Enforcement company
Proserve Debt Recovery: Bailiff or Collector?
The name Proserve Debt Recovery & Bailiff Services describes two different jobs, and your letter is doing one of them, not both. Debt recovery means chasing a sum with no power to enter or take anything. Bailiff services means acting as a certificated enforcement agent under an order.
- Which Proserve company has your case
- Debt recovery or certificated bailiff?
- Whether Proserve can take goods
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What are Proserve Debt contacting you about?
May not be suitable in all circumstances. Our initial advice is free, but fees may apply and your credit rating may be affected if you opt for a debt solution.
Company details
| Type | Enforcement company |
|---|---|
| Registered name | Proserve Debt Recovery |
Key facts
- Company number
- 07458475, ECB accredited Oct 2023
- Based
- Colwyn Bay, North Wales
- Two roles
- Debt collection and certificated enforcement
- Watch
- A similarly named Proserve PCN company also exists
On this page 9 sections
Reading which role applies is the whole of understanding your position, and there is a further wrinkle in North Wales worth clearing up first, because a similarly named company also operates there.
Make sure it is the right Proserve
Two separately registered companies with almost identical names operate from Colwyn Bay. This page is about Proserve Debt Recovery & Bailiff Services Ltd, company number 07458475. A distinct entity, Proserve Debt Recovery & PCN Services Limited, company number 10298465, also exists in the same town. They are different legal persons, so before you write, pay or dispute anything, match the exact company name and number printed on your letter against the register. Correspondence sent to the wrong company can leave your position unrecorded on the one that actually holds your case.
Who are Proserve Debt Recovery & Bailiff Services?
Proserve Debt Recovery & Bailiff Services Ltd is registered at Companies House under company number 07458475, incorporated on 2 December 2010, with its registered office at 30 Wynnstay Road, Colwyn Bay, Conwy, LL29 8NB. It has been accredited by the Enforcement Conduct Board since October 2023. It is not listed by CIVEA or by the High Court Enforcement Officers Association, which fits a regional firm doing certificated enforcement and collection rather than High Court writs.
Debt recovery and bailiff work are not the same power
This distinction is the practical heart of the firm's name, so it is worth being precise.
| Role | What Proserve can do | What it cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Debt recovery (collection) | Write, call and ask you to pay a debt owed to a client | Enter your home, take goods, or add enforcement fees |
| Bailiff services (certificated enforcement) | Take control of goods under a court order or liability order, under Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 | Act at all without an order behind it |
If no court judgment or liability order is mentioned anywhere on your paperwork, you are almost certainly dealing with the collection side, which has no more authority than any other debt collection agency. If an order is named, the enforcement rules below apply.
When enforcement is council tax
Where Proserve is enforcing council tax, a council must first hold a liability order from the magistrates' court. Under regulation 34(3) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992, the six-year limit applies to how long the council has to apply for that order, not to enforcing one already granted, so an older debt is not automatically out of time. As a firm based in Wales, note too that the earlier recovery steps a billing authority must follow are no longer identical across the border, so a Welsh timetable can differ from an English one. Our council tax bailiffs guide has the detail.
Can Proserve take goods, and can it force entry?
Only on the enforcement side, and only goods belonging to the debtor, the rule at paragraph 10 of Schedule 12. Entry to a home on a first visit must be peaceable; you do not have to open the door. Reasonable force is confined to narrow situations under paragraph 17: business premises the debtor trades from, where the debt is not a traffic penalty, under paragraph 18A, and re-entry after a broken controlled goods agreement under paragraph 19A. Regulation 4 keeps essentials permanently out of reach: everyday clothing and bedding, basic household equipment, items for medical care or caring for a child, a disabled or an older person, pets and assistance dogs, a vehicle with a valid disabled person's badge, and work equipment up to £1,350. See when bailiffs can force entry and what bailiffs can take.
What enforcement costs, and what collection does not
If Proserve is enforcing an order, it charges the statutory scale in force from 1 May 2026: £79 compliance, £247 enforcement, and £116 on sale, with 7.5% added above £1,900. Under regulation 11 of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014, the compliance fee is chargeable once per enforcement power but the enforcement and sale fees only once where powers are enforced together. If Proserve is only collecting, none of these enforcement fees can be added, so a collection letter demanding a bailiff's compliance fee is worth challenging immediately.
