Credit, collections & insolvency news
A London taxi driver hit with 11-year sanctions after falsely claiming £100,000 of Bounce Back Loans and failed to spend the money on his businesses. The investigation found that Ahmad claimed £50,000 for his delivery business in July 2020, the maximum allowed under the scheme. He applied for a second £50,000 loan – this time…
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A Derby-based business consultant who fraudulently obtained two Covid loans worth a combined £100,000 has been handed a suspended sentence. Imran Mushtaq was the sole director of IZ Business Consultants Limited when he applied for two Bounce Back Loans for the company in June 2020. Mushtaq was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for…
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The UK’s inflation rate has risen for the first time this year as annualised inflation came in at 2.2% in July, higher than the 2.0% reported in June. Core CPI (excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) rose by 3.3% (down from 3.5%) and services inflation fell from 5.7% to 5.2%. Commenting on the inflation figures,…
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A construction contractor has been banned as company director after Covid loan abuse. An Insolvency Service investigation found that Nick Addison submitted misleading information to obtain a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan, the maximum amount businesses were entitled to. Addison was the owner of a former Bedfordshire construction firm which mainly focused on dry lining and…
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A Bristol builder who overstated the income from his construction companies to secure two Covid Bounce Back Loans totalling £100,000 has been handed a suspended sentence. James Leslie was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months, when he appeared at Bristol Crown Court. His father William Leslie and of the same address,…
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A new paper geared at unleashing a new wave of small business exporters has been released by the Government. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) was asked to lead on an SME Export Taskforce by Jonathan Reynolds MP when he was Shadow Business and Trade Secretary, to address the fact that only 10 per cent…
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The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a letter from its Chair, Klaas Knot, to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, ahead of the G20 meeting on 25-26th July. In his letter, Knot highlights historically high debt levels of both government and private sector borrowers and vulnerabilities in real estate markets and Non-Bank Financial…
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New analysis by Forvis Mazars has found that the HMRC has collected an extra £14.4 million in tax from insolvencies since it regained its ‘preferential creditor’ status in insolvencies. HMRC was given ‘Crown Preference’ priority in insolvencies in December 2020. That preferred status allows it to reclaim tax owed from an insolvent business ahead of any…
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Nearly one in 12 SMEs, around 440,000 firms, say they have missed tax payment deadlines in the past year with a third of them admitting to missing five or more, new research from Premium Credit. The study with SME owners and managers found 8% of the UK’s 5.55 million SMEs have missed tax payment deadlines for…
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Credit Connect Media hosted the return of its Commercial Credit & Collections Conference last week at the Met Hotel in Leeds which saw trade credit, insolvency, and economic change and discussed by fourteen leading credit, collections and insolvency professionals. In the sixth edition of the Commercial Credit & Collections Conference series, hosted by Credit Connect…
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Sir Keir Starmer has become the UK’s next prime minister after Labour secured a majority in last week’s general election. The results showed that the Conservative party saw its number of MPs fall to the fewest in its history. Commenting on the result, David Postings, Chief Executive of UK Finance said “I’d like to congratulate…
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New research from Experian has today revealed that eight in ten (83%) british businesses acknowledge data governance should no longer be an afterthought and can give them a strategic advantage. A further 86% agreed that data governance will become more important over the next five years. With AI changing the way businesses are run and…
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New research from Premium Credit shows the cost of living crisis is increasing the tax bill pressure on SMEs with more than 430,000 firms currently struggling to pay money owed to HMRC. The study by the leading provider of finance for companies’ tax bills with SME owners and managers found nearly one in five (17%)…
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