Credit Management September 2018

CREDIT MANAGEMENT 

CM 

SEPTEMBER 2018 £12.00 

THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND 

COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS 

Information 

overload 

Is PAP really 

helping 

consumers? 

How useful is a 

Company Voluntary 

Arrangement? Page 24 

Introducing six new 

faces on the Advisory 

Panel. Page 38

Did you know? 

Chameleonslive in many of the170 

countries we now cover for credit reporting. 

Chameleonscan’t buyour packages to get 

discounts andfreereports,but you can. 

cedar-rose.com

SEPTEMBER 2018 

www.cicm.com 

18 

INTERVIEW WITH 

STEVE MURRAY MCICM 

CONTENTS 

13 – OPINION 

Andrew Wilson considers a new 

Call for Evidence and its impact on 

enforcement. 

18 – INTERVIEW 

Steve Murray from Ardent talks about 

starting a business in a loft. 

24 – ASK THE EXPERTS 

What is a Company Voluntary 

Arrangement (CVA), and what do you do 

if you don’t like it? 

26 – COVER STORY 

Has the much-heralded Pre-Action 

Protocol delivered what was promised? 

38 – ADVISORY COUNCIL 

Introducing the new Advisory Council 

including six new faces. 

42 – LATE PAYMENT 

EXCLUSIVE: How UK business is faring 

in terms of payment practices and the 

economy as a whole. 

52 – OPINION 

Exclusive results from the Hays’ ‘What 

Workers Want’ report. 

CICM GOVERNANCE 

President Stephen Baister FCICM / Chief Executive Philip King FCICM CdipAF MBA 

Executive Board Laurie Beagle FCICM – Chair / Glen Bullivant FCICM / Larry Coltman FCICM 

David Thornley FCICM(Grad) – Treasurer / Pete Whitmore FCICM – Vice Chair 

22 

OPINION 

CHRIS SANDERS 

Advisory Council Sarah Aldridge FCICM(Grad) / Laurie Beagle FCICM / Glen Bullivant FCICM / Lauren Carter FCICM 

Larry Coltman FCICM / Victoria Herd FCICM(Grad) / Laural Jefferies MCICM / Martin Kirby FCICM / Christelle Madie FCICM 

Julie-Anne Moody-Webster MCICM / Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) / Bryony Pettifor FCICM(Grad) /Allan Poole MCICM 

Phil Rice FCICM / Chris Sanders FCICM / Paul Taylor MCICM / Pete Whitmore FCICM. 

View our digital version online at www.cicm.com Log on to the Members’ 

area, and click on the tab labelled ‘Credit Management magazine’ 

Credit Management is distributed to the entire UK and international CICM 

membership, as well as additional subscribers 

Reproduction in whole or part is forbidden without specific permission. Opinions expressed in this magazine do 

not, unless stated, reflect those of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management. The Editor reserves the right to 

abbreviate letters if necessary. The Institute is registered as a charity. The mark ‘Credit Management’ is a registered 

trade mark of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management. 

Any articles published relating to English law will differ from laws in Scotland and Wales. 

Publisher 

Chartered Institute of Credit Management 

The Water Mill, Station Road, South Luffenham 

OAKHAM, LE15 8NB 

Telephone: 01780 722910 

Email: editorial@cicm.com 

Website: www.cicm.com 

CMM: www.creditmanagement.org.uk 

Managing Editor 

Sean Feast 

Deputy Editor 

Alex Simmons 

Art Editor 

Andrew Morris 

Telephone: 01780 722910 

Email: andrew.morris@cicm.com 

Editorial Team 

Imogen Hart and Iona Yadallee 

Advertising 

Grace Ghattas 

Telephone: 020 3603 7946 

Email: grace@cabbell.co.uk 

Printers 

Stephens & George Print Group 

2018 subscriptions 

UK: £90 per annum 

International: £115 per annum 

Single copies: £12.00 

ISSN 0265-2099 

The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / September 2018 / PAGE 3

EDITOR’S COLUMN 

What a load of old PAP 

Sean Feast 

Managing Editor 

IT came in with a fanfare and 

with a promise that the customer 

would be better off, unnecessary 

litigation would be avoided, and 

that its originators could dance off 

into the sunset feeling that they 

had done some good in the world. 

Nearly 12 months on, the real impact of 

the Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) has not quite 

lived up to expectations. Indeed, much 

of what the credit industry said would 

happen, appears to be coming true. 

The protocol, first and foremost, was 

intended to encourage engagement, even at 

the eleventh hour. It led to fears within the 

industry that creditors would be inundated 

with document requests, that some 

customers would seek to manipulate PAP 

to elongate the pre-litigation process, and 

that the paperwork would cause confusion. 

While in fairness there does not appear 

to have been a flood of information 

requests, nor any significant evidence of 

PAP being used as a stalling tactic beyond 

the odd anecdote, nearly everyone seems 

to be agreed that the customer is now more 

confused than ever. 

Far from re-assuring the debtor of the 

creditor’s purpose and intentions, many 

are now fearful that proceedings are 

already underway, and that any future 

correspondence will be futile. The sheer 

volume of paperwork they are presented 

with appears proof-positive that they are 

to financial wellbeing what John Laurie 

was to Dad’s Army: doomed. 

Those that said beforehand that PAP 

would do little to prompt engagement, and 

if anything would stifle further dialogue, 

appear to be vindicated. Response rates to 

the new Letter of Claim have not changed 

dramatically from pre-PAP levels; if 

anything, they may even have fallen. Even 

the charities, who would understandably 

add a gloss to any initiative that champions 

a better customer experience, appear 

underwhelmed, not so much by what they 

do say, but rather by what they don’t. 

The article on page 26, of course, 

canvases only a handful of views, but it 

is worth pointing out that these are the 

views of the businesses who have had to 

bear most of the expense and disruption 

of a new process that appears, in reality, 

to have been the dampest of damp 

squibs. Let us hope the MoJ has another 

look at PAP, and gives a true assessment 

of whether it has been a success or, as I 

suspect, an expensive folly. 


CMNEWS 

A round-up of news stories from the 

world of consumer and commercial credit 

Written by – Sean Feast and Alex Simmons 

One in four UK 

companies hit by 

domino effect 

OVER a quarter (26 percent) of UK 

companies have suffered a hit 

to their finances following the 

insolvency of a customer, supplier 

or debtor in the last six months, according 

to research from R3. 

The research found the financial impact 

of the insolvency of another business was 

described as ‘very negative’ by one in ten UK 

companies (ten percent), and as ‘somewhat 

negative’ by 16 percent of respondents. 

The figures are evidence of the so-called 

‘domino effect’, where one company’s 

insolvency will increase the insolvency risk 

for others. 

In Q1 2018, following a spate of high 

profile insolvencies such as Carillion and 

Toys R Us, underlying insolvencies climbed 

13 percent from the previous quarter. 

Andrew Tate, spokesperson for R3, says 

no business exists in isolation, and every 

headline-grabbing corporate insolvency 

will have consequences for numerous other 

enterprises’: “In the worst-case scenario, the 

loss of a vital business relationship can lead 

to a company’s own insolvency in turn – the 

‘domino effect’.” 

“After the news of the Carillion 

liquidation broke, for example, our 

members reported an immediate 

upsurge in requests for advice from 

companies with links to Carillion.” 

Construction businesses 

were the most likely to say the 

insolvency of another firm had a 

negative impact on their finances 

in the last six months, with almost 

half (47 percent) reporting a hit. 

Wholesale (35 percent) and transport (33 

percent) were the next-most affected sectors. 

Two-fifths (38 percent) of firms with 

turnover of between £5 million-£24.9 million 

reported a negative impact, while the levels 

for smaller companies (up to £4.9 million 

turnover) were just under a quarter (24 

percent), and 30 percent for larger companies 

(with turnover of £25 million+). 

One in ten (11 percent) of firms said the 

insolvency of a counterparty had not had a 

material impact on their business, with just 

under half (47 percent) reporting that none 

of their suppliers, customers or debtors had 

entered an insolvency procedure in the past 

year. r3.org.uk 

In the worst-case 

scenario, the loss of a vital 

business relationship can 

lead to a company’s own 

insolvency in turn – the 

‘domino effect. 

> GOVERNMENT APPOINTS NEW 

SMALL BUSINESS MINISTER 

KELLY Tolhurst, MP for Rochester and Strood, 

has been named as the Government’s new Small 

Business Minister following the shock resignation 

of Andrew Griffiths after a Sunday tabloid expose. 

Tolhurst has been an MP since 2015 and prior 

to joining Parliament she ran Tolhurst Associates, 

a marine survey business, with her father after 

a career in marketing. In government she was 

previously an assistant whip and voted to remain 

in the Brexit referendum. 

Philip King, Chief Executive FCICM, of the CICM, 

welcomed the appointment: “We look forward to 

working closely with Kelly in our shared desire to 

support the small business community and the 

vital role they play in the UK economy.” 

gov.uk 


Londoners most in debt 

LONDONERS are more in debt than in any 

other part of the country, according to new 

research from the The Financial Conduct 

Authority (FCA). 

The FCA’s Financial Lives survey found 

17 percent of Londoners are over-indebted, 

compared with the UK average of 15 

percent. Overall, the average unsecured 

debt is £3,600 among people living in 

urban areas, compared with £2,510 in rural 

locations. 

The survey of 13,000 adults also found a 

greater proportion of people use consumer 

credit in urban areas at 77 percent, 

compared with 68 percent in rural regions. 

In total, 3.1 million adults have highcost 

loans, with the highest concentration 

in Scotland at 0.4 million and Yorkshire 

and the Humber at 0.3 million. A further 

4.1 million UK adults are defined as ‘in 

difficulty’ because they have missed 

domestic bills or credit commitments in 

three or more of the last six months. 

Just over one in ten UK adults have no 

savings, but there is a clear North-South 

divide with 17 percent of people in the 

North West and 16 percent in the North East 

have no savings, compared to nine percent 

in the South East and ten percent in the 

South West. 

In total, 78 per cent of UK adults have a 

credit or loan product, rising to 83 per cent 

in the South East. 

fca.org.uk 

>NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

Baby boom 

MANUFACTURER of organic baby food, 

Babease, has secured £1 million in 

funding from Bibby Financial Services to 

fund the growth of the business following 

an extensive period of investment into 

product development. Established in 

2016 by Chef Tom Redwood, Babease 

uses organic vegetables to create healthy 

and balanced food for young children 

and babies from its rural factory in 

South Wales. The company is the fastest 

growing baby food brand in the UK (over 

945 percent in the last year) and has 

contracts to supply high street retailers 

including; Tesco, Boots and Booths, and 

online retailers Amazon and Ocado. 

bibbyfinancialservices.com 

Mooving on up 

ABN AMRO Commercial Finance has 

partnered with AURELIUS Finance 

Company to deliver a multi- asset-based 

funding solution to Medina Group – 

one of the largest UK dairy companies. 

Established in 1992, the family business 

has grown to be a national supplier of 

milk, dairy and other food products, and 

now delivers to over 8,000 supermarkets, 

convenience stores, restaurants and 

caterers on a weekly basis. 

abnamrocomfin.com 

CYBER WAR 

UK businesses were subjected to more than 50,000 cyber attacks each on average in the 

three months to the end of June, the equivalent of 578 attempts a day or once every two 

and a half minutes, according to Beaming, the business ISP. Although the rate of attack was 

slightly down on that experienced in the first quarter of the year, there was an increase 

in the number targeting remote desktop services. On average, businesses received 1,655 

attempts each to breach remote desktop systems between April and June this year, eight 

percent more than in the preceding quarter. beaming.co.uk 

ThinCats get fatter 

THINCATS has appointed Ben 

Kimball, an experienced ex-banking 

professional, to cover the Yorkshire 

region. He joins ThinCats after a 15-year 

career working with SMEs for the likes 

of Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, 

Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, 

supporting SMEs in both Yorkshire and 

Scotland. 

thincats.com 

Launch of Republic of Ireland CICM 

THE formal launch of the new Republic of 

Ireland Branch of the Chartered Institute 

of Credit Management (CICM) will take 

place at Croke Park in September, marking 

the start of a new chapter for the credit 

community in Ireland. 

The day will commence with a best 

practice conference featuring topics 

such as how the CICM will support 

credit managers in the country, the 

role of Artificial Intelligence and 

Robotics, and the intriguingly entitled 

‘Art of Persuasion’. It will also include 

presentations and discussions around 

debt litigation, the General Data Protection 

Regulation (GDPR) and how to attract and 

retain the best talent. 

Speakers will include Philip King 

FCICM, Chief Executive of CICM, and 

senior representatives from Rimilia, DWF 

and Hays. The conference will be followed 

by the inaugural Annual General Meeting 

(AGM). 

The decision was taken by the former 

Irish Institute of Credit Management in 

October 2017 to wind down its activities to 

give credit professionals in Ireland access 

to the array of quality services offered by 

the CICM. 

Philip King believes CICM is very 

well placed to support the professional 

development of members in the Republic: 

“We are all looking forward to the AGM 

at Croke Park and working with our Irish 

colleagues,” he says. 

Please contact roi@cicm.com for 

enquiries or to book a place at the 

Conference and AGM. 

We are all looking 

forward to the AGM 

at Croke Park and 

working with our Irish 

colleagues 

Philip King FCICM 

Chief Executive of the CICM 


NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

Manufacturing sector 

remains subdued 

THE performance of the UK 

manufacturing sector remained 

relatively subdued in June, 

especially when compared to the 

marked pace of growth seen before the 

turn of the year. Output growth moderated, 

to largely offset a mild acceleration in new 

order growth and improved job creation. 

At 54.4 in June, the seasonally adjusted 

‘IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ 

Index (PMI) was a tick above May’s 

downwardly revised reading of 54.3 

(originally 54.4) and stands almost four 

points below the 51-month high reached in 

November last year. The average reading 

over Q2 as a whole (54.2) is the weakest 

outcome since the final quarter of 2016. 

Sector data indicated that the upturn 

remained broad-based during June. 

Output and new orders rose across the 

consumer, intermediate and investment 

goods industries. However, the overall rate 

of expansion in manufacturing output 

slowed, as growth of new order inflows 

improved only mildly. Some companies 

noted that higher output had been partly 

sustained through inventory building and 

clearing backlogs of work. 

Although the rate of increase in new 

business edged up to a three-month high, 

it remained among the weakest registered 

over the past year-and-a-half. Rates of 

growth in new work received were broadly 

steady in both domestic and overseas 

markets. Where an increase in new export 

business was reported, this was partly 

linked to increased sales to mainland 

Europe, China, South America and 

>ARDENT DIRECTOR 

Australia. June saw a solid improvement 

in the rate of job creation, with staffing 

levels rising at the quickest pace for three 

months. Employment increased across the 

consumer, intermediate and investment 

goods sectors. However, the overall rate 

of jobs growth remained below that seen 

through much of 2017. 

Input cost inflation accelerated to a 

four-month high in June, with companies 

reporting a wide range of inputs as up in 

price. Some noted that cost increases were 

being exacerbated by shortages of certain 

raw materials. Part of the rise in costs 

was passed on as higher selling prices. 

Business optimism remained positive in 

June. Over 51 percent of the survey panel 

forecast output to rise over the coming 

year, linked to market growth, investment 

spending, organic expansion, planned 

promotional activity and higher capacity. 

However, the degree of positivity dipped 

to a seven-month low, as some firms 

expressed concerns about input price 

increases, possible future trade tariffs, the 

exchange rate and Brexit uncertainty. 

Rob Dobson, director at IHS Markit, 

says the likelihood of such a revival 

remains in some doubt: “Ongoing supply 

chain disruptions, including raw material 

shortages, and signs of a renewed upswing 

in input price inflation may also jeopardise 

stronger manufacturing growth. With 

industry potentially stuck in the doldrums, 

the UK economy will need to look to 

other sectors if GDP growth is to match 

expectations in the latter half of the year.” 

cips.org 

LIVERPOOL-based DCA and provider of outsourced early arrears and white label 

solutions, Ardent Credit Services has appointed Nataly Rapoport as the company’s 

new Risk and Compliance Director. She joins the growing business from Capita-owned 

Akinika Debt Recovery (formerly iQor) where she held the same position for over ten 

years. Nataly holds a distinction level diploma in international compliance from 

Manchester Business School and has worked in compliance for over 18 years. “Staying 

ahead of the curve with regards to all aspects of risk and compliance is vital and I’m 

looking forward to working with Nataly again,” says Ardent Managing Director, John 

Ricketts. 

ardentcredit.co.uk 

General Manager 

BACS Payment schemes has appointed 

Andy Hollingdale as its first General 

Manager. Andy has worked at Bacs for a 

decade, most recently as Director of Change 

Management, responsible for driving the 

delivery of key projects like the highprofile 

current account switch service. 

The appointment comes on the heels of 

recent industry changes as operational 

responsibility for the Bacs system 

transferred to the new payment system 

operator in May. bacs.co.uk 

Tomorrow's World 

THE British Business Bank has launched 

the £85 million National Security Strategic 

Investment Fund (NSSIF) Programme, 

which will support long-term equity – 

‘patient capital’ – investment in advanced 

technologies. The NSSIF Programme will 

build on the UK’s role as both a leading 

centre for advanced technologies and as 

a global hub for venture capital. It aims to 

combine the best expertise from the public 

and private sector to foster the growth 

of high potential UK companies and at 

the same time contribute to the national 

security mission. british-business-bank.co.uk 

Digital cart boom 

ONLINE retail has enjoyed a 16.8 percent 

year-on-year (YoY) growth during the 

first half of 2018, defying extreme weather 

events like the Beast from the East and 

various heatwaves to record strong sales 

results every month so far, according to 

the Capgemini ‘IMRG eRetail Sales Index’. 

This sits in stark contrast to the sustained 

downturn recorded on the high-street so far 

this year (Feb-Jun). H1 2018 e-retail has in 

fact seen the highest average H1 YoY growth 

since 2011, above the five year-average of 

14.1 percent. The H1 average basket value 

was also at its highest for the decade at £94, 

and again outshines the five year-average of 

£85. imrg.org 

New Hoist COO 

HOIST Finance has appointed Björn 

Hoffmeyer as Chief Operating Officer (COO) 

to start during Q3. His main focus will be 

to lead the improvement agenda in both 

operational efficiency and digitalisation. 

