Ross & Roberts: What They Enforce, and What It Costs

This page sets out who Ross & Roberts are, what they are instructed to collect, what the rules allow them to do, and the practical steps that change the outcome.

Who is behind the Ross & Roberts name?

Ross & Roberts Limited has been on the Companies House register since 6 May 1997, as company number 03365520, making it one of the longer-established names in council enforcement. Its registered office is 6 Europa Boulevard, Birkenhead, CH41 4PE, and its recorded SIC code, 82990, is the general business support classification used across the group it now belongs to.

The firm's own website describes over 140 years of experience, full national coverage, and a caseload spanning council tax, business rates, parking fines, commercial rent and High Court work. Those are its own claims rather than register facts, but the register does confirm something else useful: the Birkenhead address is shared with Jacobs Enforcement and Equita, and the reason sits in the ownership history set out next.

From Capita to Colx: the ownership behind Ross & Roberts

For seven years Ross & Roberts was a Capita business. The public register records Capita Holdings Limited as its person with significant control from 6 April 2016 until 31 July 2023, the day the position changed hands.

In July 2023 Capita plc agreed to sell its enforcement arm, comprising Equita and Ross & Roberts in England and Wales and Stirling Park in Scotland, to a group of investors led by Capricorn Capital Partners and Shackleton, with completion on 31 July 2023 and reported cash proceeds of £67 million plus a deferred payment. Scotland's enforcement system works differently from the bailiff system in England and Wales; our guide to who enforces debts in Scotland covers sheriff officers and diligence.

The acquisition vehicle is Colx Limited, company number 14900702, incorporated on 29 May 2023. It now holds 75 to 100% of Ross & Roberts's shares and voting rights, together with the right to appoint and remove directors, and the register shows it in the identical position at Equita Limited (03168371). From 30 April 2024 it gained the same control of Jacobs Enforcement Limited (15480247), whose founding owners ceased to be persons with significant control on that date. All three registered offices are 6 Europa Boulevard, Birkenhead.

The branding layered on top is the companies' own description rather than a register fact: Ross & Roberts's website presents Equita, Ross & Roberts and Stirling Park as together forming the Omexus Group, while the ColX Group website presents Jacobs alongside them. Our Equita and Jacobs Enforcement profiles cover the sister firms in the same detail.

What this means practically. Letters from more than one of these names come from separately incorporated companies under common ultimate ownership, not from one company with several letterheads. Each debt has to be dealt with on its own terms, none of the three can enforce a balance owed to another, and knowing the connection helps when correspondence from all of them starts to look strangely alike.

Enforcement agent, not a debt collector

Ross & Roberts is an enforcement agent, the role most people mean by "bailiff." A debt collection agency can only ask for payment; it has no legal power to enter a property or remove goods and would need to sue you and win before it could enforce anything.

An enforcement agent starts from a different position: it must be acting under a valid enforcement power. Depending on the debt, that may be a liability order, a warrant or writ, or statutory CRAR authority for qualifying commercial rent; CRAR does not require a prior court order. The powers Ross & Roberts uses are those in Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007: taking goods into legal control, fixed fees at set stages, and a tightly limited allowance for reasonable force.

If you are unsure which kind of letter you have, see bailiffs and debt collectors.

What Ross & Roberts is instructed to collect

The council tax and parking work makes up most of what reaches ordinary households. The business rates and rent arrears side is aimed at commercial premises and follows a different set of rules, covered further down this page.

A Ross & Roberts letter about a personal credit card, loan or catalogue debt would be unusual. Those debts do not normally arrive at an enforcement firm by any of the routes above.

Why Ross & Roberts has your case

The route depends on the debt, but the usual sequence looks like this:

1. A council tax bill, business rates bill, penalty charge notice or qualifying commercial rent went unpaid.
2. The notices required for that debt were sent.
3. The creditor obtained or invoked the authority needed to enforce: a liability order, warrant or writ, or the statutory CRAR power for qualifying commercial rent.
4. The case was passed to Ross & Roberts.

CRAR does not require a prior court order, while a liability order can be granted without you attending court. Letters also go astray after a house move. If the sequence above is not familiar, that is a reason to check with the creditor named on the correspondence, not a reason to assume the letter is fake.

Do you have to pay Ross & Roberts?

If the underlying debt is genuinely yours and the enforcement authority is valid, then yes, it is legally due. That is different from having to accept the amount, the fees or the timing without question.

You can still:

• ask which debt this is and which authority is being relied on
• request a full breakdown of the balance and every fee applied
• dispute the debt itself with the creditor, not just with Ross & Roberts
• propose a realistic payment arrangement rather than paying in full immediately
• ask for your circumstances to be taken into account if you are vulnerable

Ignoring the letter is the one option that reliably makes the balance worse, because each further stage of enforcement adds a fixed fee.

The Notice of Enforcement, and the clock it starts

Before goods can be taken into control, Ross & Roberts must send a Notice of Enforcement.

