The changing world of enforcement will be the focus of an event at the House of Commons next month, hosted by High Court Enforcement Agency Shergroup alongside Conservative MP Priti Patel.

Shergroup, whose Braintree headquarters neighbour Ms Patel’s Witham constituency, has invited around 60 guests to a lunch on November 21, including other politicians, policy officials and stakeholders.

Chief Executive Claire Sandbrook said the guests would discuss current industry issues at the event. She added: “Shergroup has never been an enforcement agency which is just in the business of debt collection or land recovery. We’ve always been very vocal on topical issues in our industry, and we strive to challenge Government thinking and be good leaders in our community as a result.

“The House of Commons lunch will be a very good platform to discuss things sensibly with interested parties. To our knowledge this is the first event of its kind held by an enforcement agency, and if it proves to be beneficial then we will look to hold it on a regular basis.”

She added: “We are very grateful to Ms Patel for her role as host and guest speaker at the event.”

Mrs Sandbrook is a former Government advisor on Effective Enforcement and works to ensure that all officers and bailiffs attain exemplary standards.

She explained that the issues raised at the House of Commons event are likely to include proposals to criminalise squatting in England and Wales, with which she and her team are actively opposed.

She said: “It appears to be something of a knee-jerk reaction. While we’d like to see squatters removed from premises quickly, we strongly believe it would be advisable to make the existing enforcement processes more speedy and effective. We are concerned about the social consequences of this policy and the emerging evidence about the vulnerability of many people who turn to squatting to give them a roof over their heads”.