Björn held several senior positions at 

American Express, most recently as the 

Country Manager for Germany 

and Austria. He also has 

experience of managing 

businesses that focus on 

customer experience. He will 

replace Charly De Munter 

current acting COO as member 

of the Executive Management 

Team. 

hoistfinance.com/ 


LSB to extend remit to P2P 

DATE DIARY 

THE 2018 Turner Lecture will be held on 

24 October at the Strand Fleet and 

Bell Suites at the Law Society London. 

Speakers confirmed so far include: 

Richard Mawrey QC to discuss the Pre- 

Action Protocol (PAP); Ruth Duncan (past 

president of the IPA) on the raft of new 

rules in insolvency; Toby Riley-Smith QC 

and Andrew Wilson HCEO on the 

move to enlarge the HCEO remit. More 

details will be published in future issues 

of Credit Management. 

THE Lending Standards Board (LSB) is to 

extend its Standards of Lending Practice to 

the peer-to-peer lending and invoice finance 

sectors next year. 

The voluntary standards came into effect 

in 2017 for loans, credit cards, overdrafts 

and charge cards. They aim to set a 

benchmark for good lending practice in the 

UK by outlining how firms should deal with 

personal and small business customers. 

The LSB has now extended the standards 

to asset finance and commercial mortgage 

products. 

Dave Pickering, Chief Executive of the LSB, 

says firms operating in the asset finance and 

commercial mortgage sectors will be given 

until the end of September to conduct a ‘gap 

analysis’ showing which standards they 

are currently meeting and which ones they 

need to do further work on. The LSB will then 

develop a guide providing examples of ‘what 

good looks like’. The third roll-out of the 

Standards of Lending Practice will be to P2P 

lending and invoice finance products. 

There are currently 20 LSB registered firms 

that undergo a thorough risk assessment 

review process that looks at their controls 

and governance, and must ensure that the 

LSB’s standards are built into firm-wide 

policies. Newly-registered firms are given 

help in achieving the standards. 

lendingstandardsboard.org.uk 

P2PFA accused of reducing 

transparency 

THE Peer-to-Peer Finance Association 

(P2PFA) has been accused of reducing 

transparency and hindering efforts to 

enhance investor protection after changing 

the rules governing how firms publish their 

loanbooks. 

Previously, members of the self-regulated 

trade body were obliged to publish their full 

loanbook, showing information about all the 

loans on their platform. 

Sunsequently, the P2PFA announced that 

members had the option to either continue 

to publish their entire loan book, or provide 

a detailed breakdown of loans in their 

overall loan book to enable a consumer to 

be informed about the nature and number of 

loans. 

It claimed this would improve the 

accessibility of performance data published 

on member platform websites. 

Shortly after the changes were introduced, 

Funding Circle withdrew its downloadable 

loanbook and stopped publishing loan 

performance on a daily basis. The peer-topeer 

business lender has launched a new 

statistics page which will be updated every 

three months, prompting certain parties to 

claim a lack of transparency. 

p2pfa.org.uk 

It claimed this would 

improve the accessibility 

of performance data 

published on member 

platform websites. 

Urica moment 

UK-based invoice financing platform 

Urica has gone into liquidation following 

reports of a major fraud by a customer in 

France. Urica was one recipient, alongside 

Beechbrook Capital and MarketInvoice, 

of £30 million of government funding 

overseen by the then Business Secretary 

Sir Vince Cable back in 2013. 

urica.com 

CICM IN BRIEF 

THIS month’s briefing includes details 

of the autumn classes, the best practice 

webinars, the learning partnership 

success for Equinix and Menzies 

Distribution, and assessing your 

membership eligibility against the new 

criteria. 

>UK DEBT HITS RECORD HIGH 

AFTER years of rock-bottom interest rates, 

the debts of the UK’s listed companies have 

soared to a record high of £390.7 billion, easily 

surpassing pre-crisis levels, according to the 

new annual Link Asset Services ‘UK plc Debt 

Monitor’. In the vice of the credit crunch, 

companies had cut their borrowings by a fifth in 

just two years. But since the low point in 2010/11 

net debt has jumped by a staggering £159.6 

billion. Moreover, most of this increase (£122.6 

billion) has been in the last three years alone. 

The oil sector has seen the fastest growth in net 

debt, up 459 percent since 2008/9. In 2017/18, BP 

and Royal Dutch Shell accounted for £1 in every 

£7 of all UK plc’s net debts. 

linkassetservices.com 


Scots out of pocket as 

report shows personal 

insolvencies on the rise 

Richard Dennis 

Accountant in Bankruptcy, 

Chief Executive 

THE latest statistics from 

Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) 

for Q1 2018-19 show total personal 

insolvencies, which include both 

bankruptcies and protected trust deeds 

(PTDs), rose by 11.8 percent relative to the 

first quarter of 2017-18. 

Bankruptcy awards are down 6.5 percent 

on the same period a year ago with 1,236 

awarded for the first quarter of 2018-19, 

covering the period from 1 April to 30 June 

2018. This figure is below the 1,322 awarded 

in the same quarter for 2017-18. 

There was a marked increase in PTDs, 

with 1,972 PTDs protected in the first quarter 

of 2018-19, up from 1,547 in the same quarter 

last year. 

The Scottish Government’s pioneering 

Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS), which 

allows people to take control of their 

finances and repay their debts without 

facing insolvency or further action being 

taken against them, also showed a rise of 

8.5 percent compared to the same quarter 

a year ago. There were 648 debt payment 

programmes approved under DAS in the 

first quarter of 2018-19, compared with 597 

in the same quarter for 2017-18. A total of 

£9.5 million was repaid through the scheme 

in the quarter, similar to the £9.4 million the 

previous year. 

THE Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) 

has proposed a new Directory to help 

consumers and firms check the status and 

history of individuals working in financial 

services. 

The Directory will include all those 

who hold senior manager positions 

requiring FCA approval and those whose 

roles require firms to certify that they 

are fit and proper. This includes those in 

consumer-facing roles, such as mortgage 

and investment advisers. The Directory 

Accountant in Bankruptcy, Chief 

Executive, Richard Dennis says while the 

number of individuals entering insolvency 

continues to be very much lower than ten 

years ago: “These figures clearly illustrate 

personal insolvencies remain on an upward 

trend from the first quarter of 2015-16. 

“With consumer borrowing now 

surpassing the levels seen before the 

2008 crash, we are leading an ambitious 

programme of reform to make sure the 

debt solutions offered by the Scottish 

Government remain relevant in today’s 

society. 

“In particular, changes expected to 

come into force this October will make 

the Debt Arrangement Scheme a much 

more accessible and flexible option for 

some people who otherwise may see no 

alternative other than insolvency.” 

The number of Scottish corporate 

insolvencies rose during the quarter from 

the same period a year ago. There were 

245 total corporate insolvencies during 

the quarter, up from the 200 recorded in 

the first quarter of 2017-18. This number 

was composed of three receiverships, 145 

compulsory liquidations and 97 creditors’ 

voluntary liquidations. 

Nevertheless, the 245 recorded during 

the first quarter of 2018-19 is down on the 

259 reported in the previous quarter, Q4 

2017-18. aib.gov.uk 

These figures clearly 

illustrate personal 

insolvencies remain 

on an upward trend 

from the first quarter 

of 2015-16. 

FCA proposes new Yellow Pages 

has been designed to provide user 

friendly, practical and easy to understand 

information. For example, consumers will 

be able to search by location to find local 

advisers. 

The FCA is also publishing the near 

final rules on the extension of the ‘Senior 

Managers and Certification Regime’ 

(SM&CR) to almost all regulated firms. 

Firms can now access the Guides to the 

SM&CR to understand what steps they need 

to take to prepare for its implementation. 

>NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

Carillion ends first 

period of contract 

transition 

AGREEMENTS to transition the last of 278 

contracts provided by the Carillion Group 

to new service providers are now in place, 

signalling the end of the trading phase of 

the liquidation. 

The liquidation trading period, which 

started on 15 January 2018, ensured the 

continued provision of essential public 

sector services across hospitals, schools, 

roads, rail and other key infrastructure 

without any service disruption or major 

incidents. 

The Official Receiver, Dave Chapman, 

says Carillion is the largest ever trading 

liquidation in the UK: “The continued 

uninterrupted delivery of essential public 

services since the company’s collapse 

reflects the significant effort made by its 

employees, supported by my team and those 

employed by the special managers. 

“During this period 83 percent of the 

original workforce have either transferred 

with the contracts or resigned with another 

job to go to.” 

The focus of the liquidation will now shift 

to the provision of limited transitional 

services for some suppliers and finalising 

Carillion’s trading accounts to ensure that 

payment is made to suppliers who have 

provided goods and services to the various 

liquidations. Suppliers are asked to ensure 

they supply their final accounts as soon as 

possible. 

My investigation into the cause of the 

company’s failure, including the conduct of 

its directors, is also underway. 

gov.uk 

CSA * nominated 

as Best Overall 

Association 

THE Credit Services Association (CSA), the 

voice of the UK debt collection and debt 

purchase sectors, has been shortlisted 

within The Association Excellence Awards 

2018 for its work in promoting the quality 

and professionalism of its members in 

supporting customers in debt and returning 

monies to the UK economy. 

A panel of 20 senior figures from UK-wide 

trade associations have identified the CSA 

as one of the Best Overall Associations for 

organisations with less than 1,000 members. 

In its submission, the CSA highlighted 

significant progress in the last 12 months 

in areas such as lobbying, learning and 

development, and driving best practice in 

critical matters such as mental health and 

managing vulnerable customers. 

associationexcellenceawards.co.uk 


NEWS SPECIAL 

Hitting the Books 

With the help of The Bookseller magazine, 

Credit Management looks at the state of the publishing 

industry with exclusive additional statistics from 

Dun & Bradstreet. 

BRITISH publishing houses 

broke revenue records in 

2017 to see their collective 

sales rise five percent to 

£5.7 billion, driven by a 

growth in export sales 

which now account for 60 percent of 

publishers’ revenues. However, while 

most areas of business performed 

robustly, domestic sales of textbooks to 

schools took a 12 percent hit, revealing 

that savage public sector cuts are starting 

to bite in the education. 

Altogether total book sale income 

(physical and digital) was up four percent 

in 2017 to £3.7 billion. Physical book sales 

continue to outpace digital, with revenue 

up five percent last year to £3.1 billion. 

However, stripping out journals, digital 

book sales are down by two percent to 

£543 million. 

OVERSEAS SUCCESS 

Export sales – which Publishers 

Associations’ CEO Stephen Lotinga 

described as “the real stand out story this 

year” – continue to drive UK publishers’ 

revenues and were up a further eight 

percent in 2017 to £3.4 billion, accounting 

for 60 percent of total sales. Within the 

eight percent rise for exports, print 

fiction, non-fiction/reference, ELT 

and academic/professional titles saw 

increases of between 10-14 percent, with 

a small rise in sales of school books, but 

children’s export value fell by nine percent 

in the year, although it was still the fastest 

growing category since 2013. 

The UK’s decision to Brexit has not 

put Europe off from trading with UK 

publishers, with invoiced sales of print 

books to the continent up by 13 percent to 

£489 million in 2017. 

“The UK continues to be the world 

leader in terms of exporting books with 60 

percent of revenue coming from overseas,” 

Stephen adds. “Britain’s footprint also 

means we have a history of trading with 

lots of different parts of the world. We are 

also blessed with having some of the best 

writing talent and academic scholars in 

the world and there is huge demand for 

our English Language Teaching products.” 

TEXTBOOKS DEMISE 

By far the biggest concern for domestic 

market however is the 12 percent hit to 

sales of education print books following 

savage public sector cuts – a decline that 

Collins Learning’ Managing Director Colin 

Hughes says was not compensated for by 

a 12 percent rise in digital education sales: 

“UK schools, rightly or wrongly, feel 

they are under greater budget pressure 

than they have experienced for some 

while,” Colin says: “Ministers think 

there’s plenty of money for them to buy 

learning resources; headteachers and 

governors disagree. But we know for sure 

that anxious schools are spending less on 

At a time when we are seeing 

huge political changes 

internationally with 

threats of tariffs and trade 

agreements being upended, 

we must continue to fight 

for the things our industry 

needs to thrive. 

classroom materials, choosing instead 

to protect their spend on teachers and 

teaching assistants. 

“It seems to be accompanied by 

increasing scepticism about the value 

of bought-in resources, especially 

conventional textbooks. And ministerial 

exhortations to schools to recognise the 

value to textbooks in saving teacher time 

seem to have made little difference thus 

far.” Stephen was also concerned: “We 

have a minister who is calling for increased 

investment in print textbooks and an 

education system which is struggling to 

find the resources to fund that. There 

is money to spend on priorities – and 

education should definitely be up there as 

one of the most important priorities.” 

FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE 

Lotinga warned that while the figures 

reveal UK publishers’ success, they also 

underline how perilously important 

international trade is to the sector at 

a time Britain’s trading partnerships 

are being threatened: “At a time when 

we are seeing huge political changes 

internationally with threats of tariffs and 

trade agreements being upended, we 

must continue to fight for the things our 

industry needs to thrive. This includes 

everything from a steadfast commitment 

to copyright, to the removal of barriers to 

the markets we export to, to the talent we 

need to operate our businesses.” 

Credit Management acknowledges the 

kind assistance of The Bookseller in 

putting together this article. 


INSOLVENCY 

Reporting misconduct 

Creditors have a part to play in the process. 

AUTHOR – David Kerr MCICM 

David Kerr 

THE Insolvency Service 

has recently updated its 

guidance on complaining 

about misconduct where 

you believe company 

directors and bankrupts 

may have acted inappropriately, so it is 

worth a recap on what can be reported, 

and by/to whom. 

The bankruptcy provisions extend, 

to some extent, to debtors who are 

subject to Debt Relief Orders as well as 

those in bankruptcy. Anyone can report 

misconduct, and creditors may be well 

placed to pick up information about a 

bankrupt’s ongoing trading activities. The 

restrictions on bankrupts impact on their 

ability to be involved in the management 

of a limited liability company while 

subject to the bankruptcy order (usually 

for 12 months). That goes beyond acting 

as a director overtly, and includes 

involvement in the promotion, formation 

or management of a company without 

permission. 

Bankrupts are also restricted in the way 

they trade – they must not do so under a 

different name (to the one in which they 

were made bankrupt), and they must not 

borrow more than £500, without telling 

people about the bankruptcy/restrictions. 

There are other restrictions too, including 

oddly one prohibiting bankrupts acting as 

representatives on creditors’ committees. 

You can report bankrupts to the 

Official Receiver, and use the personal 

insolvency register to find out which 

office is dealing with the case. Where the 

alleged misconduct relates to involvement 

in a limited company, refer the matter to 

the Insolvency Service online or through 

its Intelligence Hub. 

Concerns about a debtor’s conduct 

prior to bankruptcy may include matters 

such as: hiding assets; obtaining credit 

knowing it couldn’t be repaid; and 

favouring family members over other 

creditors 

DIRECTOR CONDUCT 

The Service will look into complaints 

about any live companies where there 

are serious concerns. These might be 

about significant breaches of the law or 

other irregularities, and conduct causing 

significant harm to suppliers. 

Where insolvency has commenced, 

concerns may arise regarding any of 

the following: trading while insolvent; 

fraud; depriving creditors of assets; not 

keeping proper records; and not paying 

tax liabilities. 

Report such matters in the first instance 

to the Official Receiver or insolvency 

practitioner dealing with the case. This 

applies to companies in administration 

and liquidation. 

There are specific provisions for all 

directors of companies in liquidation, 

limiting their re-use of the same company 

name (or one so close as to suggest an 

association). This applies for five years. 

However, there are exceptions, including 

circumstances where the liquidator 

has sold the name, so check with the 

liquidator first. 

INSOLVENCY SERVICE ROLE 

Not all matters reported to the Service 

will result in action by them or by other 

authorities, but they will acknowledge 

complaints received and assess the 

information provided. You can make 

complaints anonymously, but the Service 

pledges not to inform the company 

or director(s) of the identity of the 

complainant/informant, so it is probably 

better to do so openly. Where the Service 

cannot communicate with a complainant, 

for example to obtain further evidence 

or information, then it may not be able 

to take forward something that might 

otherwise represent a valid concern. 

The Insolvency Service is also the place 

to go to if you have a complaint about an 

insolvency practitioner. However, in the 

first instance it is advisable to raise any 

concerns directly with the practitioner 

or his/her firm. Concerns can often arise 

though misunderstandings or lapses in 

communication, and these may be capable 

of being resolved without recourse to 

formal complaints procedures. If you do 

complain via the Insolvency Service, it will 

assess the information provided and may 

reject the complaint or refer the matter to 

the relevant recognised professional body. 

There are some matters that the 

Insolvency Service cannot deal with, such 

as those concerning sole traders who are 

not bankrupt. You may be advised to refer 

matters to other agencies/authorities. 

Where the Service can act, and the 

concerns are sufficiently serious, it may 

issue warnings, impose new restrictions 

or take action through the courts (for 

example, to disqualify a director). You 

will usually be advised of the outcome, 

though ongoing live investigations are 

confidential. If a matter cannot be 

investigated, then you will be informed. 

The new guidance does not change 

the landscape materially, but it is a useful 

reminder of the options open to anyone 

with helpful information or concerns. 

David Kerr MCICM is an insolvency 

practitioner with extensive regulatory 

experience. 

Bankrupts are also 

restricted in the way they 

trade – they must not 

do so under a different 

name (to the one in 

which they were made 

bankrupt), and they 

must not borrow more 

than £500, without 

telling people about the 

bankruptcy/restrictions. 


FROM THE CHAIR 

The Last Post 

Reflections on a challenging and rewarding 

two years in office. 

AUTHOR – Laurie Beagle FCICM 

Laurie Beagle 

THIS is my last article while in 

the role of Chair. My tenure after 

two years ends early September. 

This is a very strange experience 

as I have been on the Executive 

Board now for six years. Firstly, 

as a member, then Vice Chair and lastly as 

Chair. I must say it has been a privilege to 

have been a Trustee. I now humbly take the 

role of Vice President and will also serve as 

an International Credit Representative on the 

Advisory Council. 

