At a recent meeting, Ministry of Justice (MoJ) officials advised that they are taking forward proposals to mandate the use of body-worn video cameras (BWV) in the enforcement sector.
The government first announced its intention make body-worn cameras compulsory for the activities of High Court Enforcement Agents and Certificated Enforcement Agents in July 2019. It is understood that the government is now proceeding to draft new guidance.
Best practice innovators
Equivo’s early-investment in bringing this cutting-edge technology into collections and enforcement from our initial launch goes one step further to evidence our commitment to raising industry standards.
FCA-regulated field activity
Although the government’s intention to make the use of body-worn cameras mandatory will not initially capture FCA-regulated field activities, as best practice innovators, Equivo strives to raise standards for all stakeholders across the collections and enforcement process.
The FCA Handbook clearly sets out requirements for firms engaged in debt collection, including the conduct of field-led debt collection activities with specific requirements set out at CONC 7. However, despite evidence-based compliance being a well-established concept, field technology across FCA-regulated debt collection activities has been an area of under-investment by many operators in the sector, with conduct evidence reserved for lower risk back-office activities. Although legacy behaviour and resistance to adopt evidence-based technology in the field is still commonplace in the regulated collections sector, Equivo is delighted that the use of body-worn video cameras has been recognised by government as a crucial step to benefit all stakeholders in the collections and recoveries process.
Setting the industry benchmark
As a matter of best practice, all Equivo field personnel, acting under FCA and MoJ regulations, carry out field activities wearing body-worn video cameras. We are proud to have set the industry benchmark by becoming the first business in our sector to roll-out the new front-facing body-worn video cameras technology solution across our field personnel.
Cutting-edge technology solutions
Equivo has implemented the award-winning, front-facing Reveal D-Series body-worn video cameras across all our field personnel, encompassing FCA regulated activities. This allows for the capture of high-quality video and audio footage, including automated face-blurring technology.
Evidence-based compliance
Our investment in quality assurance, in-depth data analysis and reporting capabilities enable evidence-based compliance for ease of audit and improvement across our field service activities.
Your main contact:
Andy is Managing Director of Equivo’s Collections & Field Division has responsibility for operations and service delivery for collections activity across the business. Andy always challenges standard industry practice while keeping fully abreast of regulatory requirements, beliefs that are core to Equivo's operation.
