Stanford & Green: what a letter means and what to do

If you have a notice of enforcement from Stanford & Green, 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 or creditor, offer a payment you can afford and get free advice. This guide covers England and Wales.

Who are Stanford & Green?

Stanford & Green is registered at Companies House as STANFORD & GREEN LIMITED, company number 04691456. It is an active private limited company, incorporated on 10 March 2003, with its registered office in Faversham, Kent. Its business is listed as the activities of collection agencies. Its registered persons with significant control are two individuals, each holding more than 25% but not more than 50% of the shares; it is not recorded as owned by another company.

The firm often calls itself S&G, and says it has been helping local authorities recover money for more than 30 years.

Is Stanford & Green regulated?

The Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) lists Stanford and Green Limited as an accredited firm, with accreditation dating from October 2023. It is a member of CIVEA, the Civil Enforcement Association. The firm also says it belongs to the British Parking Association and the Credit Services 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 Stanford & Green.

Why are Stanford & Green contacting you?

S&G says it acts for local authorities, commercial businesses and private clients across England and Wales. Its website lists council tax, business rates (non-domestic rates) and BID levy, road traffic debt, housing benefit overpayments, former tenant arrears, sundry debts, adult social care, commercial rent and warrants of arrest.

Each type of debt has its own legal route, and that decides what S&G can do:

• 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, and council tax arrears explains the steps before it.
• Parking and traffic 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.
• Housing benefit overpayments, former tenant arrears, adult social care charges, sundry debts and unpaid invoices: without a liability order, warrant or court judgment behind the debt, whoever collects it is acting as a debt collector and has no power to take your goods.
• Commercial rent: this affects business tenants, not people renting a home.
• Warrants of arrest: if a letter mentions arrest, it is a court matter, not debt collection. Contact the court named on it straight away and get legal advice.

Is the debt yours, and is it right?

Check the name, address, creditor, reference number and amount. S&G tells people to refer to the letter they received for the amount owed and what to do next. If anything is wrong, contact the creditor using the details on its official website, and tell S&G in writing that you dispute it. Only the creditor can cancel the enforcement or confirm what the order covers.

• 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 S&G in writing. Bailiffs cannot take goods that belong to someone else.

What can Stanford & Green do, and what can they not do?

S&G’s 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. S&G’s FAQs, checked on 10 September 2026, still refer to a minimum of seven clear days, so check the dates on your own notice.

Fees

The fees are set by law, not by S&G, and are added to what you owe. S&G’s FAQs show the current figures.

For example, on council tax arrears of £3,100 in a new case, the compliance fee takes the total to £3,179. A visit adds £247 plus 7.5% of £1,200 (£90), so £337, making £3,516.

When you pay part of what you owe, the money does not all go to the debt first. The compliance fee is taken first, and the rest is shared proportionately between the debt and the remaining fees. Ask S&G for a statement showing how each payment was split.

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. S&G says its agents visit between 6am and 9pm, 7 days a week.

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. They could take a car you own from outside, unless it displays a valid Blue Badge and is used to carry the badge holder. 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

S&G’s website has a form to tell it you are vulnerable, an income and expenditure form and a page of debt advice links. Tell S&G and the creditor about illness, disability, mental health problems, a recent bereavement or anything else that makes things harder, with evidence if you have it. GOV.UK says vulnerable people may be able to get extra time to pay or to get debt advice. Only the council or creditor can take the case back, so tell them 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). S&G says that if you agree an arrangement at this compliance stage and keep to it, no visits will be made and no enforcement fees will be added. Offer an amount you can realistically keep up, backed by a budget. A debt adviser can ask for the longer 28-day notice period while you work out a plan.

If an agent visits

S&G says its agents carry two forms of identification: a company picture badge and a certificated enforcement agent’s certificate. Ask to see both, and check the name on the official register. You do not have to let them in for council tax or parking debts.

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 S&G before you miss it.

If goods or your car are about to be removed

Contact S&G and the creditor 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 Stanford & Green?

• Use the contact details on your own paperwork, or on the council’s or creditor’s official website. The creditor can confirm whether it has passed your case to S&G.
• 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 both forms of 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 Stanford & Green?

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 Stanford & Green?

1. Complain to S&G first. It has a three-stage procedure. At stage 1, it aims to acknowledge within 2 working days and respond within 5 working days. If that does not resolve it, stage 2 is a formal investigation by senior staff, with a response within 14 working days.
2. Stage 3 is the Enforcement Conduct Board, because S&G is accredited. You must finish S&G’s process first. The ECB asks you to complain within 3 months of becoming aware of the problem, or within 1 month of the firm’s final response.
3. Complain to the creditor as well. For council debts, if you are unhappy with the council’s final response, you can go to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, or in Wales the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
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 S&G and the creditor, 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.