There are many people to thank for their 

support over the past two years. Firstly, my 

fellow members of the Executive Board for 

their hard work and support. Similarly, I would 

like to thank the Advisory Council members for 

their input and contribution and also the team 

at CICM HQ who work very hard, sometimes 

in the background, but whose efforts keep the 

CICM train running on time. 

There also must be a special ‘thank you’ 

to our Chief Executive, Philip King, for his 

guidance, leadership and friendship. We have 

not always agreed but to me that is a good 

thing, for it allows for a healthy debate that 

invariably ends with a robust outcome. 

I am sorry that I cannot stand for a second 

term. Two years is a short period of time and 

I would have liked to have seen some of the 

long-term initiatives progress further. That 

said, whereas I will now have to take a back 

seat, I am excited for the new Board who will 

continue to take the Institute forward. 

I would sum up the past two years as being 

both challenging and rewarding. There have 

been many subjects that we have discussed. 

The main one’s being membership, finance 

and the future of our profession. 

Membership will always be top of the list. 

We have made a great deal of progress in 

raising awareness that Credit Management is a 

profession. I would like to thank the branches 

for all their hard work and for spreading 

the word at careers fairs and within schools 

and colleges. The Thames Valley Branch has 

arguably set the standard and I hope we can 

bottle what they are producing and give it to 

other branches to help them follow suit. Also, 

we have the Careers Working Group which 

continues to be very active and produces some 

excellent ideas and results. Many thanks to all 

the group members. 

The finance team led by Anne Strahan is a 

very important foundation stone of the CICM. 

Anne’s input, guidance and reports have made 

our jobs as Trustees somewhat easier in a world 

where providing balanced decisions is critical. 

The future of our profession is in all our 

hands. I joined the ICM as it was then in 1983 

and became a Fellow in 1991. My everyday life, 

as yours, can have an impact on the Credit 

Management Profession and the CICM. It 

doesn’t matter what your job title is; you can 

be instrumental in spreading the word to those 

who don’t know the CICM. 

You can also help us tune those credit 

professionals into what the CICM and credit 

profession is today, help change opinions and 

outdated views, and show the benefits of being 

a professional. I know it’s not easy, but we know 

there are a number who are very experienced 

credit folk in many parts of the industry who 

could play very important roles in the future of 

our profession. We just need to focus on them. 

I hope you can see that I am very passionate 

about this. 

I would like to wish the new Advisory Council 

members and Executive Board Trustees’ every 

success for the future in continuing to deliver 

the projects and initiatives we have started. 

For the record I am not retiring. I plan, going 

forward, to continue to play as active a role as 

possible in the CICM and in my profession. 

Laurie Beagle FCICM, is the Chair of the CICM 

Executive Board. 


HIGH COURT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ASSOCIATION 

Taking Control of Goods 

Andrew Wilson asks if the Call for Evidence is the 

third-year review? 

THE reforms to taking 

control of goods under 

the Tribunals Courts & 

Enforcement Act 2007 only 

came into effect on 6 April 

2014, and similarly the 

first-year review of Enforcement Agents 

Reforms was only published in April 2018, 

rather than in 2015 or 2016 as might have 

been expected. 

At the time of its publication, those 

in the enforcement world were put on 

notice of a Call for Evidence, which looks 

as though it will be a third-year review 

but based on submissions of those in the 

industry and other interested parties, 

rather than on original research carried 

out by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). 

The first-year review broadly gave 

the reforms a clean bill of health and did 

not find any ‘unintended consequences’ 

from the changes needing immediate 

attention. However, it also found ‘that 

debt advisers and debtors still perceived 

some enforcement agents to be acting 

aggressively and in some cases not acting 

within the regulations’. 

The Advice Sector produced its 

own third-year review (Taking Control 

bailiffreform.org/storage/app/media/ 

Taking%20Control%20report%20 

March%202017.pdf) in March 2017 citing 

TAKING CONTROL 

TAKING 

CONTROL 

The need for 

fundamental 

bailiff reform 

l 

13 case studies illustrating continuing 

problems reported to them and suggesting 

seven reforms, including, in particular, the 

creation of an independent regulator for 

the civil enforcement industry. 

The Call for Evidence, which looks as 

though it will be launched in September, 

will be looking at how the 2014 reforms 

continue to work in practice. In particular, 

it will be looking at the new fee structure 

and assess whether it is having an impact 

on the behaviour of enforcement agents 

or debtors, and will analyse the evidence 

gathered to see whether any regulatory 

amendments or other changes may be 

necessary. 

How does this fit in with the HM Courts 

& Tribunals Service (HMCTS) Reform 

Programme that has turned its attention 

to civil enforcement this year? Presumably 

the conclusion of the Call for Evidence 

from the MoJ will feed into the suggestions 

from the HMCTS for any changes in 

enforcement. 

Not surprisingly, the High Court 

Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA) 

and its colleagues in the Civil Enforcement 

Association (CIVEA) are gathering suitable 

evidence for submission, with case studies 

which can be verified by more detailed 

evidence, if requested, in readiness for 

the Call. We believe that the reforms are 

working, although by signposting debtors 

to the various agencies within the Advice 

Sector (set out in each of the new prescribed 

forms), the numbers of enquiries received 

by them have increased considerably. 

The position of the HCEOA and CIVEA 

is clear (see Redefining the Boundaries, 

page 49, May publication). The reforms 

are an improvement, and opening up the 

restrictions on enforcing CCJs would be an 

easily achievable regulatory change that 

would benefit court users. 

Andrew Wilson MCICM is Chairman 

of the High Court Enforcement Officers 

Association (HCEOA). 

March 2017 


EXCLUSIVE REPORT 

WISE 

COUNCIL 

Some local authorities are pledging to cut 

the use of bailiffs and collect debts more 

ethically. So how will it work? 

AUTHOR – Heather Greig-Smith 

BRISTOL City Council 

announced in July that it 

would be trialling ethical debt 

collection for unpaid council 

tax in a bid to end the use of 

bailiffs. It follows London’s 

Hammersmith and Fulham in seeking an 

alternative to current practices. 

Local authorities and other public sector 

bodies have come under heavy scrutiny for 

the way they collect debts from residents. Not 

subject to the Financial Conduct Authority 

(FCA) rules that apply to private sector firms, 

the gulf in behaviour between the two has 

widened as the private sector has evolved and 

the public sector has not. 

The difference in practices has not escaped 

central government attention and pressure is 

mounting for change. Bristol’s announcement 

follows a five-month local campaign and 

came hot on the heels of a Treasury Select 

Committee report on household finances. 

WORST IN CLASS 

The report called debt collection practices 

of public authorities ‘worst in class’. It said: 

‘Debts are often pursued over-zealously, 

uncompromisingly, and with routine recourse 

to bailiffs. This approach risks driving the 

most financially vulnerable people into 

further difficulty. The public sector should 

raise its standards to the level of industry best 

practice’. 

The local Bristol campaign against the 

use of bailiffs was co-ordinated by media cooperative 

the Bristol Cable. Co-founder Adam 

Cantwell-Corn said bailiffs are used by the 

council on average 50 times a day. 

“Despite the scale of the council’s use 

of bailiffs, they are woefully ineffective at 

actually recovering debts: bailiffs actually 

only collect 30 percent of the debts they are 

charged to recover, in part because they won’t 

accept realistic repayment plans from people 

who just can’t pay,” he added. 

Bristol City Council agrees that using 

bailiffs exacerbates the problems for those in 

financial difficulty. “The use of enforcement 

agents to collect unpaid bills is an imperfect 

system that puts a huge amount of, often 

unfair, pressure on those who have money 

struggles,” said Councillor Craig Cheney, 

Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance. 

He has first-hand experience of this. “As 

a child my family struggled with money 

problems that were never helped by the 

extra pressures put on us by the additional 

costs that come with enforcement action,” he 

added. 

ADVICE AND INFORMATION 

Instead of rushing to enforcement, the 

council wants to signpost people to advice and 

information services early. “We are already 

someway along that journey and have seen 

our levels of debt collection rise while our use 

of enforcement agents has decreased,” said 

Craig. 

“Now we want to explore how we take 

those next steps to ensure the use of agents is 

kept as an absolute last resort in the recovery 

of council debt.” 

Hammersmith and Fulham Council led 

the charge last year when it entered a joint 

venture with private sector firm Intrum UK, 

creating H&F Ethical Collections. The joint 

venture aims to radically change collections 

processes and the council has pledged to end 

the use of bailiffs for council tax. 

The partnership means the council is 

transferring its debts to Intrum’s offices for 

collection, where a specially-formed team 

uses private sector techniques to engage with 

the borough’s residents and work with them 

to set up arrangements to pay. 

“Payment arrangements have to be 

affordable and sustainable,” says Intrum’s UK 

Managing Director Eddie Nott. “If someone 

doesn’t have the money to pay they can’t pay. 

No amount of bailiff action or charges will 



AUTHOR – Heather Greig-Smith 

change that. It just causes distress and is an 

inhumane way to treat people.” 

Applying too much pressure to those 

struggling to pay is also short-sighted 

financially. It is the council that pays the costs 

of temporary accommodation if a resident is 

made homeless. Poor debt management also 

increases demand on health, education and 

social services. 

Ending the use of bailiffs doesn’t mean 

collecting less money, says Eddie. “The 

private sector has learned that engaging with 

people in debt in a sensitive and supportive 

way works. You need to listen to people and 

never ask for more than they can afford.” 

COLLABORATIVE APPROACH 

He adds that a collaborative approach costs 

less in the long run because people are able 

to stick to those arrangements. “It’s about 

being sensible not soft,” he says. “If someone 

who can afford to pay refuses to do so we will 

take legal action. But in those cases there are 

other, more humane legal ways to recover 

money, such as attachment of earnings 

or charging orders. Bailiffs should be the 

absolute last resort and many councils are 

not using them that way.” 

Many of Intrum’s customers who have 

private sector debts have also experienced 

aggressive council collections. At a recent 

feedback group Eddie says one customer 

reported that she missed a £20 payment when 

her husband died. “Bailiffs came to the door 

and added £235 on top. I’ve paid it off now, 

but they would not budge,” she said. Her 

husband’s private sector debt was written off. 

In evidence to the Treasury Select 

Committee, Matt Upon of Citizens Advice 

said there is a great deal the Government 

could learn in terms of forbearance from 

consumer creditors. 

“Part of that has been because regulation 

has brought some of those firms in line but, 

partly, if you talk to banks, it is because 

many organisations have realised that 

incredibly aggressive collection methods are 

not effective in and of themselves at getting 

money in the door, because people do not 

respond well to some of those tactics,” he 

said. 

Jane Tully, Director of External Affairs 

at the Money Advice Trust, welcomed 

the committee’s report, saying it rightly 

recognises the need to improve public sector 

debt collection practice. She acknowledged 

that practices vary by area. 

“While overall use of bailiffs by councils 

in England and Wales is increasing, there are 

individual local authorities working hard to 

improve practice,” she said. 

“Hammersmith and Fulham and now 

Bristol City Council are two local authorities 

that are leading the way in exploring more 

‘ethical’ approaches. This shows other 

councils that there are alternative options.” 

ETHICAL APPROACH 

H&F Ethical Collections is already in 

discussions with other councils keen to 

explore the possibilities for change. More 

pilots are expected to take place in the near 

future. 

Local authorities and other public sector 

bodies will hope these new approaches can 

raise the levels of cash returned to their 

budgets. Many face huge pressure to ensure 

they can pay for services in an era of austerity. 

Northampton Council’s recent financial crisis 

is seen by many as the tip of the iceberg. 

A report by PwC in June found council 

leaders convinced a local government 

financial crisis is close, with three quarters 

(74 percent) of respondents expecting that 

some councils will get into serious financial 

crisis in the next year, up from 54 percent last 

year. 

Jonathan House, Local Government and 

Health Leader at PwC, said there has been a 

significant step up in the challenge for local 

government leadership. “While local councils 

have done well against an ongoing course of 

challenges, the cliff edge for some is getting 

ever closer.” 

Private sector practices will need to help 

councils against this backdrop of public 

pressure and wider calls for a more humane 

approach. 

Heather Greig-Smith is a freelance 

business journalist. 


CICMQ 

CICMQ reignites Xoserve's policy 

“CICMQ gives confidence to our customers 

and assures them that the business has the 

expertise and has continued to develop our 

processes and people to be recognised as 

a reputable company dealing with credit 

risk,” according to Mark Cockayne, Business 

Process Manager at Xoserve following the 

company’s re-accreditation. 

Chris Sanders, CICMQ Head of 

Accreditation, CICM, says training has 

played a big part in Xoserve achieving its 

goal: “Following changes in the business 

last year, training and development 

of staff in the new processes and 

professional qualifications remains 

crucial to the business. The teams 

understand their customers, roles and 

build good relationships, and there is 

a strong sense of ownership and pride 

in achievement.” 

Xoserve was founded in 2005 and 

is an integral part of the restructured 

gas distribution market in Britain. By 

delivering transportation transactional 

services on behalf of all four major Gas 

Network transportation companies, 

Xoserve provides one consistent service 

point for the gas shipper companies. 

Xoserve reported a turnover of £45,759,000 

in last year’s accounts. 

Travis Perkins builds on original 

accreditation with renewal 

TRAVIS Perkins PLC, the UK’s largest 

builders’ merchants, has achieved 

CICMQ re-accreditation following 

the implementation of a new credit 

management structure within the 

organisation. 

CICMQ covers six specific areas: 

credit policy, compliance, customer 

service, personal and professional 

development, performance measurement 

and stakeholder management and 

roadmap. 

Michelle Maddock MCICM, Head 

of Credit – General Merchanting at 

Travis Perkins, says having an industryrenowned 

accreditation which signifies a 

best-in-class approach and performance 

is critical to the business: “The focus on 

standardisation and the development of 

our people has been key to the process. 

We have worked hard to raise the profile 

of the credit teams within the company, 

which has come with greater engagement 

across the many functions. 

“We currently have 12 members 

of the team studying the Law module 

from CICM. We also have plans to run 

some workshops with the CICM on call 

standards later this year.” 

Chris Sanders, says that Travis Perkins 

excelled in a number of areas during 

the assessment: “The way that the new 

credit policy has been created is both 

innovative and engaging. Another area 

that deserves to be singled out is the 

training packs for ‘credit services’. These 

are excellent documents, produced 

in-house, that rival any that we have 

seen and should be considered ‘best 

practice’.” 

Travis Perkins PLC has over 20 

businesses across the UK and owns 19 

product brands within these businesses. 

It operates from 2,000 locations across the 

UK with over 2,250 employees. 


A contender for CICM Centre of Excellence 

“WE have added a number of new starters to 

our experienced team who have made a positive 

impact,” says Jillian Doyle MCICM, Head 

of Credit at QA. “Achieving CICMQ 

re-accreditation is recognition of their hard 

work.” 

Established in 1989, QA has four key 

divisions of the business covering Core 

Learning, Consultancy, Apprenticeships 

and Higher Education. It offers over 1,500 

training courses, as well as bespoke training, 

across 20 learning centres in the UK. 

Based out of a central support office in 

Leeds, the credit team manages a turnover 

of approximately £154 million and consists 

of ten credit controllers, a credit manager, 

a credit supervisor and Jillian as Head of 

Credit. It also has three people in the sales 

ledger department. 

“It is crucial that we continue to promote 

best practice within the team and maintain 

these standards. We hope that our work 

with the CICM will help us to attract further 

talent to the organisation,” Jillian adds. 

Chris Sanders, says QA should consider 

applying to become a CICM Centre of 

Excellence: “The focus on cash and 

debt reduction within the QA team is 

excellent, and is being driven through the 

organisation. The level of engagement with 

the CICM is increasing all the time and 

this, we are sure, will continue and develop 

further.” 

Improvements seal re-accreditation 

ROYAL Mail has been supporting 

customers, businesses and communities 

from around the country for 500 years, 

delivering a ‘one-price-goes-anywhere’ 

six days a week service to more than 

29 million addresses across the UK. 

The sole designated Universal Postal 

Service Provider has achieved CICMQ 

re-accreditation. 

The Group revenue exceeded £10 

Billion in 2018. Its credit management 

team is based in Bolton and Chesterfield, 

along with core receivables functions 

such as credit risk and credit control. It 

is also responsible for special pricing, 

finance enquiries and the meters/ 

franking helpline. 

Glenys Hayward, Head of Group 

Receivables, Royal Mail, says the support 

and determination of the team members 

was crucial to achieving re-accreditation: 

“The process has ensured all areas of 

credit management continue to perform 

at the highest level with continuous 

improvement being paramount. We 

were fortunate that our Finance Director 

recognises the value of the accreditation, 

and the return on investment in training, 

so there were few central challenges.” 

Chris Sanders, says there had been 

a further improvement in procedures 

since the last assessment two years 

ago: “There has been a real sense of 

urgency for change, demonstrated in 

the way they have adopted the 

new Robotic Process Automation 

(RPA) processes. 

“The knowledge absorbed has made 

everyone think beyond their own role and 

really consider how the teams fit together, 

the customer journey, the financial risks 

and continuous improvement. This 

group now have all three elements of a 

high performing team: people strategy; 

common vision; and good stakeholder 

management.” 


INTERVIEW 

LOFT 

CONVERTER 

Sean Feast caught up with Steve Murray 

MCICM to discuss the challenge of 

increased regulation, Michaelangelo’s 

Sistine Chapel, and starting a business 

in a loft! 

WHEN Steve Murray left 

school at 16 with unhappy 

memories and a single 

CSE in English to his 

name, the future did not 

look especially bright. 

The vicissitudes of life had not been especially 

kind. Whereas many of his contemporaries 

chose a trade or a rather more nefarious path, 

Steve was more inclined towards an office job: 

“We used to have government, economics 

and commerce (GEC) lessons and it always 

interested me, so much so that I did my course 

project on banking and services.” 

His last few years at school were rather 

difficult, and with no hope of 6th Form or 

College, he managed to get on the Youth 

Training Scheme (YTS) with Giro Bank, after 

which he never looked back. It was the start 

of a career in financial services that ultimately 

led to the launch of Commercial Cashflow 

Management (CCM) in 1997 and after a change 

of name in 2012, Ardent Credit Services, with 

Steve as its founder and CEO. 