Your notice, and asking for time
On the enforcement side a Notice of Enforcement must give at least 14 clear days, extendable to a minimum of 28 clear days where a recognised debt advice provider requests it unless the debt is a non-eligible business debt. If you can offer something, ask Proserve to record an arrangement and, where a controlled goods agreement is proposed, check every listed item is yours and not exempt before signing. National Debtline, StepChange and Citizens Advice give free help preparing an offer.
Vulnerability, disputes and complaints
Tell Proserve and the creditor in writing if illness, disability, bereavement, caring responsibilities or a language barrier applies. Send any dispute about the debt itself to the creditor or council, since Proserve cannot rewrite the underlying account. For conduct, use the firm's own complaints procedure, then the instructing creditor, then the Enforcement Conduct Board for the enforcement side, given accreditation since October 2023.
What to do next
- Confirm you have the right Proserve company by checking the name and number on your letter.
- Work out whether it is collection or enforcement from whether an order is named.
- If enforcement, check the fee stage against the fixed scale; if collection, refuse any enforcement fee.
- If the debt is wrong, write to the creditor or council today.
- If you are vulnerable, put it in writing now.
How a Proserve Debt Recovery debt could reach bailiffs
A debt collector cannot send bailiffs. Only a court can, and only after a judgment. These are the stages in between, and each one is easier to deal with than the one after it.
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A collector asks you to pay
No court is involved yet. A debt collection agency has no enforcement powers at all, it cannot enter your home, take goods or add enforcement fees. This stage can last a long time.
-
A County Court claim is issued
The creditor, or the company that bought the debt, asks the court to decide you owe the money. This is the stage where the deadlines start to matter, and where a defence such as limitation has to be raised.
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Judgment is entered (a CCJ)
If you do not respond in time, judgment is entered by default, without anyone examining whether the debt was correct. A CCJ stays on your credit file for six years.
-
A warrant or writ of control is issued
An unpaid judgment can be enforced. This is the document that authorises enforcement agents to attend, and the point at which a debt collection matter becomes a bailiff matter.
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Enforcement agents can attend you are here
Now there are real powers: peaceable entry, taking control of goods, and statutory fees of £79, £247 and £116 at defined stages. This is the stage the earlier ones exist to avoid.
Which bailiffs would actually attend
That depends on the amount and on what kind of debt it is, and the rule is set by article 8 of the High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction Order 1991 rather than by the creditor's preference.
- Under £600, the judgment can only be enforced in the county court, so county court bailiffs attend under a warrant of control.
- £5,000 or more, and not a regulated credit agreement, it can only be enforced in the High Court, so High Court enforcement officers attend under a writ of control. They charge on a different and higher fee scale.
- Anything else, including a regulated credit agreement of any size, may be enforced in either court.
Whether your agreement is regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 changes which court can enforce it. Credit cards, loans, overdrafts and catalogue accounts usually are; council tax, traffic penalties and court fines are not, and those reach enforcement by a different route entirely.
If several debts are enforced together
This happens often, particularly where one company has bought several of your accounts, or where a council has more than one liability order against you. The enforcement agent is instructed on all of them at once and deals with them on the same visit.
The fees do not simply multiply, and this is where people are most often overcharged. Where the agent is instructed under more than one enforcement power against the same debtor, and those powers can reasonably be exercised at the same time, regulation 11 of the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 splits the treatment:
- The £79 compliance fee may be charged for each enforcement power. Several of these is correct.
- The £247 enforcement fee and the £116 sale fee may each be charged only once, however many debts are involved.
So three debts enforced together should cost three compliance fees and one enforcement fee, £484, rather than three separate lots of £326. If you have been charged an enforcement fee for each debt on a single visit, that is worth challenging in writing.
The saving depends on the debts genuinely being enforceable at the same time. Where an agent legitimately attends on separate occasions for unrelated matters, separate fees can apply, so it is worth checking the dates and references on the fee breakdown before challenging it.
Not sure which one is contacting you? How to tell from the paperwork
Frequently asked questions
Is Proserve Debt Recovery & Bailiff Services a genuine firm?
Yes. Proserve Debt Recovery & Bailiff Services Ltd is registered at Companies House under company number 07458475, incorporated on 2 December 2010, at 30 Wynnstay Road, Colwyn Bay, Conwy, LL29 8NB. It has been accredited by the Enforcement Conduct Board since October 2023.
There seem to be two Proserve companies. Which one has my case?
A second, separately registered company, Proserve Debt Recovery & PCN Services Limited (company number 10298465), also operates from Colwyn Bay. They are different legal entities, so check the exact company name and number on your letter before you correspond or pay.
Is Proserve a bailiff or a debt collector?
