I attended a session on stab vests by the police. It confirmed my personal view; There should be no reason why housing staff need to wear such PPE.

Examples of where it was proposed included evictions or similar high confrontation scenarios. As the police said, if the risk is so significant, the police should take the lead (with their own PPE and other measures) so that by the time housing / EHO staff (in the background) get involved the risk has been resolved. The police view was that stab vests may encourage a 'gung ho' attitude which makes a bad situation worse.

I have not found any situations in local authorities or agricultural enforcement where stab vests would be appropriate, although I accept that some environments may be more extreme, and times change.