A Scouser born and bred, Steve was born in 

Netherley, a comparatively deprived area to the 

east of the city, but moved to the more rural 

community of Melling, 12 miles further north, 

when he was five. “Netherley was a tough part 

of the world and my mum wanted us to move 

more into the countryside,” he explains. 

RIVER PILOT 

His father was in the Merchant Navy, and 

latterly a Mersey River Pilot guiding the big 

ships in and out of the docks. In the school 

holidays he would go out with his father on 

the Launch, bouncing up and down on the 

Mersey without a life jacket on. There was no 

such thing as health and safety in those days: 

“On one occasion he let me take the wheel, and 

after a little while he took over and told me to 

look aft. I could see the wash behind me – a 

series of erratic curves rather than a straight 

line – and he asked me if I’d like to go back and 

dot the I!” 

Steve also remembers holidays to Anglesey: 

“We’d have ‘Tic Tac’ eating competitions to see 

who could eat the most red ones (they were the 

hottest), and we’d go to a fish and chip shop 

called ‘knockers’ which my mum said served 

the best fish ever.” 

After Giro Bank, Steve applied for a job 

as a float office junior – the lowest of the 

lowest rank of office life – at Bermans, a firm 

of solicitors. He did well and was promoted 

quickly, spending some time in the internal 

accounts department. (“I was working with 

three ladies who reminded me of the opening 

scene of Macbeth,” he laughs.) He also had the 

good fortune to find a champion in one of the 

partners, Bernie Barrett, so much so that when 

Steve decided at 19 to head for the bright lights 

of London to seek his fortune, it was Bernie 

who allowed Steve to write to his clients to help 

find employment. 

Within eight weeks of deciding to head 

south, Steve had found a new job, new 

accommodation, and a new career, working 

with The Mall Trust Corporation Plc in the 

factoring and invoice discounting arena. 

For a time, he was living near Putney Bridge 

and travelling to Cross Harbour, and well 

remembers seeing the Canary Wharf Tower as 

it appeared to rise a little higher every day to 

ultimately dominate the East London skyline. 

RISING PANIC 

He recalls one particular meeting, sat around 

a table, to discuss how The Mall Trust could 

support the restructuring of a firm that had 

gone into administration. As they introduced 

themselves, Steve felt the panic rising. 

“Everyone was from Eton or Cambridge so 

when they came to me I simply said ‘my name is 

Steve Murray, from The Mall Trust, and I went 

to the school of life.’ There was a moment’s 

silence, and then the Yoda-like character who 


The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / September 2018 / PAGE 19 continues on page 20 >

INTERVIEW 

AUTHOR – SEAN FEAST 

was leading the meeting roared with laughter 

and said ‘that’ll do for me, Steve!’. The deal 

went through.” 

Steve returned to Liverpool in the summer 

of 1992 to be near his father who’d been 

diagnosed with Cancer. Sadly, he died shortly 

after, an event that was to have a profound 

impact on Steve’s life. By then he’d taken a 

job as a senior credit controller for a freight 

forwarding and shipping company, but was 

keen to get back into Invoice Finance. He 

enjoyed a happy three years with Causeway 

Invoice Discounting in Manchester, before 

taking his credit management skills to the 

Hillgate Group in Stockport. 

“Hillgate was a publishing company,” he 

explains, “and as such created high volumes 

of low balance invoices. Old debts used to 

be written off, so I created a programme to 

recover it and we collected very well. It was 

so successful that we collected something like 

£600,000 in [six] months and I was the Golden 

Boy.” 

This gave Steve an appetite for collections 

and the opportunity it presented. It also 

exposed him for the first time to the concept 

of ‘no success no fee’, partnering with FT&C 

to collect Hillgate’s debts. Unbeknownst to 

Steve, however, as fast as he was collecting the 

money, the financial controller was taking it. 

Upon leaving, he was offered a job at FT&C 

who’d been approached by Coopers & Lybrand 

to deliver a cashflow management solution for 

one of its clients, PrintPack. 

“They had a blue-chip client base with 

people like Walkers Crisps, but its cashflow 

was under pressure. While they had agreed 

price structures with their clients, the invoiced 

amounts were different, because of variations 

in paper prices, and so the invoices were being 

rejected. The solution was to embed one of us 

into the sales team and raise a series of credit 

notes for the disputed amounts.” 

CREDIT CONTROL 

It was about this time that Steve started to 

research the idea of creating his own business to 

deliver professional, outsourced credit control 

services (“like a factoring service, managing the 

sales ledger but without advancing the cash,” 

he says.) He received a loan of £3,000 from The 

Prince’s Trust, and cashed in an endowment 

that realised a further £1,000. “I bought a Dell 

computer (for £1,400!), a printer and a flat-bed 

scanner, and installed a telephone line in my 

mother’s loft. I then bought a chair and a desk, 

and opened the Yellow Pages.” 

Steve focused his efforts on those businesses 

that generated large volumes of low volume 

invoices, like publishing companies, skip hire 

companies, plant hire businesses etc, even 

providing training to one firm who wanted Steve 

to pass on his wisdom and collections skills 

to their own team! “I expanded my services 

to include debt collection, legal services, 

tracing, training – anything that paid the bills. 

I called the business Commercial Cashflow 

Management – later amended to Commercial 

Credit Management – and worked 12 hours a 

day including weekends.” 

Often Steve would have the radio on as 

background noise and began listening to a 

movie review slot on Radio Five Live, where 

members of the general public were asked to 

come on air and review a particular film. Steve 

put himself forward as a candidate and was 

accepted: “I had to review Aliens and sitting in 

a cinema with my notepad was a little weird,” 

he laughs. Happily, the review went well, sitting 

in a small studio in BBC Radio Merseyside and 

being cued in. “It seemed to go down very well, 

so much so that when someone dropped out a 

few weeks later they called and asked me to do 

it again. 

The loft had its limitations, and Steve 

rented some office space on the North Mersey 

Business Centre, overlooking the council tip. 

Steve began to expand his business and take on 

administrative support for when he was out of 

the office and on the road. It was in 2003 that 

Steve was himself diagnosed with Melanoma. 

Everyone was from Eton or 

Cambridge so when they came to 

me I simply said ‘my name is Steve 

Murray, from The Mall Trust, and I 

went to the school of life.' 


INTERVIEW 

AUTHOR – SEAN FEAST 

Indeed, out of adversity came opportunity, 

and he began to invest. As well as commercial 

collections, he began recovering consumer 

debt, thanks to a contract with a local vet to 

collect unpaid bills from pet owners. 

GAME CHANGER 

The ‘game changer’, as Steve calls it, came 

partly by chance. “I remember checking the 

junk folder in my emails and there was one 

in there from a creditor looking for a DCA to 

collect on around 10,000 low balance accounts 

per month. They were a mail order-type based 

in Sweden, and by that time I’d moved to a 

building affectionately known as ‘The Shed’ 

on Knowsley Industrial Park. It had single 

glazing and iron bars on the windows and 

we re-named it Frederick House after my late 

father. The client’s name was also Fredrik and 

we’re still in touch.” 

As a result of that contract, Steve bought 

a dialler, enabling them to take on larger 

accounts. This, however, was not without its 

challenges, especially when the customer 

wanted to visit Steve’s ‘headquarters’. Their 

offices were dank and cold, though Steve 

did his best to spruce them up with the 

help of a lick of paint and two paintings he 

bought from a foreign student selling doorto-door 

(Steve still has one of them, a copy of 

Michaelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’ from the 

ceiling of the Sistine Chapel). 

“We also acquired one of those pod-based 

coffee making machines that I had never used 

before. It stood on the boardroom table and 

as I tried to make it work it was vibrating so 

much that it started to ‘march’ towards the 

client!” 

In 2009, and with eight staff, Steve took 

another game changing decision to move to 

more professional offices in Moorgate Point, 

Knowsley. He also began experimenting with 

marketing, sponsoring events and offering 

raffle prizes of a weekend in Paris with 

the slogan ‘who said there’s no romance in 

debt collection’. He also began giving out 

chocolate bars, and remembers striking up a 

conversation with two ladies over a cup of tea 

that ended up with him winning his biggest 

client to date. 

GROWING FORCE 

Today, Ardent Credit Services is a growing 

force in debt collection and early arrears 

outsourcing. It now has more than 70 fulltime 

employees and is constantly looking 

to expand. It recently celebrated its 20th 

anniversary with beers, bubbles and birthday 

cake. 

Steve says that the market is tough, and 

most new business is won on reputation, but 

he has invested in a dedicated new business 

development director and took on John 

Ricketts last year as managing director. 

“The challenge,” he believes, “is not getting 

the new business opportunities, but rather 

making them profitable. We have to find 

the right balance between investing in new 

business and consolidating what we have and 

looking to grow organically.” 

Procurement, Steve explains, is one of 

the biggest challenges today, as well as 

the additional costs imposed by increased 

regulation and compliance: “Ten years ago, 

procurement was not so much of an issue. 

Today they seem to have a disproportionate 

influence on the outcome. On one tender, for 

example, we were asked for a best and final 

offer on two occasions, now how can that be 

right? 

“As a business, and an industry, we’ve had 

to absorb not only a change in regulator, but 

also things like GDPR, Thematic Reviews and 

Senior Managers and Certification Regime 

(SMCR). There are clients out there who do 

understand the additional costs we face and 

allow us to increase our fees, but mostly 

DCAs survive by improving efficiencies and 

embracing new technologies including selfserve.” 

Scale, Steve believes, is important, though 

he has some concerns over recent M&A 

activities. “Many of the brands from just a 

few years ago have disappeared, and I just 

wonder if that has been good for our industry 

and whether these firms have prospered since 

they were bought. Some firms have recently 

announced redundancies or are re-locating to 

reduce costs.” 

As a member of the CICM, Steve has 

enjoyed the support of the Institute and its 

experts, especially on technical issues. He 

was for a time the Vice Chair and then Chair 

of the CICM’s Merseyside and North Wales 

branch and Board Member of the CSA, but 

work pressure meant that he was time poor 

and now he is fully focused on the business. 

TECHNICAL SUPPORT 

“I remember my first experience of the ICM,” 

he recalls. “I had not long started my business 

and had a technical question and was referred 

to the ICM’s Technical Committee. Mike Barry 

called me back and answered my query and 

said that if I ever need help again I was to 

phone. He became a close mentor and friend 

and I was very sad when he died. Both he and 

Glen Bullivant were especially helpful and 

I will always be grateful for the support that 

they showed.” 

Throughout Steve’s life, humour has played 

a large part in getting him through, and as 

well as being committed to his work, he is also 

committed to his friends, family and beloved 

Liverpool FC. He is currently getting in 

shape for a 5K run in aid of Cancer Research 

and raising money for the ‘No More Knives’ 

campaign with which he has a close personal 

interest. As for the future, he sees his role at 

Ardent as being to focus on quality and taking 

a positive attitude to life: “The glass is always 

half full,” he concludes. 

As a member of 

the CICM, Steve has 

enjoyed the support 

of the Institute and its 

experts, especially on 

technical issues. 


THE POWER OF 

ENGAGEMENT 

With increased technology driving organisations, it is 

sometimes easy to overlook your most critical asset. 

I 

was privileged to be asked to 

write a ‘Guest Blog’ for Philip 

King, Chief Executive of the 

Chartered Institute of Credit 

Management, and wrote about 

how organisations and ‘best 

practice’ had changed since the first 

CICMQ Accreditation in 2009. Of course, 

‘best practice’ is constantly changing, and 

like Dodge City in the Wild West, there 

is always going to be someone out there 

who is better than you, so ‘best-in-class’ 

just keeps getting better. As Philip says, 

if you stand still you are actually going 

backwards compared to your competitors. 

To ensure that the drive for continuous 

improvement continues, it isn’t about 

the money that is invested, although that 

AUTHOR – Chris Sanders FCICM 

undoubtedly helps. Change always starts 

and finishes with the people. Technology 

in credit management keeps getting 

better, faster, and more efficient, but how 

that technology is designed, programmed 

and implemented still comes down to 

‘people’. So why is it so easy for large 

companies to forget that behind the 

efficiency improvements, offshoring, new 

technology and the resultant benefits are 

people, either making the change or being 

impacted by it? 

VIDEO LINK 

I watched a short video on LinkedIn 

recently by Jack Welch. He was Chairman 

and CEO of General Electric between 

1981 and 2001. During his tenure at GE, 

the company's value rose 4,000 percent 

and while with all business leaders there 

are critics, he said one fundamentally 

important thing: ‘People hate change’, 

and if you think about it he is right. It 

makes me smile when people say that 

they love change; that should be qualified 

with a further statement that they only 

like change when it is positive. There is 

nothing we can do about negative change, 

and there is quite a bit out there, but 

as leaders and managers we should be 

managing it better. 

In Jack Welch’s video he says that it is 

a huge responsibility to have an impact 

on people’s lives and again I think this 

understanding is missing from many 

large companies’ decisions. As leaders, 


OPINION 

AUTHOR – Chris Sanders FCICM 

Chris Sanders 

FCICM 

credit managers should make sure that 

we provide direction, development, and 

recognition for our teams, making sure 

that we bring them along with the plans 

of the department. 

One of the CICMQ Criteria is ‘Roadmap’, 

in other words a plan for the next three, 

six, nine, 12 and 24 months. This should 

be available and displayed for the team 

to see. We also recommend that the team 

plays a part in the development of the 

Roadmap. Engaging people in this way 

provides ownership within the team and 

the change becomes a part of what they 

do. As such they are driving it and not a 

victim of it. 

There are many examples of this sort of 

engagement in in the CICM Best Practice 

Network where managers delegate the 

responsibility. A great example of this is 

the CICMQ Workshop Approach where 

the team is responsible for gaining 

CICMQ Accreditation through ensuring 

that the company and their department 

meet the criteria for CICMQ set by the 

CICM. The managers of the department 

have minimal involvement; their role is 

to make sure that the team have access to 

senior management, unblock and resolve 

issues and help the teams with sign-offs 

and direction. For many managers this is 

a difficult thing to do; for the enlightened, 

it is part of their way of managing their 

teams. 

INTERESTING INITIATIVES 

There are some interesting initiatives in 

the CICM Best Practice Network driven by 

the teams which make the organisations a 

more inclusive place to work. The names 

of the companies have been withheld but 

they will recognise who they are: 

The Washing Line – this is a modernday 

version of the suggestion box. 

Team members make suggestions on 

improvements and they progress the 

idea through evaluation, cost benefit 

and implementation. The ideas are 

pegged on a washing line displayed in 

the department and they progress along 

the line as the idea is developed and 

implemented through the various stages. 

A clear and visual representation of the 

progression of improvements that the 

team has come up with. 

Huddle Boards – we first saw these 

initially in an early adopter of the CICMQ 

programme back in 2010 and since then 

these have been shared and are now 

commonplace. In fact, it is unusual now 

not to see them in CICMQ Accreditation 

assessments. These are used for ideas, 

recognition, issues, targets and even the 

mood of the team. Lean programmes now 

use these as a matter of course and play a 

fundamental part in the communication 

of targets and process measures. 

Induction Programmes – traditionally 

managed by HR, these are very different 

from the tea, toilets and corporate code of 

conduct conversations. These now involve 

online questionnaires and tests, tours of 

the teams sitting with key members and 

regular interviews and one-to-ones with 

the managers. Recently we have seen 

‘Welcome to the Team’ desk banners, after 

work sessions, and lunches with directors. 

One organisation invited the parents of a 

young apprentice to a presentation he was 

giving. This sort of behaviour engenders 

loyalty and ensures engagement and 

pride in what the team does. 

Projects – in old style organisations 

being moved onto a ‘project’ was seen as 

a way to move someone out or the time 

to look for a job with another company. 

Not anymore. Many CICMQ organisations 

make sure that the best people in the 

team are seconded to projects, especially 

those that impact the department. New 

systems, process developments, and reorganisations 

are a few of the projects 

we have seen significant team members 

be a part of. One organisation managed 

to change its organisation structure just 

to accommodate the ambitions of one of 

its staff members to become qualified in 

accountancy, giving them more experience 

in reporting and measurement. 

The CICMQ Cash Challenge – this 

forms part of the CICMQ Workshop 

Approach and is also run as a separate 

workshop now. The cash challenge is all 

about creating a spectacular failure while 

achieving a significant increase in cash 

collection. Again, this is run by the teams 

with the managers making sure that there 

are no blockers, smoothing the way with 

stakeholders and arranging meetings 

for the teams with senior management. 

Everything else is down to the team; after 

Managing people is a huge 

responsibility, be generous 

with praise, give direction 

and smooth the way for 

them to make a difference, 

but mostly have fun and 

find any excuse to bring in a 

cake to celebrate. 

all, who is better placed to understand 

the best way to collect more cash? This 

is again about ideas. Recently we ran a 

workshop with two companies interested 

in challenging each other to see who 

would collect the highest percentage of 

cash above an average figure. Both teams 

had record cash collection – a great result 

for both companies at a time of significant 

change, but most importantly they had 

great fun doing it. We are now looking at 

how we can build on this idea, so if you 

are interested in challenging another 

organisation let us know. 

TAKING OWNERSHIP 

All of these ideas and programmes are 

designed to do one thing: engage the teams. 

By doing this, managers help their teams 

take greater ownership of improvements 

in their departments, generate pride in 

what they do and most of all have fun. 

As Jack Welch said, managing people is 

a huge responsibility, be generous with 

praise, give direction and smooth the way 

for them to make a difference, but mostly 

have fun and find any excuse to bring in 

a cake to celebrate. I know both Philip 

and I have shared some excellent cakes at 

CICMQ Award presentations. 

My thanks to the CICMQ Best Practice 

Accredited organisations whose examples 

I used, to the other members of the 

CICM’s Best Practice Network who drive 

for continuous improvement through 

getting their teams engaged. For more 

information about CICMQ and the CICM 

Best Practice Network please contact 

cicmq@cicm.com or visit cicm.com. 

Chris Sanders FCICM 

is Head of Accreditation – CICMQ. 


ASK THE EXPERTS 

VOLUNTARY 

ACTION 

How does the process for a Company Voluntary 

Arrangement (CVA) work and how do you object to a 

proposal if it's not in your best interest? 


