Leading enforcement expert Shergroup is celebrating a major milestone after passing the £10 million mark for offshore collections through its Sherforce brand of High Court enforcement.

The successful service was built by recruiting a team of experienced debt collectors from major business process outsourcing (BPO) providers in India. The service was started by Shergroup in 2006 and moved into Shergroup India Private Limited in 2007.

Since then, the team has successfully collected debts ranging from £600 to one single debt of £182,000. Sherforce’s Debtor Services Team contact the debtor after the Sherforce Enforcement Officer has visited the address or has been unable to gain entry. They are trained to explain the consequences of non-payment of a High Court Writ.

Claire Sandbrook, Chief Executive of Shergroup, says: “The work of our Debtor Services Team led by Ravi Bhalla, Operations Manager for the recently incorporated Shergroup India Private Limited, has been remarkable.”

“The team provides vital back up to Sherforce’s Enforcement Officers working in the field by taking incoming calls and also by proactively calling the public to remind them of their obligations.”

“If one of our Enforcement Officers is refused entry to a premises or the debtor continuously fails to answer the door to them, it is often this team that gets the message across that there are serious consequences if they fail to pay the High Court Writ.”

“Even today, many members of the public are unaware of the very real powers that enforcement officers have and we are even thanked on occasion for explaining the position so clearly.”

Asked if members of the public resented being called by an offshore team, Mrs Sandbrook said that she was pleased by the reaction of the public overall and the fact that the call was made from Delhi or Braintree had no impact. She said in the absence of co-operation, Sherforce would follow the command in the High Court Writ.

Mrs Sandbrook added that the strength of Sherforce’s approach has been the successful integration of a telephone-collection process into the enforcement of civil court judgments.

She said she was not aware of this approach being followed by other High Court Enforcement Officers or indeed County Court Bailiffs. She said the real success story has been the teamwork both in the UK and India to make the offshore operation work as a fully integrated process. She added: “The true success of the offshore collection figure is one of collaboration between Sherforce’s Enforcement Officers and our UK and Indian teams.”

“Most importantly the acceptance of our growing number of clients, who have come to expect telephone work to support the work of the Enforcement Officers, has given us the confidence to grow this area of our business and we are now in the position to offer telephone-collection services to clients at any part of the collection cycle as part of a wider offering.”

Shergroup is now setting a course to become one of the leading providers of outsourced business services from its operations in the UK and India, specialising in enforcement, security, legal and IT solutions.