Both, depending on the stage. Under the debt-recovery side it collects without any power to enter or seize. Under the bailiff-services side, and only once a court or council order exists, it can act as a certificated enforcement agent and take control of goods.
Can Proserve take my things?
Only when it is enforcing an actual court order or liability order as a certificated agent, and even then only goods that belong to the debtor and are not exempt. When it is simply collecting a debt by letter, it can take nothing.
What can Proserve charge if it is enforcing an order?
The fixed statutory scale: £79 compliance, £247 enforcement, £116 sale, with 7.5% above £1,900. If it is acting only as a debt collector, those enforcement fees do not apply at all.
How do I complain about Proserve?
Start with the firm, then the creditor or council that instructed it, then the Enforcement Conduct Board, which has accredited Proserve since October 2023, for the enforcement side of its work.
Sources
- Companies House register GOV.UK Checked 2026-08-13
-
Enforcement Conduct Board
Enforcement Conduct Board
independent oversight of the enforcement industry (bailiffs) to ensure that all those who are subject to enforcement action in England & Wales are fairly treated.
Checked 2026-08-17 -
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, Schedule 12, paragraph 10
legislation.gov.uk
An enforcement agent may take control of goods only if they are goods of the debtor.
Checked 2026-08-17 -
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, Schedule 12, paragraph 17
legislation.gov.uk
Where paragraph 18, 18A, 19 or 19A applies, an enforcement agent may if necessary use reasonable force to enter premises or to do anything for which the entry is authorised.
Checked 2026-08-17 -
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, Schedule 12, paragraph 18A
legislation.gov.uk
This paragraph applies if these conditions are met— (a) the enforcement agent has power to enter the premises under paragraph 14; (b) the enforcement agent reasonably believes that the debtor carries on a trade or business on the premises; (c) the enforcement agent is acting under a writ or warrant of control issued for the purpose of recovering a sum payable under a High Court or county court judgment; (d) the sum so payable is not a traffic contravention debt.
Checked 2026-08-17 -
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, Schedule 12, paragraph 19A
legislation.gov.uk
This paragraph applies if these conditions are met— (a) the enforcement agent has power to enter the premises under paragraph 16; (b) the enforcement agent has taken control of the goods by entering into a controlled goods agreement with the debtor; (c) the debtor has failed to comply with any provision of the controlled goods agreement.
Checked 2026-08-17 -
Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013, regulation 4
legislation.gov.uk
items or equipment (for example, tools, books, telephones, computer equipment and vehicles) which are necessary for use personally by the debtor in the debtor's employment, business, trade, profession, study or education, except that in any case the aggregate value of the items or equipment to which this exemption is applied shall not exceed £1,350… assistance dogs (including guide dogs, hearing dogs and dogs for disabled persons), sheep dogs, guard dogs or domestic pets; a vehicle on which a valid disabled person's badge is displayed.
Checked 2026-08-17 -
Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014, Schedule 1 Table 1, as amended by SI 2026/366
legislation.gov.uk
Compliance stage £79.00 0%; Enforcement stage £247.00 7.5%; Sale or disposal stage £116.00 7.5% — percentage of sum to be recovered exceeding £1900.
Checked 2026-08-17 -
Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013, regulation 6, as amended by SI 2026/366
legislation.gov.uk
notice of enforcement must be given to the debtor not less than 14 clear days before the enforcement agent takes control of the debtor's goods. Where, before the expiration of the period of notice indicated in the notice of enforcement, a request is submitted by a debt advice provider on behalf of the debtor, the minimum period of notice referred to in paragraph (1) must be extended to a minimum of 28 clear days before the enforcement agent takes control of the goods. The extension under paragraph (1A) does not apply where the debt is non-eligible business debt. Where the period referred to in paragraph (1) or (1A) includes a Sunday, bank holiday, Good Friday or Christmas Day that day does not count in calculating the period.
Checked 2026-08-17 -
Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014, regulation 11
legislation.gov.uk
The enforcement agent may recover the compliance stage fee in respect of each enforcement power to which the instructions relate… the fixed fee for each stage may be recovered only once regardless of the number of enforcement powers to which the instructions relate.
Checked 2026-08-13 -
Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992, regulation 34(3)
legislation.gov.uk
no application may be instituted in respect of a sum after the period of six years beginning with the day on which it became due
Checked 2026-08-13
Next step
Not sure where you stand?
Tell us what has happened and we will work out what your options actually are: which stage you are at, what the fees should be, and what can still be challenged.
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- Specialists in enforcement, not general debt advice