ASK THE EXPERTS 

AUTHORS – Brendan Clarkson FCICM and Christine Francis 

SINCE the beginning of the 

year, the volume of Company 

Voluntary Arrangements 

(CVAs) being proposed and 

approved has seen a significant 

increase. The first quarter of 

2018 saw the number of arrangements put 

in place almost double from the previous 

quarter. Many of the companies subject to 

these arrangements are in the retail sector, 

with weekly news headlines identifying 

well-known brands who, after struggling 

financially, have sought creditors approval 

to a CVA. However, the rapid increase in the 

number of arrangements has led to some 

criticism on the use of the CVA process, and 

whether in certain circumstances specific 

creditor groups are bearing more of the 

financial pain than other stakeholders. 

WHAT IS A CVA 

At its core, a CVA is an agreement between 

a company and its creditors to repay its 

liabilities over an extended period of time. 

This agreement can include the delay of 

debt repayments, reduction of liabilities, 

capital restructuring or an orderly disposal 

of assets. Arrangements often provide for 

only a proportion of the liabilities to be 

repaid with the creditors accepting this 

proposal in full and final settlement of 

their debts. Interest and charges accruing 

on liabilities are also waived and any legal 

actions are stayed. 

The basis for proposing a CVA is that 

it provides a better outcome for creditors 

as a whole than the alternatives if the 

arrangement wasn’t approved, which is 

likely to be that the company is either 

placed into administration or liquidation. 

Similar to administration or liquidation, 

CVAs are a formal insolvency procedure 

and one of the benefits is that if approved 

by the requisite majority of creditors, the 

terms of the arrangement become binding 

upon all creditors. 

CVA PROCESS 

The CVA process commences after the 

company has consulted with financial 

advisors and concluded that it cannot 

meet its ongoing liabilities under normal 

trading circumstances. An insolvency 

practitioner is instructed to assist the 

company in preparing the CVA proposal 

and to act as supervisor of the arrangement 

if it is approved. The supervisor’s role is 

to monitor the arrangement once in place 

to ensure the company complies with the 

agreed terms and to oversee the proposed 

return to creditors. 

The proposal document will set out 

what the company proposes to do to meet 

creditor liabilities; whether that’s the 

disposal of certain assets or setting aside 

funds from ongoing trade. It will also set out 

any capital or organisational restructuring 

that will occur to enable the company to 

achieve its CVAs purpose. The proposal will 

include financial information in support of 

the proposal including current statements 

of its assets and liabilities and cashflow 

forecasts detailing any assumptions made 

about future trading circumstances. 

Depending on the nature and level of 

liabilities outstanding, discussions may be 

held with certain creditors as part of this 

preparation to establish their views on the 

proposed arrangement. 

Brendan Clarkson FCICM 

Debt Advisory, Insolvency, 

Business Support and Operations 

Christine Francis 

Associate Director 

Once the proposals have been drafted, 

the nominated supervisor (at this point 

known as the nominee), reviews the 

document and provides his own report on 

the proposal. The proposal and nominee’s 

report are then filed in court and 

correspondence is sent to the creditors and 

shareholders asking them to consider the 

terms put forward, and then take part in a 

decision procedure on whether to approve 

the proposals. 

For small companies (as defined by 

the Companies Act 2006), if there is a risk 

that in the interim period the company 

or its assets are vulnerable to actions by 

creditors, a moratorium can be applied for 

which provides protection against actions 

being taken until the CVA proposal has 

been considered and either approved or 

rejected. If a moratorium is in place, this 

will have been advertised and notified to 

the Registrar of Companies. Any invoices, 

purchase orders or business letters 

issued by the company must state that a 

moratorium is in place and notification 

must also be included on the company’s 

website. 

OBJECTING TO PROPOSALS 

As mentioned, creditors will be contacted 

about taking part in a decision procedure 

to approve the proposals. Creditors should 

be aware that this decision can be sought 

either by way of deemed consent (where the 

proposal is approved if no creditors object 

to it), an electronic vote, at a virtual meeting 

or by correspondence and therefore 

attention should be paid to the documents 

that are sent to creditors with the proposals. 

Creditors should also be aware that they 

are able to require a physical meeting to be 

convened to consider the proposals if they 

represent a prescribed portion of the total 

creditors. 

In order for an arrangement to be 

approved, 75 percent in value of the 

creditors who vote must be in favour 

of the proposal. Of this 75 percent, at 

least 50 percent of creditors who are not 

connected to the company must approve 

the arrangement. If these requisite votes 

are not achieved, the CVA is not approved 

and the company may be placed into 

administration or liquidation. 

It is important to note that creditors can 

put forward modifications to the proposal 

as part of the voting process. If the company 

and its directors agree to the modifications 

and the proposal is subsequently approved, 

the modifications will becoming binding 

terms of the arrangement. 

Once an arrangement is in place, 

creditors may still challenge the decision 

to approve the arrangement if the CVA 

unfairly prejudices their interests, or if 

there has been some material irregularity 

in the decision procedure. There are various 

timings and requirements for making such 

a challenge and creditors should therefore 

always seek professional advice if they 

believe these circumstances apply. 

As CVAs are becoming more prevalent, 

creditors need to be aware of their 

involvement in the process and the 

documents that they are likely to receive 

when asked to consider proposals by a 

company. In particular, understanding the 

voting process and steps to take to propose 

modifications, or perhaps challenge a 

decision already made can be crucial and 

wherever possible, professional advice 

should be sought. 

Brendan Clarkson and Christine Francis 

work for the Restructuring and 

Insolvency team at Moore Stephens. 


OPINION 

BREAKING 

PROTOCOL 

The Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) promised 

much but has it delivered? 

AUTHOR – Sean Feast 

THE Pre-Action Protocol for 

debt claims came into effect 

in October 2017, with tremendous 

fanfare and high hopes, 

in certain quarters at least, of 

improving the consumer’s lot. 

Its aims in the broadest sense were 

to encourage early engagement and 

communication between the creditor and 

debtor, including early exchange of sufficient 

information to help clarify whether there 

were any issues in dispute. It was intended 

to help both parties to resolve the matter and 

avoid court proceedings, including agreeing 

a reasonable repayment plan, obtaining 

free debt advice or considering Alternative 

Dispute Resolution (ADR). 

At the time of its launch, many were 

concerned that it would be little more than 

an expensive folly. Ijeoma Igbokwe, Head of 

Litigation at Hoist Finance UK, expressed 

what others in the world of collections were 

also thinking: “Viewed positively, PAP is an 

opportunity to engage with a customer when 

all other attempts at communication have 

failed, often over months and sometimes 

even years. It could lead to a debt being 

settled amicably, without the need for costly 

court proceedings – a result that is in the best 

interests of both customer and creditor alike, 

as well as our over-burdened court system. 

“PAP is not, however, without its 

challenges. Response rates to existing Letters 

Before Action (LBAs) are not especially 

encouraging, and some feel that if a customer 

does not reply to a single-page letter, then 

are they any more likely to read a bundle 

of documentation and respond accordingly, 

or are we making a potentially confusing 

process more confusing still?” 

At the time of her comments, it was very 

much ‘wait and see’. So now, having waited, 

what does PAP look like nearly 12 months on? 

EARLY PLANNING 

Andrew Rogers, Head of Litigation & External 

Services, Cabot Credit Management, supported 

the logic of PAP, but along with Cabot’s 

solicitor panel was concerned about what 

impact an increased amount of paperwork 

might have on its customers’ response rates: 

“We began planning early and ensured that 

our solicitor panel introduced changes 

before 1 October 2017,” he explains. “It 

certainly required resource and cost but it 

was crucial to get this right.” 

The solicitor firm in the Cabot Credit 

Management Group (CCM), Mortimer Clarke 

Solicitors, reviewed the overall approach 

taken in their Letter Before Claim (LBC). As 

well as making the standard changes required 

by PAP, they made other radical changes 

which promoted more effective engagement 

with customers, and represented a move away 

from traditional solicitor narrative towards 

modern, customer centric communication. 

“Its LBC content and format is now fresh 

and innovative,” Andrew says. “Its primary 

purpose is to prompt the customer to call 

them to explain their circumstances, and if 

appropriate, agree on an affordable solution 

that will avoid the need for litigation. CCM 

litigates only when absolutely necessary and 

appropriate and we ensure that our panel 

solicitors make strenuous efforts to engage 

with our customers before issuing a claim.” 

As a result of this approach, Cabot says 

it has seen an increased response rate to 

its Group solicitor’s LBCs. More customers 

are engaging at this stage, because of the 

improved customer experience. 

“From those customers that do engage, 

the vast majority pick up the phone, and 

set up payment plans which are tailored to 

their particular circumstances, in order to 

avoid the need for litigation. We have not 

seen large numbers of customers filling in 

the prescribed Reply Form, nor have we seen 

an increase in document requests pre-claim. 

Thankfully, we have not seen real evidence 

of customers using the new provisions of the 

PAP as a stalling tactic.” 

Like many others in the industry, Cabot 

would like the opportunity to adapt the 

content of the prescribed Information Sheet 

and Reply Form to enhance the customer 

experience further. “Maybe one day this 

debate will reopen?” Andrew wonders. 

ACCOMMODATING CHANGE 

Michael Higgins, Managing Director of 

Lovetts, says that significant changes were 


OPINION 

required to accommodate PAP. These mainly 

related to technology and the need to collate 

far more information from its clients to 

ensure that it was able to send a letter with 

all the required information as per the 

protocol. But has the customer experience 

been improved as a result? 

“Possibly not,” he says. “Prior to the 

protocol changes, the customer would 

receive one letter requesting payment. After 

the protocol changes, the customer is now 

receiving around ten pages of documents. 

Some customers appear to mistake this for a 

claim form/legal proceedings and are more 

fearful that legal action may have been taken 

without them having received prior warning.” 

Michael says that the number of cases 

that have paid at the pre-action stage has 

in fact almost doubled since the new preaction 

protocol procedure. Unlike Cabot’s 

experience, however, he has seen some 

evidence of consumers using the protocol 

to delay payment: “Some debtors are using 

the 30-day requirement as a delaying/stalling 

tactic,” he explains. “This is frustrating 

because it affects the creditors cash flow. 

However, increased engagement following 

PAP has seen the amount of time cases are 

resolved halved because of a more proactive 

approach to engagement.” 

Like Andrew Rogers at Cabot, Michael 

would like a re-think on PAP: “The protocol 

is still too onerous on creditors in respect of 

time given (30 days) before legal action can 

be taken,” he says. “It has also increased 

creditors’ costs with the amount of paper 

that is now created which hasn’t necessarily 

improved the customer experience. However, 

from a collections point of view it has been 

successful and also achieved the ultimate 

aim of avoiding claims being issued which is 

a positive to be taken out of it.” 

FORTHRIGHT VIEWS 

Martin Wicks, who heads up the litigation 

activities for ARC Europe, is even more 

forthright in his views: ‘‘Quite honestly, we 

have seen no discernible difference in the 

customer response rate between a PAP LBC 

and the previously used ‘final’ LBA. Our 

experience is that the customer response 

rate to both letters remains at less than 10 

percent. This failure to respond to the PAP 

Letter of Claim typically follows through to 

Judgment where 90 percent of the Claims 

issued, result in Judgment in default of an 

acknowledgement being filed.” 

Where the PAP procedure has made a 

significant difference, Martin says, is in 

the additional cost and effort involved in 

complying with the protocol, which has 

fallen directly on the DCAs and Solicitors, 

notwithstanding the low customer response: 

“We have therefore not seen one of the 

key PAP rationales materialise, namely 

2.1 (a) ‘…to encourage early en-gagement 

Its LBC content and format 

is now fresh and innovative, 

its primary purpose is to 

prompt the customer to 

call them to explain their 

circumstances, and if 

appropriate, agree on an 

affordable solution that will 

avoid the need for litigation. 

and communication between the parties, 

including early exchange of sufficient 

information about the matter to help clarify 

whether there are any issues in dispute’,” he 

adds. 

Eddie Harrison, Head of Business 

Optimisation, Lowell Solicitors believes 

that the pre-launch worries about PAP 

haven’t materialised and that the effects, 

overall, have been positive: “We are now 

seeing improvements in all our key metrics, 

including a lower rate of defences being 

lodged and fewer Default Judgments,” he 

explains. 

“The main improvement,” he continues, 

“is the clearer information about what 

the debt is, and how it came about, which 

means consumers have fewer questions 

and fewer reasons to dispute the debt. We 

have seen greater levels of engagement from 

consumers, but driven by our letter rather 

than the PAP bundle that goes with it.” 

On this point, there appears to be general 

consensus: “the feedback we’ve had is that 

this is not user-friendly and is adding little 

value, or impetus to engage. It’s something 

we believe the sub-committee should keep 

under review,” he says. 

STALLING TACTICS 

Any avoidance of litigation, Eddie adds, could 

be put down to positive engagement rather 

than something more sinister: “Similarly on 

the question of stalling, we can see how the 

process might facilitate the opportunity, but 

don’t see it being more than a rare exception 

and believe a judge would most probably 

reject such behaviour if it were tested.” 

Lesley Wilkinson, Head of Litigation at 

Arrow Global, agrees with Eddie that there is 

little evidence that PAP is being abused, and 

concurs that the increased documentation 

can be confusing. She insists that litigation 

remains a last resort, and that if litigation 

can be avoided, it is likely to lead to a better 

outcome for the creditor and the customer. 

“We’ve seen customers coming to us with 

document requests and queries, but not in 

significant volumes. Indeed, response and 

dispute rates to the new Letter of Claim have 

The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / September 2018 / PAGE 27 

continues on page 28 >

OPINION 

AUTHOR – Sean Feast 

not changed dramatically from pre-PAP 

levels. Equally, we haven’t seen PAP being 

used as a stalling tactic. One thing we have 

found, however, is that many customers 

have been confused by the sheer volume 

of the new Letter of Claim and enclosures, 

believing this to be a Claim Form. That is of 

course the very antithesis of what PAP was 

looking to achieve, and we have worked with 

our front-line teams and partners to make 

it clear to customers that we have not yet 

issued proceedings, and that this can still be 

avoided through engagement.” 

In Arrow’s experience, PAP has not 

delivered significantly improved customer 

outcomes to date: “We continue to look at the 

ways we communicate with our customers, 

and how we can do more to encourage 

contact and avoid litigation,” she adds. 

THE CHARITY LINE 

So what do the charities think? Jane Tully, 

Director of External Affairs at the Money 

Advice Trust, which runs National Debtline, 

welcomed the introduction of PAP and 

its objectives, especially in encouraging 

earlier dialogue. “We will continue to work 

with the HM Courts and Tribunals Service 

and the FCA to ensure that people receive 

the support and information they need as 

early as possible,” she says. 

But she has some concerns: “Whilst 

we fully support the intention behind the 

protocol, we have seen some inconsistency 

in the way it has been implemented by 

some creditors,” she says. “And although it is 

I’m hopeful that the MOJ 

will call for evidence 

from claimants so that 

the true impact of PAP 

can be used to assess 

the way forward as we 

inevitably move toward a 

paperless online court. 

nearly a year on, it is too early to assess the 

full impact of the protocol so far.” 

Her comments perhaps confirm what 

most of the interested parties are telling 

us. That it is still too early to say for certain 

whether PAP has been a success or a failure. 

Perhaps the last word should go to Leigh 

Berkley, Director of External Affairs at 

Arrow Global, who was part of the CPRC 

subcommittee developing the protocol. He is 

at best underwhelmed: “My concern is that 

PAP remains confusing to many consumers, 

costly to the claimant and the environment, 

and is not achieving the promised improved 

engagement levels between the parties,” he 

concludes. 

“I’m hopeful that the MOJ will call for 

evidence from claimants so that the true 

impact of PAP can be used to assess the way 

forward as we inevitably move toward a 

paperless online court.” 


TRADE TALK 

Plying our trade 

How the Institute of Export is helping businesses 

discover and embrace international trade opportunities. 

AUTHOR – Lesley Batchelor OBE FCICM 

Lesley Batchelor 

WITH so many UK 

businesses being 

encouraged to export, 

we are working 

harder than ever to 

ensure our support 

is useful and accessible. 

At the Institute of Export & International 

Trade our motto is that ‘exporting is great’ 

when you know how. There are myriad 

pitfalls a business can fall into when they 

don’t have a proper understanding of some 

of the key aspects of international trade. 

Businesses need to learn more and gain or 

recruit certain skills and capabilities for 

exporting. 

As ever, the most important processes 

that businesses need to be on top of are 

those involved in getting paid. 

THE RISKS INVOLVED 

Ensuring payment is received from 

overseas buyers carries a greater level of 

risk than domestic business. Further, the 

culture and processes around payment 

can differ per country, with some markets 

more efficient than others in terms of 

payment times. 

There are multiple things that exporters 

can’t ever fully control and therefore need 

to mitigate risk around. Currencies can 

fluctuate between the time you quote a price 

and the time you get paid, your goods can 

get delayed when being delivered across 

the planet, and there’s the aforementioned 

risks around buyers not paying in a timely 

manner. 

New exporters need to have plans 

and solutions in place for anticipating 

cashflow hits when, for whatever reason, 

you aren’t paid as quickly as you’d 

planned for. 

PRICING AND LEAD TIMES 

Of course, mitigating these risks can cost 

a business money, whether that’s through 

gaining knowledge from experts like the 

Institute of Export & International Trade, 

using credit risk insurance or talking to 

your local UKEF adviser. 

Wherever you look there might be 

hidden costs involved in generating a 

sales abroad. Obviously, businesses will 

usually factor various new costs into 

their export price including product 

modifications, translated marketing 

materials and packaging, different 

import duties, delivery costs, shipping 

insurance, and more. 

This may lead to the exporter selling 

stock in larger bulks per transaction than 

they would domestically, as a way of 

minimising the cost per shipment. This 

will of course mean that each transaction 

will be worth more and therefore require 

larger payments from the buyer. The risk 

of not getting paid in time therefore takes 

an even greater precedence. 

ON BOTH SIDES 

Businesses cannot leave themselves 

in a situation where they’ve shipped a 

significant bulk of goods to a buyer, at 

great expense, and then find themselves 

with a hole in their budget because 

payment has not been received as quickly 

as they’d have liked. 

