Shergroup, the UK’s largest High Court Enforcement Agency, is to set up a charity to help families affected by enforcement action.

Sherbet is the brainchild of Claire Sandbrook, chief executive of Shergroup, who believes more can be done to help families who have lost everything.

At Thursday’s Institute of Credit Management exhibition at London’s ExCeL, Shergroup will be promoting the charity at its ambitious and colourful stand and hopes to grab the attention of the credit collection industry.

Mrs Sandbrook said: “At Shergroup we see at first hand every day the problems and suffering that families and businesses face when they are in debt.”

“So we decided to launch Sherbet, a charity that will give financial support to those in need. It may seem at odds with our profession, but we believe that High Court enforcement officers, like ourselves, and county court bailiffs have a duty to do more to help people in vulnerable situations.”

“We will be doing more than just visit the homes and businesses of people in debt. We can use our unique vantage point to recognise genuine hardship and offer some form of assistance.”

While Sherbet does not condone the irresponsible use of money it can help people through the bad times by offering small financial help.

Through a grant system it will finance the cost of fixing the washing machine so that the children don’t have to wear dirty clothes, for example, or by contributing to a weekend break for the children; or simply paying for counselling for parents under stress or maybe something else.

“We hope the industry will see that collectively there is more we can offer debtors identified in real and genuine need.”

“Come and meet us on our stand – you won’t be able to miss us ? it’s one of the best we’ve produced,” says Mrs Sandbrook.