For cases falling under the rules in force from 1 May 2026, that notice gives at least 14 clear days. It was seven clear days before that. Unless the debt is a non-eligible business debt, a recognised debt advice organisation can request an extension to a minimum of 28 clear days, provided the request meets the statutory conditions and timing.

"Clear days" leaves out the day the notice is given and the day the period ends, so the real window is a little longer than a quick read suggests.

This period is worth more than any other stage. Settling matters while it is still running costs £79. Letting it lapse into a visit takes the cost past £326.

What each enforcement stage costs

No enforcement company decides its own prices. For the standard non-High-Court instructions covered by this table, Ross & Roberts uses the regulated three-stage scale.

These figures apply to standard non-High-Court instructions taken on under the scale in force from 1 May 2026. High Court writ work uses a separate four-stage scale, and an older case may still sit on the previous scale, so the enforcement power and the date the instruction started both matter when checking a bill.

If Ross & Roberts hold more than one debt against you

Regulation 11 of the Fees Regulations allows the £79 compliance fee to be charged once for each enforcement power, but the £247 enforcement fee and the £116 sale fee may only be charged once, where the debts can reasonably be enforced together. Three council tax liability orders combined on one visit should therefore total £484, not three separate amounts of £326. A visit fee applied separately to each debt is worth challenging in writing, with a request for the date and stage relied on for each charge.

Can Ross & Roberts force their way in?

Not for council tax, business rates or a traffic penalty, on a first visit to your home. Entry has to be peaceable, meaning through a door you choose to open or one already unlocked. Nobody is obliged to answer the door, and there is no penalty for staying inside and not doing so.

The exceptions that exist are narrow and specific: business premises carry wider powers than a private home, re-entry after a broken controlled goods agreement can permit reasonable force, and a small category of criminal fines and tax debts sit outside the ordinary civil rule. Ross & Roberts's usual council and business rates work falls inside the ordinary rule, not the exceptions. Our guide to when bailiffs can force entry sets out exactly which paragraph of Schedule 12 permits what.

An agent who cannot get in peaceably has to leave. They can still take control of an accessible vehicle parked outside, add the enforcement stage fee once its conditions are met, and return another day. Not answering buys time; it does not close the case.

Council tax cases and the six year rule

Where the debt is council tax, the council must first secure a liability order from the magistrates' court. That order confirms the amount is owed and opens up the council's recovery options, of which passing the case to Ross & Roberts is only one; attachment of earnings and deductions from certain benefits are others available to the council directly.

A liability order does not authorise breaking into your home. It is the step that allows the taking control of goods process to begin.

Regulation 34(3) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 stops a council applying for a liability order more than six years after the sum first became due. It does not put an expiry date on an order that has already been granted.

Once a case reaches Ross & Roberts, most councils redirect you back to them rather than accepting payment centrally, and paying the council directly will not usually undo fees that have properly accrued. A council can recall the case, particularly where vulnerability is evidenced, though that remains a request rather than an entitlement. See council tax bailiffs for the full picture.

Parking and traffic penalties

An unpaid council parking or traffic penalty is registered at the Traffic Enforcement Centre, and the council obtains a warrant of control, which is the authority Ross & Roberts acts under here rather than a liability order.

If you never received the original penalty charge notice, had already appealed successfully, or were not the registered keeper at the relevant time, the Traffic Enforcement Centre may provide a route back. For an ordinary council parking penalty anywhere in England, or a council bus-lane or moving-traffic penalty outside London, the usual route is a witness statement on form TE9, with TE7 if it is late. For a TfL Congestion Charge, LEZ or ULEZ penalty, the statutory-declaration route uses PE3, with PE2 if late. London-borough or TfL bus-lane and moving-traffic cases sit under separate London legislation, so check the form enclosed with the order rather than assuming either route. See the Traffic Enforcement Centre and PE3 and TE9 forms.

Entry rules for a parking penalty are the same as for council tax: no forced entry to a home on a first visit.

Business rates and commercial rent arrears

Ross & Roberts also takes instructions relating to business premises, which puts it in a smaller group of firms covering both domestic council enforcement and commercial recovery.

Business rates follow the same liability order route as council tax, obtained through the magistrates' court, and the Schedule 12 procedure and fee stages set out above apply in the same way.

Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery, usually shortened to CRAR, is a separate power available to a landlord against a business tenant, and it only applies to premises let for business purposes. Two conditions matter most: the lease has to be in writing, and a minimum amount of unpaid rent, currently seven days' worth, must be outstanding both when the enforcement notice is given and again when goods are first taken control of. Our Dukes Bailiffs profile sets out the CRAR conditions in full, since Dukes takes a similarly mixed commercial and council caseload.

Goods, vehicles and what cannot be touched

Two filters decide what is at risk. The first is ownership: the procedure reaches goods belonging to the person named on the liability order or warrant, and nothing else. Belongings of a partner or housemate, and at business premises stock or equipment owned by a supplier or a finance house, sit outside it, though expect to evidence that with receipts, agreements or registration documents rather than assertion.