Unfortunately, research shows that 

new and inexperienced international 

trading businesses rely on trading on 

an ‘Open Account’ basis – whereby the 

overseas payer receives the goods and 

then pays for them (though often with 

a credit period attached). Depending 

on your product for example, a unique 

product like a folding bike, you may 

be able to receive payment in advance. 

However, less unique products – say 

component parts – cannot demand 

payment in advance – it simply represents 

a significant risk for the importer. 

Businesses need to know how the 

mechanisms provided by banks and the 

trade finance industry, such as bank 

collections and letters of credit, can 

divert some of the risk away from the 

importer and the exporter to ensure that 

the payment process is more secure and 

controllable. Further, exporters need 

to know about how to get the necessary 

working capital to bridge cashflow gaps 

when they do arise, whether it’s through 

receivable finance or import/export 

financing. 

LEARNING THE PROCESSES 

There is therefore a significant market 

for trade finance specialists and a need 

for businesses to get their support, or 

to learn about the financial workings of 

international trade themselves. 

Whether you’re looking to help 

businesses get to grip with their finances, 

or you’re a business owner looking 

to export securely, our Finance of 

International Trade qualification could be 

the key to future profitability and greater 

international business acumen. 

The course equips individuals 

with three key tools to improve a 

business’ financial planning: a greater 

understanding of how international 

trade changes a business’ lead times; 

knowledge of the range of options 

available for bridging cashflow gaps; and 

a greater awareness of the main financial 

risks attached to trading internationally. 

The course as a whole gives businesses 

a comprehensive understanding of how 

to plan and manage their finances when 

entering international trade. Priced at 

just £975, this is an immensely valuable 

investment – export.org.uk/page/ 

Finance_Int_Trade 

Lesley Batchelor OBE FCICM is Director 

General of The Institute of Export and 

International Trade 


INTERNATIONAL 

TRADE 

Monthly round-up of the latest stories 

in global trade by Andrea Kirkby. 

TRADEWARS 

TRUMP hasn't learned subtlety during his 

time in office. He's discovered that YOU CAN 

TWEET WHILE LEAVING THE CAPS LOCK 

ON, and he's stoking up a trade war with $50 

billion of new tariffs. He's launched a trade 

war not just on China, but on Mexico, Canada, 

the EU, and Japan – the US' top five trade partners. Just 

the top three alone (without the EU) account for 45 percent 

of the US’ total foreign trade – and all bar Japan have now 

retaliated. 

It gets worse. He's now threatening the entire structure 

of global trade, complaining about the World Trade 

Organisation (WTO) and threatening to leave, while blocking 

nominations to seats on its appellate court. 

Euler Hermes points out that on one level, the latest Fed 

hike in interest rates is another 'America first' move. It may 

be good for America, but it runs a huge risk of pushing some 

overstretched emerging markets like Argentina and Turkey 

over the cliff. So, if you're dealing in emerging markets, 

watch out for the crossfire – even if the markets aren't 

affected by one of the Trump Tariffs. 

At the moment, the trade skirmish is restricted to tariffs. 

But we might see the damage spread to non-trade barriers 

too; what's really frightening, behind the current posturing, 

is the horrible thought that currency controls might come 

back, too. If you want to stay ahead of the game, start 

thinking about how to structure your business to avoid 

capital controls – before things get worse. 

AS the Government prepares to tell us all 

how to ‘protect and survive’ in the event of 

a no-deal Brexit, it's perhaps time to think 

of how exporters can cope. Remember, 

Brexit doesn’t just affect your exports to the 

EU – other trade treaties to which Britain 

is party through its EU membership will 

also cease to be effective, and it will take 

time to replace them. Probably the most 

pressing tasks have nothing to do with 

tariffs. First, you’ll need to look at your 

supply chain and allow working capital for 

building inventories if you import materials 

or components, and for extended credit on 

exports. Working capital buffers could make 

NO DEAL BREXIT 

the difference between a firm's failure and 

survival, so make sure they're adequately 

financed. 

The second huge job will be arranging 

quality accreditation and certification. That 

will be different for each product – and 

a whole load of accreditations currently 

provided by EU bodies will no longer be 

in place. And of course, you’ll also want to 

build a lower pound into your calculations. 

Some analysts are predicting a further eight 

to ten percent against the dollar and euro 

in the event of a no-deal Brexit – make sure 

you know how that effects your costs, as 

well as your pricing. 

DESPITE all the predictions of doom, China 

has managed to slow down its economy 

without the forecast hard landing. Growth 

is still strong, at over six percent, but 

behind the headline economic figures, 

there's a structural change. Investmentled 

spending is giving way to private 

consumption as the main driver of the 

economy. 

CHINA – STRUCTURAL CHANGE 

That plays well for British exporters of 

branded goods. Cleaning brand Astonish 

has done well – it's had the Union Jack on 

its packaging for years, and that apparently 

sells very well in China. 

E-commerce is booming in China, too, 

offering a great new way into China with 

much less up-front investment. Platforms 

like Weibo and Wechat make word of 

mouth recommendations and social media 

is a huge influence in China, so you never 

need to bother with a bricks-and-mortar 

outlet. If you have a good British brand, 

perhaps it's time to consider moving into 

China. But do keep a weather eye open, as 

payments experience in China is getting 

worse and there have been a few major 

insolvencies recently. 


URUGUAY PROVES A BEACON OF STABILITY 

ACCORDING to Credendo, Uruguay has 

proven a ‘beacon of stability’ in Latin 

America, with 15 years of continuous 

growth, and a current account surplus 

(though it does have substantial 

government debt) – and the Government 

has de-risked the economy by increasing 

the maturity of its debt and reducing 

foreign exchange vulnerabilities. 

Big attractions are a stable, ‘pragmatic 

left’ government, $15,230 income per 

capita, and 13 Free Trade Zones which 

make Uruguay an effective hub for Latin 

American operations and a gateway to 

Mercosur. As far as British exporters are 

concerned, another attraction is £4 billion 

of UKEF support – a number which was 

doubled earlier this year. 

And there are huge opportunities, for 

instance in infrastructure and energy, 

with big projects going on. The UK already 

does well in advanced manufactures 

such as machinery, vehicles, pharma, and 

plant – but the consumer market is also 

now becoming important. And by the way, 

Uruguay is implementing an e-currency – 

an interesting move and worth keeping an 

eye on. 

CURRENCY UK 

EXCHANGE RATES VISIT 

CURRENCYUK.CO.UK OR 

CALL 020 7738 0777 

Currency UK is authorised and regulated 

by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

HIGH LOW TREND 

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GBP/USD 1.32792 1.28468 Down 

GBP/CHF 

1.27761 1.32622 Down 

GBP/AUD 1.79354 1.72862 Down 

GBP/CAD 1.74528 1.67332 Down 

GBP/JPY 149.15466 

142.47898 Down 

MEXICO: ALL CHANGE 

THE election of 'Amlo' – Andrea Manuel Lopez Obrador – could throw a spanner in 

the works as far as Latin America is concerned. We’ve had a good few years of broadly 

pro-business governments, but Amlo is definitely a populist. That could mean a brake on 

business culture in the region. However, as mayor of Mexico City, Amlo was actually quite 

pragmatic – and became more so as he went on. So, the question now is which of the two 

sides of his character will win? Moody’s hasn’t, so far, changed its A3 stable rating for 

the country, and if Amlo manages to beat the widespread problem of violence, he might 

actually see an improved rating. Still, markets took the peso down a few notches – watch 

out for currency volatility if you deal with Mexico. 

ARE WE BEGINNING TO FALTER? 

EVERY month I trawl news sources for 

UK exporting success stories. If you read 

this column regularly you'll know there 

are usually two or three on this page, 

often with a terrible pun or two, and I 

can tell you I usually have a hard choice 

between five or six equally good stories – 

there's not enough space to show them all. 

This month, I'm coming up short. 

There's a story on Scotch which is just a 

repeat of one already reported. There are 

a lot of puff stories from the Department 

for International Trade about how there 

are lots and lots of opportunities out there. 

And there are two real bits of news. That's 

it. 

Which makes me wonder; have people 

got better things to do than send out press 

releases, or is Brexit uncertainty beginning 

to bite? 

GREECE – OUT OF INTENSIVE CARE 

FINALLY, after four governments and 

more than eight years, Greece is out of the 

emergency room. It will have to follow a 

restricted diet for, probably, another 40 

years; unemployment remains high and 

the economy is still weak. But finally, the 

bail-out program is at an end, and Greece 

can actually take its first steps towards 

recovery rather than depending on yet 

another emergency resuscitation. 

There are, perhaps, limited export 

opportunities - but services firms, 

particularly in education, tourism and trade 

(including shipping) could do well. UK 

food and drink firms also do well – so this 

is another market where British ales and 

whiskies can do themselves proud. 

And at least that's one more source of 

trouble in the Eurozone that's been dealt 

with. There are, of course, plenty more... 

COALS TO NEWCASTLE 

SHARING maté is a Latin American custom – 

similar to the British cup of tea or an Italian's 

morning espresso. Dorset-based Yuyo's line 

of maté-based drinks has done well in the 

UK – but what's really surprising is that its 

managed to export them to Brazil! In fact, Yuyo 

has boosted its exports 42 percent in the last 

two years. 

Yuyo’s story is inspiring because it has 

started small and with minimal investment, 

adding second-language stickers on to the 

packaging to try out new markets. Now, it 

is printing all their packaging with seven 

languages; a good measure of its success. 

MICROPORE 

REDCAR-based Micropore makes highly 

technical membranes that are involved in 

the making of particles and emulsions (think 

mayonnaise). It has grown its exports by 150 

percent in three years – half its total revenue 

comes from exports. But now it's breaking 

into India, it's taking things very seriously. 

It's already been on three trade missions 

to India, and now it's working to build on 

its initial contacts. DIT support has been 

instrumental in opening up the market and 

delivering introductions to pharmaceutical 

buyers; sometimes, you just can't enter a new 

market on the cheap. 


COUNTRY FOCUS 

Spain has more to offer 

than bullfighting, 

Siestas and football. 

AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein 

Spain: Part one 

Y Viva 

España 

Barcelona, Spain. This famous building was 

designed by Antoni Gaudi and is one of the 

most visited of the city. 

ASK passengers on the Clapham omnibus what 

they know of Spain and it’s odds on you’ll get 

responses that include bullfighting, siestas, 

fiestas, Picasso, sangria, beaches, football 

and the civil war. But dig deeper and you’ll 

find much more that makes Spain an enticing 

country to do business with. 

A member of the EU (having joined the forerunner, the 

European Economic Community (EEC), in January 1986), Spain 

has seen huge economic, social and political change – partly 

from casting off the shackles of Franco’s dictatorship and partly 

from its integration into Europe and the funds that have been 

injected following its accession. 

Data from the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong 

noted (in 2016) that Spain has benefitted from membership; 

European Commission 2014 figures indicate that total EU 

spending in Spain had been €11.53 billion, while the total 

Spanish contribution to the EU budget was just €9.97 billion. 

Spain has a developed infrastructure and with more than 

1970 miles of high-speed rail, is second only to China in terms 

of a high-speed train network. Madrid, for example, has highspeed 

train connections with 27 cities. 

The country has also changed its power generation profile. 

The US Government notes that wind energy was the second 

source of electrical generation in Spain by 2017; installed wind 

capacity was 23,092 MW. This puts Spain fifth in the world in 

terms of installed wind power after China, the US, Germany and 

India. 

DEMOGRAPHICS 

Spain is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy occupying 

just under 505,000 sq. km – 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula. 

It is just 16km at its closest point to Africa through the contested 

British territory of Gibraltar. In comparison, the UK has a 

landmass of just 243,000 sq. km. 

With a population of close to 47 million (January 2015) over 

such a large area, the overall density is low at around 91 people/ 

sq. km. (England is 420 people/sq.km while Scotland is just 69 

people/sq. km). However, much of the population is based in just 

20 cities of which the largest are Madrid (3.1 million), Barcelona 

(1.6 million), Valencia (786,000), Seville (696,000) and Zaragoza 

(666,000). Looking at a map throws into relief the Spanish 

population distribution – it’s plain to see that apart from a few 

hot-spots, the majority of the population live around the coast. 

Politically speaking, the country consists of 19 autonomous 

regions, each of which has its own government. Few could have 

failed to notice the rising levels of tension in Catalonia in 2017 

that led to its political leaders declaring independence after 

an ‘illegal’ vote only to find that the regional government was 

suspended by Madrid. 


COUNTRY FOCUS 

AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein 

Immigration is an issue. Since 2010 

Spain’s borders to refugees have effectively 

been shut; figures from openmigration.org 

show how marked the drop in immigration 

has been – 31,600 in 2006, to a low of 170 

migrants in 2012 (just 874 in 2015). With 

a militarisation of its borders, especially 

on the coast, the policy has been effective. 

Even so, Spanish Government data, albeit 

from 2011, indicates that there are more 

than 5.7 million foreign residents (or 12 

percent of the population) residing in 

Spain. Residence permit data shows that 

860,000 were from Romania; 770,000 from 

Morocco; 390,000 were from the UK; and 

360,000 were from Ecuador. With plenty of 

other nationalities it’s not very surprising 

that Spain has seen heightened levels 

of social tension in recent years. Data 

from FocusEconomics expands on this 

and makes the point that with a falling 

birthrate – negative 0.3 percent – Spain’s 

population shrank by 300,000 between 

2013 and 2017. 

ECONOMY 

Spain is the fourth largest economy in 

the Eurozone with a 7.5 percent share of 

the €14,800 billion European economy (in 

2016) according to the EU’s Eurostat; only 

Italy (11.3 percent), France (15 percent), 

UK (16 percent) and Germany (21.1 

percent) were ahead of it. Come March 

2019 and Brexit, Spain will clearly rise in 

importance within the EU’s economy. 

In terms of ease of doing business in 

Spain, rankings from the World Bank 

put Spain seventh out of the G20 

nations (score of 28), whereas 

the UK is third (seven) 

and South Korea is first 

(four); when compared 

to European nations, Spain falls to 15th 

and the UK rises to second place while 

Denmark is first (three); but when the 

comparator becomes global, Spain drop to 

28th place while the UK drops to seventh 

place with New Zealand in first place 

(score of one). 

Spain has strong connections from its 

colonial past to Latin American and North 

Africa which makes the country a gateway 

into those markets. But this didn’t buffer 

the country from the 2008 economic crash. 

Indeed, while the crash did much damage 

to the UK’s economy, Spain had a markedly 

worse time. With an economy then built 

on domestic debt-fuelled demand and an 

overheated construction sector (caused 

by cheap loans to both home builders and 

buyers), Spain suffered. House prices that 

once saw 15 percent increases (June 2008) 

turned to a fall of 10 percent (June 2009); 

unemployment rose from a low of around 

eight percent (summer 2008) to almost 

27 percent in 2013. Youth unemployment 

was hardest hit – 56.9 percent were 

unemployed in 2013. By 2012, during the 

peak of Europe’s debt crisis which also 

saw Greece and other member states seek 

assistance, Spain had to be bailed out by 

the EU. It didn’t emerge from recession 

until the third quarter of 2013. 

But Spain’s position has improved; 

the International Monetary Fund raised 

Spain’s 2018 growth forecasts from 2.4 

percent to 2.8 percent, outstripping that 

for France, Germany and Italy. Spain is 

now more competitive as the economic 

crisis led to a lowering of wages, a marked 

increase in productivity, and also – 

importantly – a change in direction for 

many firms that were forced to look to 

export rather domestic consumption for 

survival. 

Adam Bernstein is a freelance 

business writer. 


PAYMENT TRENDS 

A certain uncertainty 

The latest monthly business to business payment 

performance statistics. 

AUTHOR – Jason Braidwood FCICM(Grad) 

IT’S been a rocky summer for the retail 

sector, with major retailers including 

House of Fraser, Homebase and Marks 

& Spencer all facing uncertain futures, 

after each announced a significant 

number of store closures in a bid to stay 

afloat. 

Changing shopper habits and rising high-street 

rental costs have contributed to the pressure 

placed on some of Britain’s most recognised 

retailers to survive. Additionally, traditional 

retailers are having to consider their business 

and operational structures as they plan for the UK 

leaving the EU. 

This sentiment was echoed by the British 

Retail Consortium (BRC), which in July warned 

of the potentially damaging consequences for UK 

consumers and EU suppliers if a Brexit agreement 

is not reached between the EU and UK from 

March 2019. 

Specifically analysing the supply chain of the 

European food and wholesale industry, the BRC 

placed heavy emphasis on the dependency of the 

UK’s food supply chain on EU-based producers. 

According to the trade body, 50 percent of Britain’s 

food is imported from abroad and 60 percent of 

those imports come from the 27 EU members. 

The decline of once-beloved retailers, 

combined with the interdependency of the UK 

on EU suppliers, leaves an uncertain future for 

the Retail and Wholesale sectors. Typically, one 

of the first balls to drop when a sector falls into 

uncertainty is prompt payment – both into the 

sector and out to sector suppliers. 

Interestingly, this doesn’t seem to be the case 

for the Wholesale and Retail sector yet which 

hold a current average of 12.6 Days Beyond Terms 

(DBT). Compare this with the cross-sector average 

of 13.7 DBT, then the retail sector doesn’t appear 

to be faring too badly. It will be interesting to 

monitor what happens in the months ahead amid 

the ongoing uncertainties. In the meantime, 

retailers and their suppliers need to ensure robust 

contingencies are put in place to deal with any 

potential fallout. 

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT 

Comparing the performance of this month to the 

last time we reported (month before last), the 

overall average DBT across sectors has increased 

slightly from 13 days to 13.7 days. 

This month’s ‘most improved’ award goes 

to the Entertainment sector, having bettered 

its average DBT by nine days to 9.8 DBT. 

In close second place comes International Bodies, 

which pays their suppliers 8.2 DBT, a fall of 8.4 

days from two months previous. The Wholesale 

and Retail sectors meanwhile take the bronze 

medal, having bettered its DBT by 6.2 DBT when 

compared to our last analysis. 

When considering the overall figures for 

the month, the International Bodies and the 

Entertainment sectors feature again, along with 

Education, which came in second place with an 

average DBT of 8.4 days. 

