and Wales. The main rules are below; our guide to what bailiffs can and cannot do has more detail.

Notice

You must get a notice of enforcement at least 14 clear days before an agent can take control of your goods. If a debt adviser asks on your behalf before those days run out, this extends to at least 28 clear days. For cases that started before 1 May 2026, the old 7-day notice period still applies.

Fees

The fees are set by law, not by Ross & Roberts, and are added to what you owe. Its FAQs show the current figures and say the compliance fee is charged per debt, so two liability orders mean two compliance fees.

For example, on council tax arrears of £1,200 in a new case, the compliance fee takes the total to £1,279. A visit adds £247, making £1,526. There is no percentage fee because the debt is under £1,900. High Court enforcement has its own, higher fee scale; Ross & Roberts says VAT on High Court fees is charged to the creditor if it is VAT registered, and otherwise to you.

Entry

You usually do not have to open the door or let a bailiff in. They cannot come in by pushing past you, when only children under 16 or vulnerable people are present, between 9pm and 6am, or through anything except a door. They can only force entry to a home to collect criminal fines, Income Tax or Stamp Duty, and only as a last resort. Council tax, business rates and parking penalties are not on that list.

Your car and your belongings

If you let them in, they can take control of goods you own that are not protected. They cannot take clothes, beds and bedding, a cooker or fridge, a washing machine, basic heating and lighting, items needed to care for children, disabled or older people, pets, work tools and equipment together worth less than £1,350, or anything belonging to someone else.

Ross & Roberts says the sale stage involves removing a vehicle or household goods for sale at auction, and that an agent will look at your circumstances before a removal. An agent who clamps a car must leave a written notice with the date and time, the reason, a reference and a 24-hour contact number.

Vulnerable people

Ross & Roberts’ website has a vulnerability disclosure form, and lets you nominate someone else to deal with the firm for you. Tell the firm and the council about illness, disability, mental health problems, a recent bereavement or anything else that makes things harder, with evidence if you have it. Only the council can take the case back, so tell it too.

What should you do at each stage?

When the notice of enforcement arrives

Note the date and work out when the notice period ends (Sundays, bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day do not count). If you can pay in full before a visit, you avoid the enforcement fee. If you cannot, offer an amount you can realistically keep up. Ross & Roberts says arrangements depend on the council’s guidelines and your income, and that people on benefits need to show proof of entitlement to be considered for a reduced arrangement. Its website lets you submit a financial statement. A debt adviser can ask for the longer 28-day notice period while you work out a plan.

If an agent visits

Ask to see identification. You can check whether someone is a certificated enforcement agent on the official register. You do not have to let them in for council tax or parking debts, but they could take a car you own from outside.

If you sign a controlled goods agreement

A controlled goods agreement lets you keep your goods while you pay, but you agree not to sell or get rid of them. Only agree to payments you can keep up. If you break it, the agent must give you at least 2 clear days of written notice before coming back to inspect or remove the goods. If you cannot make a payment, contact Ross & Roberts before you miss it.

If goods or your car are about to be removed

Contact Ross & Roberts and the council straight away, and get debt advice the same day if you can. The sale stage adds at least another £116. Always get a receipt for any payment.

Is this letter or visit really from Ross & Roberts?

• Use the contact details on your own paperwork, or on the council’s official website. The council can confirm whether it has passed your case to Ross & Roberts.
• Do not rely on a phone number from a search result, or one given in an unexpected text, email or call. This page deliberately does not list the firm’s contact details.
• Ask for identification at the door and check the certificated enforcement agent register.
• Be wary of anyone pushing you to pay at once into an account you do not recognise.

How do debt solutions affect Ross & Roberts?

Council tax arrears are a priority debt, because the consequences of not paying are serious, so they usually need dealing with before debts such as credit cards.

• Breathing Space pauses enforcement action on included debts for up to 60 days. Council tax is only covered once arrears have built up.
• A debt management plan is informal. Creditors can still take action even if you keep up the payments.
• An IVA is a legally binding agreement under the Insolvency Act 1986. Creditors bound by it cannot take further action to recover the debts included in it; secured debts, and debts that cannot be included, are outside it. See whether an IVA stops debt collectors and bailiffs.
• During a debt relief order, a creditor owed a listed debt has no remedy for it without the court’s permission. DROs are free, for people with debts under £50,000, less than £75 a month spare, assets under £2,000 and a vehicle worth less than £4,000.
• After a bankruptcy order, creditors owed debts in the bankruptcy have no remedy against your property or you personally for those debts. Bankruptcy costs £680 to apply for.

None of these covers this year’s council tax, which you must keep paying. Each has costs, conditions and long-term effects on your credit file. The debt solutions comparison sets them side by side.

How do you complain about Ross & Roberts?

1. Complain to Ross & Roberts first. Its FAQs say complaints are acknowledged within 2 days and a full response is issued within 10 working days, and that the response is shared with the council it is acting for.
2. Complain to the council as well. If you are unhappy with its final response, you can go to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, or in Wales the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
3. Because Ross & Roberts is accredited by the Enforcement Conduct Board, the ECB can review a complaint once you have been through the firm’s process. Complain within 3 months of becoming aware of the problem, or within 1 month of the firm’s final response.
4. For serious misconduct by a certificated enforcement agent, you can complain to the court on form EAC2. It is free, but you may have to pay costs if the court decides there were no reasonable grounds.

GOV.UK explains how to complain about a bailiff. Our guide to dealing with debt collectors covers complaints about collection agencies, which follow a different route.

What to do next

1. Do not ignore the letter. Work out when the notice period ends and act before then.
2. Contact Ross & Roberts and the council, using official contact details, with an offer you can afford. Keep a note of every call and a copy of every letter.
3. Get free, impartial debt advice from MoneyHelper, StepChange, Citizens Advice or National Debtline. An adviser can ask for more time and look at all your debts together. See where to get free debt advice.