The second filter is the exempt goods list in regulation 4 of the 2013 taking control of goods rules. Clothing, bedding and the basic contents a household needs to function stay put; so do items needed for medical care, or for looking after children, older people or disabled people; so do assistance dogs and family pets; so does a vehicle displaying a valid disabled person's badge. Trade tools and equipment enjoy a capped exemption of £1,350 in aggregate, not per item.

Vehicles specifically

Cars matter in parking penalty cases especially, because the debt itself shows the debtor keeps a vehicle, and one parked on a road or driveway can be clamped or removed with no door ever opened. If the car is on hire purchase, PCP or lease, is a Motability vehicle, or belongs to another member of the household, say so at once and attach proof; an agent faced with credible ownership evidence takes a real risk by removing it regardless. There is more in what bailiffs can take and can bailiffs take my car.

Reaching an arrangement with Ross & Roberts

An arrangement usually takes the form of a controlled goods agreement: listed items stay in your possession as long as the agreed payments are kept up. Before signing anything, check every item on the list genuinely belongs to you, that nothing exempt has been included, that the valuation looks realistic, and that the balance and fee stages are correct.

Breaking the agreement matters more than missing an ordinary payment would. It can create a power of re-entry that did not previously exist, and where the statutory conditions for that are met, re-entry can involve reasonable force. Get in touch before a payment is due to be missed, not afterwards; an arrangement varied by agreement is treated very differently from one that simply lapses.

If the amount is unaffordable

Say so as early as possible, and back it with figures rather than a general statement that you cannot pay. An offer supported by an honest income and expenditure position is taken far more seriously than a number picked without working, and free help to prepare one is available from National Debtline, StepChange and Citizens Advice.

Disputing a Ross & Roberts balance

Take a dispute about the underlying debt to the creditor, not only to Ross & Roberts. An enforcement agent collects what it has been instructed to collect and has no power to rewrite a council tax account, cancel a penalty, or alter a landlord's rent ledger. The creditor is the only party able to correct those things.

Ask for the billing history, the date and amount of the liability order, warrant or CRAR notice, the period it covers, and a full transaction history. If a discount, exemption or reduction was never applied, provide the supporting evidence. Tell Ross & Roberts in writing at the same time that the amount is disputed and where you have raised it.

If the letter names someone who has moved

Say so promptly, with proportionate evidence of who actually lives at the address: a council tax bill, a tenancy agreement or a recent utility bill in your name. Do not settle another person's debt simply to end the correspondence, and do not ignore it either, since an unresolved address issue can turn into a dispute about your own belongings if an agent later assumes the named person still lives there.

Telling Ross & Roberts about vulnerability

Put it in writing to Ross & Roberts and to the creditor as early as you can. Vulnerability is judged on individual circumstances rather than a fixed checklist: serious illness, disability, bereavement, pregnancy, age related difficulty, language or literacy barriers, recent trauma and household crisis can all be relevant, and more than one factor is often present together.

Depending on the circumstances, the response can include handling by a welfare team, extra time, adjusted communication, a more affordable arrangement, a temporary hold, or in some council policies the case being returned to the creditor. None of this cancels the debt; it changes how enforcement is carried out.

Checking a Ross & Roberts letter is genuine

Ross & Roberts has been accredited by the Enforcement Conduct Board since October 2023. That accreditation is a reasonable signal that a firm has agreed to independent oversight, though it does not by itself confirm any individual letter.

To check a specific letter, telephone the council or landlord named on it using contact details obtained independently, from the council's or landlord's own website rather than the letter itself, and ask whether Ross & Roberts has actually been instructed on your account. Some councils publish the enforcement agents they use, but a direct account check is stronger than relying only on a list that may not be complete or current.

Before paying anyone, confirm which debt the payment covers, what stage the case has reached and which fees are included, get a reference, and keep the receipt. If an agent is at the door, you are entitled to pay without letting them into the property.

Complaining about Ross & Roberts

Start with Ross & Roberts's own complaints process. Give the date and time, the agent's name if known, the case reference, what happened, and the specific rule or factual error you say applies. A complaint that names the regulation carries more weight than one describing how the visit felt.

Then take it to the creditor, the council or landlord who instructed them. This step gets skipped more often than it should, and it is frequently the one that actually changes something, since the creditor can recall a case or correct an account that Ross & Roberts cannot touch.

Then the oversight route. Ross & Roberts's accreditation with the Enforcement Conduct Board means the ECB can consider a complaint once the firm's own process has been exhausted. A dispute over an individual agent's certificate is a separate application to the County Court that issued it.

Keep dates, correspondence, photographs and the names of anyone you speak to throughout.

Where to start

1. Work out which debt this actually is, since the entry rules and fee scale both depend on it.
2. Check the stage reached and the fees charged against the statutory scale above, and check regulation 11 if more than one debt is involved.
3. If the debt itself is wrong, write to the council or landlord today, not just to Ross & Roberts.
4. If it is correct but you cannot afford it, put together an income and expenditure position and make a realistic offer.
5. If you are vulnerable, say so now, in writing, to both Ross & Roberts and the creditor.
6. Protect any vehicle that is not yours to lose, with the paperwork ready.
7. Read a controlled goods agreement line by line before signing it.