Although last month saw no sectors record 

an average above 20 DBT, extending the run to 

three months, the same sadly cannot be said 

this month. The Mining and Quarrying industry 

takes home the wooden spoon this time, with 

the industry taking on average 20.4 days to pay 

suppliers beyond terms, the lowest of any sector 

monitored. It also performed the worst of any 

sector last time, leading to the consensus that 

the culture of late payments could be rife among 

businesses operating within the industry. 

Once again, the Public Administration sector 

also fared badly, ranking third bottom overall with 

a DBT of 17.1 days, only a marginal improvement 

from our last report. Local government and public 

bodies should take note of this statistic, as our 

data shows that little progress has been made over 

the course of the year. 

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT 

When breaking down the data by region, six of the 

11 regions monitored improved their DBT, with 

East Anglia making the largest gain, improving its 

DBT by 3.3 days, enough to take the prize for the 

best region overall at 11.1 DBT. 

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland managed to 

sneak into second place with 11.6 DBT, although 

it’s worth noting that the country did hold top 

spot for last month. The South East (excluding 

London), was able to arrive in third place with an 

average of 11.8 DBT. 

Conversely, Scotland saw the biggest dip in 

performance, with the country’s DBT increasing 

to 18.2 days, usurping London as the poorest payer 

across the UK. The big smoke still took second-tolast 

place with a DBT of 16.3 days, a small decline 

from the 15 DBT previously recorded. 

The home of the Beatles, Oasis and Blackpool 

(the North West) was the third worst performer 

throughout, recording a DBT of 14.5 days, very 

closely followed by Wales, which had a DBT of 

14.4 days. 

Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see if 

we see a similar set of results across the UK, with 

the overall average recorded over the last three 

months among the regions hovering around the 

13 DBT mark. 

Jason Braidwood FCICM(Grad), 

Head of Credit and Collections at Creditsafe 

Business Solutions. 


Top Financial -3.3 Five Prompter and p -9.0 Insurance East Entertainment 

Payers Anglia19.9 7.7 

Public Administration 17.1 -1.1 

-0.6 p -8.4East International Midlands 

Business Admin & Support 16.5 

Bodies 

3.1 

East Energy 1.3 Anglia Supply q -6.2London 

Wholesale, 

11.16.2 Retail 

-3.3 3.2Trade 

Northern Ireland 11.6 -0.9 

South 

2.2East q -5.7North Education West 

11.8 -0.8 

Yorkshire -0.9 and p Humberside 11.9 -0.7 

East Midlands 

-4.2Northern Water & Ireland 

12.3 

Waste 

-0.6 

5.7 q Scotland 

-0.8 p South East 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 

1.2 q South West 

1.9 q Wales 

Scotland 18.2 5.7 

London -1.3 p West Midlands 16.3 1.3 

North -0.7West p Yorkshire 14.5 & Humberside 

2.2 

Wales 14.4 1.9 

tter - Getting Worse 

n 

Getting Better - Getting Worse 

-3.3 p East Anglia 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

-0.6 p East Midlands 

1.3 q London 

PAYMENT TRENDS 

2.2 q North West 

-0.9 p Northern Ireland 




-0.8 p South East 

Northern 

Top Five Prompter Payers July 18 Change from May 18 

Ireland 

11.6 DBT 

International 1.2 q Bodies South West8.2 -8.4 

Education 8.4 -5.7 

1.9 q Wales 

Entertainment 9.8 -9.0 

Hospitality West Midlands 10.0 -2.7 

Business from Home 10.1 -0.9 

-0.7 p Yorkshire & Humberside 


Getting Better Getting - Getting Better Worse 

Getting Worse 

Sector -1.3 p 

Region 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers July 18 Change from May 18 

Mining and Quarrying 20.4 3.1 

Region July 18 Change from May 18 


West Midlands 13.0 -1.3 

East Anglia 


East Midlands 


London 

East Anglia 11.1 -3.3 

International Northern West Bodies Ireland 8.2 11.6 -8.4 -0.9 

Education South East 8.4 11.8 -5.7 -0.8 

Entertainment Northern Yorkshire and Ireland 

Humberside 9.8 11.9 -9.0 -0.7 

Hospitality Region 

East Midlands 10.0 12.3 -2.7 -0.6 

Business 

Scotland 

from Home 10.1 -0.9 

South East 

Bottom Bottom Getting Five Five Poorest Better Poorest - Payers Getting Payers Worse 

South West 

-3.3 p East Anglia 

Mining Wales Scotland 

and Quarrying 20.4 

18.2 

3.1 

5.7 

Financial -0.6 p East Midlands 

London and Insurance 19.9 16.3 7.71.3 

Public West Midlands 

North Administration 

1.3West 17.1 

q London14.5 -1.1 2.2 

Business 

Yorkshire 

Wales Admin & Support 16.5 3.1 

2.2 q 

& Humberside 

14.4 1.9 

Energy West Supply Midlands North West 16.2 13.0 3.2-1.3 

-0.9 p Northern Ireland 


rompter -0.8 Payers p South East 

1.2 q South West 

1.9 

July 18 Change from May 18 

11.1 

q Wales 

-3.3 

land -1.3 11.6 p West -0.9 Midlands 

-0.7 

11.8 

p 

-0.8 

Yorkshire & Humberside 





d Humberside 11.9 -0.7 

s 12.3 -0.6 


7.8 

7.7 

6.2 

4.1 

3.2 

Region 


International Bodies 

Scotland 

8.2 18.2 DBT 

-8.4 

Education 8.4 -5.7 

Entertainment 9.8 -9.0 

Hospitality 10.0 -2.7 

Business from Home 10.1 -0.9 


Mining and Quarrying 20.4 North West 3.1 

Financial and Insurance 19.914.5 DBT 

7.7 

Public Administration 17.1 -1.1 

Business Admin & Support 16.5 3.1 

Energy Supply 16.2 3.2 

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 

Financial and Insurance 

IT and Comms 

Real Estate 

Energy Supply 

Northern 

Ireland 

11.6 DBT 

Northern 

Ireland 

11.6 DBT 

Northern 

Ireland 

11.6 DBT 


Wales 

14.4 DBT 

Scotland 

18.2 DBT 

Wales 

14.4 DBT 

Scotland 

18.2 DBT 

Wales 

14.4 DBT 

North West 

14.5 DBT 

Scotland 

18.2 DBT 

South North West 

12.8 14.5 DBT 

DBT 

Wales 

14.4 DBT 

South West 

12.8 DBT 

North West 

14.5 DBT 

Yorkshire & 

Humberside 

11.9 DBT 

West 

Midlands 

13.0 DBT 

South West 

12.8 DBT 

Yorkshire & 

Humberside 

11.9 DBT 

West 

Midlands 

13.0 DBT 

London 

16.3 DBT 

East 

Midlands 

12.3 DBT 

London 

16.3 DBT 

Yorkshire & 

Humberside 

11.9 DBT 

West 

Midlands 

13.0 DBT 

East 

Midlands 

12.3 DBT 

Yorkshire & 

Humberside 

11.9 DBT 

West 

Midlands 

13.0 DBT 

London 

16.3 DBT 

Sector 

East 

Midlands 

12.3 DBT 

East 

Midlands 

12.3 DBT 

London 

16.3 DBT 

East Anglia 

11.1 DBT 

South East 

11.8 DBT 

East Anglia 

11.1 DBT 

South East 

11.8 DBT 

East Anglia 

11.1 DBT 

South East 

11.8 DBT 

East Anglia 

11.1 DBT 

South East

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Be a leader – Join the CICM Best Practice Network today 

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#ukccc 

UKCCC 

2018 

CROWNE PLAZA 

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 

POWERED 

BY 


ADVISORY COUNCIL 

Introducing the new 

CICM Advisory Council 

The results of the Advisory Council election were 

announced at the CICM Annual General Meeting in June. 

AUTHOR – Alex Simmons 

Lauren Carter 

FCICM 

THE Council is split into four 

credit profession specialisms 

with three representatives in 

each – Trade, International, 

Consumer, and Credit 

Services. The other positions 

on the Council are filled by 11 Regional 

representatives. 

Of the 17 members to join the Advisory 

Council, the following are all new to the 

role: Sarah Aldridge, Lauren Carter, Laural 

Jefferies, Martin Kirby, Julie-Anne Moody- 

Webster, and Paul Taylor. 

We spoke to three of them: 

Laural Jefferies MCICM, Consumer 

Credit Representative, believes building 

relationships and exchanging knowledge 

is crucial: “I wanted to join the Advisory 

Council so that I can offer feedback and 

share my knowledge and my experiences in 

credit management and credit assessments 

in the commercial and consumer world 

with our members and beyond.” 

Sarah Aldridge FCICM (Grad) takes up 

the role of Credit Services Representative. 

She wants to attract the next generation of 

CICM members and ensure that training 

and education is relevant and enjoyable 

for them: “I hope I can bring some fresh 

ideas and energy that can help us to 

continue to progress and drive the industry 

forward.” 

Martin Kirby FCICM will represent the 

North West, and hopes to put something 

back into the industry he feels so passionate 

about: “I want to use my years of knowledge 

and experience to help shape the future 

direction of the Institute and help to 

encourage the next generation of credit 

professionals.” 

Phil Rice 

FCICM 

Bryony Pettifor 

FCICM(Grad) 

Allan Poole 

MCICM 

Christelle Madie 

FCICM 

Chris Sanders 

FCICM 

Victoria Herd 

FCICM(Grad) 


Paul Taylor 

MCICM 

Debbie Nolan 

FCICM(Grad) 

Trade Credit Representatives 

Victoria Herd FCICM(Grad) 

Christelle Madie FCICM 

Phil Rice FCICM 

International Credit Representatives 

Laurie Beagle FCICM 

Glen Bullivant FCICM 

Bryony Pettifor FCICM(Grad) 

Consumer Credit Representatives 

Laural Jefferies MCICM 

Julie-Anne Moody-Webster MCICM 

Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) 

Credit Services Representatives 

Sarah Aldridge FCICM(Grad) 

Larry Coltman FCICM 

Chris Sanders FCICM 

Regional areas covered 

East Midlands: Vacant 

East of England: Peter Whitmore FCICM 

London: Vacant 

North East: Allan Poole MCICM 

North West: Martin Kirby FCICM 

Scotland & North Ireland: Paul Taylor MCICM 

South East: Lauren Carter FCICM 

South West:Vacant 

Wales:Vacant 

West Midlands: Vacant 

Yorkshire & Humber: Vacant 

Martin Kirby 

FCICM 

Julie-Anne Moody Webster 

MCICM 

Sarah Aldridge 

FCICM(Grad) 

Laurie Beagle 

FCICM 

Glen Bullivant 

FCICM 

Laural Jefferies 

MCICM 

Larry Coltman 

FCICM 

Peter Whitmore 

FCICM 


LEGAL MATTERS 

Why bother with bankruptcy? 

Katharine Lawrenson, a Solicitor and Partner at DWF LLP, 

looks at the reasons why creditors should not always 

overlook bankruptcy in their quest to get paid. 

DD +44 151 907 3115 E katharine.lawrenson@dwf.law W www.dwf.law/recover 

Katharine Lawrenson 

CREDITORS often don't 

'bother with bankruptcy' 

because of the cost and 

time it takes. Bankruptcy 

is commonly dismissed as 

an option when it can be a 

very useful tool in the armoury of a credit 

manager. 

I have specialised in personal insolvency 

for 26 years and as I wear many hats, I 

encounter conflicting views on bankruptcy. 

In heading up our Creditor Services team I 

assist creditors in managing their insolvent 

portfolios, but I also act for Insolvency 

Practitioners when they are appointed as 

Trustee in Bankruptcy. 

Acting for clients on different sides of 

the same fence means that I am alive to 

what the other party will be considering in 

terms of options and risk. This allows me 

to provide my clients with the best possible 

all-round advice. It also means that I see 

cases where bankruptcy should have been 

used where it has not and where bankruptcy 

should never have been considered. 

Bankruptcy can take time, be expensive 

and is without guaranteed recovery. 

However, it can also be incredibly effective 

if used properly, particularly if you take a 

targeted approach to your portfolio. Many 

creditors when considering their options 

often overlook the extensive powers that a 

Trustee in Bankruptcy has once appointed. 

A TRUSTEE CAN: 

• Obtain information, documents and files 

of papers from banks, lenders, HMRC, 

insurers and even the debtor’s solicitors, 

accountants and family members 

• Set aside transactions previously 

entered into. For example, ‘gifts’ to family 

members if made within five years or 

without a time limit if the transaction was 

to deliberately avoid making payment to 

creditors 

• Obtain search and seizure warrants, 

warrants of arrest or issue contempt of 

court proceedings if the debtor does not 

co-operate, fails to disclose or conceals 

assets 

• Publicly examine the debtor under oath 

• Have the debtor’s post re-directed to the 

Trustee’s office 

• Confiscate the debtor's passport to 

prevent absconding 

• Deal with all of a debtor's property 

including foreign assets. 

These extensive and some may say 

draconian powers, supported by criminal 

sanctions, are much greater than that of a 

creditor. Consider using them when: 

• Your debtor is asset rich but cash poor 

and where an Order for Sale pursuant to 

a Charging Order may fail due to their 

personal circumstances or debt to equity 

ratio 

• Your debtor can pay but won't and you 

have limited visibility on assets 

• You know that a debtor has or had 

assets but they are held in a complicated 

structure, for example in offshore trusts 

or if you believe the debtor is disposing of 

assets by gifting, transferring, selling or 

placing them in trust. 

• You believe your debtor has concealed 

his assets 

• Your debtor is keen to avoid a perceived 

social stigma of bankruptcy 

• Your debtor has the ability to raise 

funds from family or friends to settle the 

bankruptcy at an early stage. Often seen 

where wealthy parents wish to avoid their 

children from being made bankrupt at a 

young age 

• Your debtor is keen to avoid a Trustee 

scrutinising their activities or where 

you are concerned that a fraud has 

been perpetrated on you. If a debtor has 

defrauded you, it is likely that he will have 

taken time to protect his wealth 

• Your debtor is a professional and 

needs to avoid bankruptcy for reasons 

connected to their ability to practice, be 

part of a partnership or to preserve their 

reputation. 

The return on bankruptcy for creditors 

can be low and it is not always the most 

cost effective collection method. However, 

times are changing. The introduction of 

the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 

2016 has streamlined procedures and 

made a Trustee’s fees more transparent. 

If they want it, creditors can have more 

control. The best bankruptcy results 

for creditors are where they target the 

right debtor, engage with the Trustee 

(particularly in relation to fees) and share 

information. Credit managers often have 

a lot of information about a debtor and it 

is surprising that they do not always hand 

this over to a Trustee on day one. 

Even if you are not the petitioning 

creditor but find yourself as an unsecured 

creditor, it is worthwhile taking some 

element of control to get the right Trustee 

appointed. Trustees have different 

strengths and capabilities and you should 

support the one who you think will be 

best served to get your debt paid. 

Given the extensive powers that a 

Trustee has, I urge you to shake up your 

portfolio, take a proactive approach and 

‘bother with bankruptcy’. 

For more information or a no 

obligation discussion regarding how 

DWF LLP can assist you with your 

personal insolvency needs please contact 

Katharine.lawrenson@dwf.law 

AS A CICM MEMBER YOU CAN RECEIVE FREE LEGAL ADVICE FROM 

DWF VISIT THE CICM WEBSITE AND CLICK ON THE FREE ADVICE LINE. 


When transparency 

in business 

is critical. 

Chameleons can see 

360 degrees at once. 

Our subscriptions give 

you the full picture too. 

cedar-rose.com


Shifting Sands 

The UK economy is showing signs of inconsistent 

payment performance across sectors and rising business 

insolvencies. 

AUTHOR – Nalanda Matia 

AS the global economy 

trudges on scattered 

with uncertainties and 

headwinds, growth 

performance of the 

UK economy had been 

broadly positive. The competitive value 

of the pound has boosted UK exports and 

inbound tourism, in turn giving a boost 

to overall UK GDP growth that should 

continue through 2018 and possibly 2019. 

Dun & Bradstreet’s forecast for year-onyear 

(YoY) growth in real GDP remains at 

a stable rate of 1.4 percent and 1.6 percent 

through the end of this year and in 2019 

respectively. 

Unemployment is also expected to 

drop and remain at manageable levels for 

the UK economy, with inflation expected 

to inch down and take some pressure off 

the economy as a whole. However, the 

Eurozone economy has slowed recently. 

Any further escalation of international 

trade tensions involving the new tariff 

barriers that businesses around the world 

involved in cross-border trade are being 

subject to could dampen global growth in 

2019 and beyond. 

Some forward-looking indicators 

continue to ease, signalling a somewhat 

challenging macroeconomic environment 

in the year ahead. Eurostat's Industrial 

Confidence Indicator dropped to just 0.1 

in March, only narrowly above the neutral 

0-points line and the lowest reading since 

October 2016. Furthermore, consumers are 

still curtailing spending – a consequence 

of the elevated inflation rate. Several 

insolvencies among retail chains and 

increasing problems for so-called 'casual 

dining' chains in recent weeks highlight 

the elevated levels of credit risk in some 

parts of the British economy. 

On a positive note, the UK Government 

has been successful in pushing the EU 

Withdrawal Bill through Parliament in June. 

A last-minute compromise with rebels from 

within the Government meant that the law 

passed with a narrow majority and received 

royal assent on 26 June. The bill will repeal 

the European Communities Act from 1972 

and provides the legal base for Brexit. 

Although the adoption of the Withdrawal 

Bill creates more clarity about the Brexit 

roadmap, it remains unclear what the EU-UK 

trade and investment relationship will look 

like after Brexit. 

Given the divisions within Parliament 

(and indeed between the Government's inner 

core of ministers) it seems unlikely that any 

swift progress on the issue will be made. Dun 

& Bradstreet expects some progress towards 

the EU summit in October, as this is the 

final opportunity for a deal, given that any 

agreement will have to be voted on by the 

British and the European Parliament before 

the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019. 

Switching from the state of the 

macroeconomy to that of the micro, it’s 

important to consider the percent of prompt 

payments by major industry groups – and 

how these industries have fared in this 

respect over the past year and the previous 

quarter. It seems that the past 12 months 



have seen considerable improvement in 

payment performance of UK businesses, 

irrespective of the industry segment 

they belonged to. Most major industries 

have seen an increase in the number of 

trade credit accounts that they have paid 

promptly within terms. 

The Materials Processing/Mining sector 

leads this list by improving their share of 

prompt payments by 15 percent, closely 

followed by Construction and then by 

Consumer and Machinery Manufacturing 

which have improved their share of prompt 

payments by 14 percent, 13 percent and ten 

percent respectively. 

Positively for the Construction sector 

as well as for the country's infrastructure, 

Parliament has approved the construction 

of a third runway at Heathrow airport. 

Despite the sizeable majority in Parliament 

it seems unlikely that construction will 

begin any time soon: four local councils 

on the airport's flight path have already 

announced legal action and, even in the 

best-case scenario, the runway would not 

be operational before the middle of the 

next decade. In the medium term, the 

expansion of Heathrow will help to improve 

the UK's poor airport infrastructure 

(ranked 28th out of 137 countries in the 

‘Global Competitiveness Report 2017-18’) 

and add to the improving prospects of the 

Construction sector in the long run. 

The Manufacturing sector has also 

bounced back not just in the UK but in most 

of the developed world as well, through 

adopting agile methodologies and smarter, 

innovative products like IoT-connected 

devices. Successful deployment of these 

new products helped the businesses in 

this segment solve complex challenges 

in unique business and consumer spaces 

and extend their scope far beyond their 

established territories both in terms of 

industry and geography. 

The only two sectors that saw a 

deterioration in their share of prompt 

payments were the Health/Education/ 

Social Services and the Government 

sectors. The readings over the past 

quarter show a contrasting picture; 

share of prompt payments of most major 

sectors have declined over the period, 

possibly from the uncertainties raging in 

the global trade environment as well as 

internally within the country with Brexitrelated 

issues. The Government sector has 

continued to decline, but other sectors like 

Personal and Business Services have shown 

improvement despite the challenges of the 

current business environment. Consumer 

Manufacturing remains among the topimproving 

segments over the past quarter 

as well, reiterating the strength of the 

sector. 

The size of a business also has an 


important bearing concerning the share of 

prompt payments. So switching from the 

industry to the employee size view, as the 

data in the chart reflects, larger businesses 

continue to squeeze their suppliers by 

paying in a much slower manner than their 

smaller counterparts. The differential in 

payment habits between those companies 

employing 1,000 workers or more and 

those employing fewer than 5,000 is 

significant: 6.2 percent (5.7 percent in Q1 

2018) as opposed to 36.7 percent (from 37.7 

percent in Q1). As shown in the temporal 

view below, these shares have remained 

very consistent over the past year and 

certainly for some time before that as well. 

Late payments remain a major problem 

for UK-based SMEs; while legislation is 

in place to assist small businesses with 

their struggle against late payments, most 

businesses – especially SMEs – elect to 

take no action for fear of alienating their 

larger customers. Indeed, according to 

the Association of Chartered Certified 

Accountants (ACCA), firms with fewer 

than 50 employees are typically twice as 

likely as larger businesses to experience 

late payment issues. Besides giving rise 

to tighter financial conditions and higher 

administrative, transaction and financial 

costs (external financing may be necessary 

to manage cashflows), late payments can 

cause insolvency and ultimately lead to 

bankruptcy. 

The Q2 data updates reveal that overall 

payment performance deteriorated by an 

average of 0.1 percent percentage points 

(pp) between Q1 and Q2 2018 across the 

regions. 

The ‘Channel Islands’ and the ‘North’ 

areas recorded the largest improvement 

in average prompt payments (as a 

percentage of total payments), which rose 

by 0.8 pp and 0.3 pp respectively, to an 

average of 34.8 percent and 30.0 percent, 

respectively. The Greater London area 

and Northern Island experienced the 

steepest deterioration in their payment 

performance, which dropped by 0.6 pp 

percent and by 0.4 pp respectively, to 26.0 

percent and 30.7 percent respectively. The 

Greater Manchester area, whose average of 

prompt payments rose by 0.1 pp, continues 

to lag behind all the other regions (only 24.8 

percent of payments were made promptly, 

compared to a UK average of 31.3 percent), 

followed by the Greater London area (26 

percent, up from 26.5 percent previously). 





The South West and the East Anglia areas 

exhibit the best payment performance 

times (37.5 percent and 38.5 percent, 

respectively). There have been no other 

significant changes in the trend of prompt 

payments within the UK regions in the past 

12 months. 

Similar to prompt payments, the 

number of business insolvencies in general 

have been declining over the past year, with 

a steep declining trend starting in Q3 2017. 

However, although the YoY changes in 

business insolvencies show a considerable 

decline, they also show an 11 percentage 

point uptick during the current quarter. 

A closer look by industry segment reveals 

that the sectors of the economy that saw an 

increase in corporate insolvencies between 

Q1 and Q2 2018 outnumbered those 

experiencing a decrease. Liquidations 

dropped in ‘Transport/Comms/Utilities’ 

(down by 64.2 percent q/q), followed by 

Health/Education/Social/Mship (down 

by 11.8 percent q/q) and Consumer 

Manufacturing (down by 1.1 percent q/q). 

On the other hand, Retail Trade, Finance/ 

Insurance/Property and Wholesale Trade 

were the sectors recording the sharpest 

increase in the number of liquidations, up 

by 23.5 percent q/q, 20.4 percent q/q and 

19.3 percent q/q respectively. 

Dun & Bradstreet’s statistical analysis 

reveals that some four percent of UK 

businesses are deemed to be at high risk 

of liquidation and are highly likely to pay 

in a severely delinquent manner, while 

83 percent offer a low risk of failure and 

of slow payment. Sales emphasis towards 

these latter businesses will enhance 

opportunities and enable suppliers to 

reduce risks of non-payment. Additionally, 

some 12 percent of UK businesses fall 

within the lower risk categories and 

are thus less likely to fail; however, the 

payment habits they exhibit are somewhat 

slow, and while suppliers can be fairly 

secure in the knowledge that the business 

will not fail, payment may be somewhat 

protracted. 

There are certainly winners and losers 

in every aspect, but it does seem that the 

uncertain global economy and geo-political 

tensions have caused slight deteriorating 

of business activity within the past quarter. 

Whether these developments – both at 

home and internationally – escalate or 

mitigate, they will determine the path 

of UK (and global) businesses towards 

sustained growth. We recommend caution 

and attention to global business trends 

when associating with any commercial 

activity. 

Nalanda Matia is Senior Director, 

Econometrics Solutions at Dun & 

Bradstreet. 


Time to enrol and 

progress your career 

CICM Credit Management 

Level 3 & Level 5 

Have you have thought about studying but just not got around to it? 

Are you ready to progress and take your next unit? 

NOW IS THE 

PERFECT TIME 

to enrol and progress your 

career – visit cicm.com for 

full details: 

CICM virtual classes 

Local teaching centres 

Home study – anytime 

Unsupported study 

In-company classes – 

for a team 

HOW TO 

GET STARTED 

WITH YOUR STUDIES 

Decide which unit and study option you prefer and contact 

CICM Education team or your chosen provider to register 

If you would like advice on how to get started, or which units 

to take – contact the CICM Education team. 

T: +44 (0)1780 722909 or 

E: professionalqualifications@cicm.com 

Don’t forget to make sure your CICM membership is 

up-to-date and purchase your study text if it is not 

provided. 

Check CICM website for more 

details of CICM qualifications and study 

options at cicm.com. 

AUTUMN 

CLASSES 

STARTING SOON 

NOW IS THE 

PERFECT TIME 

TO ENROL...

EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2018 

Cultivating an agile credit 

and collections team 

Over 80 delegates attended the annual CICM Education 

Conference in Birmingham, looking to learn more about 

new CICM standards and resources to develop agile 

credit and collections teams. 

AUTHOR – Debbie Tuckwood 

FIRST sessions focused on 

new CICM standards. Philip 

King FCICM, Chief Executive, 

emphasised the importance 

of skills development and 

setting personal and team 

standards to build a ‘growth mindset’. 

Claire Bishop, CICM Head of Membership 

Administration, followed with an outline of 

new CICM membership expectations and 

how individuals can apply online or arrange 

a telephone assessment. Debbie Tuckwood, 

CICM Head of Education and Professional 

Development promoted the new credit 

controller/collector apprenticeships and 

described new CICM qualifications in 

credit and collections. Learners will have 

until 2020 to complete their qualifications 

under current arrangements. Building on 

earlier communication, CICM will write 

to employers and learners in the autumn 

about their options so that learners are 

ready to start new programmes in January 

2019 if they prefer. 

Jules Eames MCICM(Grad), CICM Lead 

Teacher and Education Adviser, followed 

with a presentation highlighting how 

we are all unique and have different 

learning objectives. She demonstrated 

that we may need the same training to 

acquire key knowledge and skills, but 

ongoing development varies according 

to our interests and career goals. She 

offered advice on how to set goals and 

regular routines to create a culture of selfled 

learning. She showed how the new 

CICM Knowledge Hub and Mentor Hub 

platforms are perfect for achieving our 

learning and development goals. 

Creation of best practice learning 

programmes is clearly more challenging 

for multi-site global teams. Ruth Howard, 

Issue Resolution Specialist at Verizon, 

and Dave Dyer, Operations Improvement 

Consultant at ABB Management Services, 

explained the outstanding programmes 

for their global teams. Both have 

combined company elearning with CICM 

qualification courses, and face-to-face 

or webinar training. ABB has learners 

spread globally as far afield as Australia, 

America, Europe, Asia and the Middle 

East. Verizon has learners in Reading, 

Poland, India and Hong Kong. 

Afternoon workshops focused on 

apprenticeships, study skills, and the 

Knowledge Hub and Mentor Hub. Debbie 

Tuckwood stood in for Lynette Fegan and 

described how HSC Business Services 

has driven business performance by 

nurturing a best practice culture based on 

CICM corporate membership, training, 

qualifications and CICMQ accreditation. 

Philip King concluded with a round up 

about CICM Credit Champions and other 

developments to raise the profile of the 

profession and support members. He 

encouraged delegates to spread the word 

and be proud of the profession. 

All delegates agreed that Education 

Conference had once again been a 

worthwhile event and left enthused about 

the new CICM Knowledge and Mentor 

Hubs. Look out for next year’s Education 

Conference, which is free to members, 

and find out more about apprenticeships 

and new membership criteria at 

cicm.com. 

Debbie Tuckwood, Head of Education 

& Professional Development 


EDUCATION - QUALIFICATION SUCCESS 

CICM qualification success 

Southampton City Council recognise the value 

of investing in their team 

AUTHOR – Colin Barnett 

BACK in 2017 following 

conversations and appraisals 

with staff in the Customer 

Payment and Debt 

Team (CP&D) at Southampton 

City Council, it became 

apparent there was a desire from a number 

of staff to obtain a recognised qualification 

in credit management. The group wanted 

to have greater knowledge and experience 

in the area, to aid their personal development 

and to enhance the service provided 

by the team. 

With the support of senior management, 

eight members of the CP&D team chose 

to start a CICM qualification in credit 

management in February 2018. The first 

module (Trade, Export and Consumer) 

was completed in 15 weeks and all eight 

individuals successfully passed the exam 

in June. 

Mel Creighton, Service Director of 

Finance and Commercialisation for 

Southampton City Council, congratulated 

the group on their excellent results in the 

first module: “As a council and a chief 

financial officer, training staff is very 

important to us as we recognise the value 

of investing in people,” she says. 

“CICM not only allows us to invest in 

staff, but it also gives them the tools to do 

what is a difficult role. I am very proud 

of the staff that have undertaken this 

especially considering the success rate 

which is a huge credit to their hard work 

and dedication.” 

Despite some initial apprehension, 

mainly due to the fact that some members 

of the group had not undergone any 

formal qualifications for many years, 

the group really enjoyed the first module 

and a strong bond was created within the 

team. 

Brenda Linger FCICM, CICM Course 

Tutor, says the group was a pleasure to 

teach, with all of them contributing to a 

positive experience: “There was plenty of 

laughter. They were always pushing the 

boundaries and willing to challenge me in 

a non-confrontational way. I look forward 

to seeing them all again as we start the next 

unit – Business Environment – in August.” 

Colin Barnett is Customer Payment and 

Debt Supervisor. 

CICM not only allows us to invest in staff, but it also 

gives them the tools to do what is a difficult role. I 

am very proud of the staff that have undertaken this 

especially considering the success rate which is a huge 

credit to their hard work and dedication. 


EDUCATION 

SELF-ASSESSMENT 

What stage are you at in your career? Where do you want to be? 

Complete the self-assessment in CICM Knowledge Hub to plan your 

journey as a credit and collections professional. 

Customer risk 

assessment & take-on 

Credit Management Lifecycle 

Sales transaction 

processing 

Debt recovery 

FREE 

CICM 

MEMBER 

BENEFIT 

Credit terms & funding 

Relationship-building & 

sales growth 

Invoicing & dispute 

resolution 

Collecting payment and 

cash allocation 

Litigation 

Insolvency 

> 

Job 

roles 

Manager / Departmental Head / Senior Practitioner 

Supervisor / Team Leader / Advanced Practitioner 

Credit Operations 

Job 

roles 

© Chartered Institute of Credit Management 2016 

Credit management is a dynamic and exciting profession 

which is changing rapidly. As the new Credit Controller 

Apprenticeship Standard states: ‘roles are typically fastpaced 

and target driven, requiring detailed knowledge of 

law, regulations and the business environment, and skilled 

practitioners possess excellent technical and interpersonal 

skills. Credit management and collections are rewarding 

career choices for self-motivated and enthusiastic 

individuals who would enjoy a varied role working at the 

centre of operations’. 

Clearly having up-to-date knowledge and being qualified 

provides you with a head start. CICM membership gives you 

greater recognition and access to the CICM Knowledge Hub 

with over a 1,000 resources. So, if you want to benchmark 

where you are in your career and plan where you want 

to be, this is a good place to start. You will find a growing 

number of resources to support your career development in 

the Careers section and the Self-Assessment tool helps you 

benchmark your role against CICM membership grades. 

How does it work? 

The Self-Assessment resource includes two short 

questionnaires. Regardless of your experience, it is 

worth checking periodically where you are against CICM 

membership criteria. You can return to the questionnaires 

at any time to track your progress. 

Whereas the CICM Credit Management Lifecycle above 

shows the breadth of the profession, the Self-Assessment 

tool helps you judge the level of your role, the extent 

that you meet CICM Membership criteria, and CICM 

qualification expectations. Additional Self-Assessment 

resources advise on the knowledge, skills and behaviours 

that you need to develop to move to the next level. They 

also suggest which activities you may need to drop in 

order to progress to more strategic roles. So why not take 

ten minutes to check where you are in your career? 

Follow the guidance below to get started. 

1. Click the CICM Knowledge Hub logo found in the members’ area of the CICM website at cicm.com. 

Log in as a CICM member to access this 

2. Click the brown ‘Self-Assessment’ button (bottom right) 

3. Complete the two questionnaires, following any links to other useful resources 

4. Take five minutes to complete the ‘Evaluation’ at the end (last section of the course) and your ‘CPD Reflection Log’ 

(follow the link at the end of the evaluation). Once you have completed these activities, 20 minutes will be recorded 

automatically in your CPD Record. You will see this if you go to ‘My Learning‘ on the top blue menu bar and 

select ‘My CPD’ 

5. Don’t forget to read the CICM Careers Bands for advice on what you need to do to move to the next level. 

If you would like to find out more about elearning contact: 

T: 01780 722909 E: learningsupport@cicm.com

CICM 

KNOWLEDGE 

HUB 

Access over 1,000 credit 

and collection resources 

anytime, anywhere. 

CICM Knowledge Hub is a new online platform for credit 

professionals, providing one location to easily find the tools 

and information you need to help you in your job. 

‣ Tailored elearning courses ‣ CM Magazine articles 

‣ Research papers from industry experts ‣ Webinars 

‣ Best practice guidance. 

CICM Members get free access to CICM Knowledge Hub and much 

more from just £8* a month. Join now to explore all the benefits of 

CICM Membership. 

National and 

regional events 

Qualifications 

and training 

Mentor 

Hub 

Monthly 

e-newsletter 

Branches around 

the country 


*Price shown is for Affiliate Grade. Does not include joining fee. Subject to Terms & Conditions.

CICM MEMBER PROFILE 

Christelle Madie 

Credit Solutions Manager – 

Roche Diabetes Care Ltd 

Christelle Madie MSc, FCICM (Grad) 

Having studied for a Masters in 

Business and Management at 

the University of West London 

with a Bachelor Degree in Credit 

Management from the University of 

West London, Christelle first became 

involved with the CICM as the 

Bachelor degree course was supported 

by the Institute. “I was asked if one 

of my papers on ‘Managing the 

interactions in a business between 

different functions’ could be used by 

the CICM as a best practice template 

for new learners at Level 5,” she 

explains, “and I was delighted to be 

able to contribute to their learning.” 

Having finished her studies, 

Christelle has already seen the 

importance of a CICM qualification. 

“The first question I was asked when 

called by my current employer, Roche, 

before I had even made it through 

to the interview stage was ‘are you a 

member of the CICM by qualification?’. 

If I hadn’t answered yes at that 

stage, it is very unlikely I would have 

made it through to the first stage of 

interviews.” 

In her previous role with Jansons 

Computers trading as Computers 

Unlimited (which was later acquired 

by Exertis), Christelle’s team 

undertook the CICMQ accreditation. 

“Achieving CICMQ really put credit 

management on the map within the 

business – the Board particularly took 

extra interest in what we were doing. 

“The Finance Director at the time 

said that the accreditation allowed ‘the 

best insurance premium he’d seen in 

his career’. The bank even extended 

our overdraft facility based on our 

performance during assessment 

which goes to show the high regard 

CICM is held.” 

Currently, most of her team are 

about to start different courses with 

CICM. Christelle believes the wealth of 

different resources available through 

the Knowledge Hub and access to 

experts through the CICMQ best 

practice network are also invaluable. 

So much so she has embarked on the 

CICMQ accreditation again with her 

current employer Roche – and thinks 

the morale boost for her team, greater 

recognition, personal development 

as well as opportunities for business 

development will be just as beneficial 

this time. 

Sharon Huckle 

Sharon Huckle ACICM 

Sharon Huckle ACICM has always 

believed in education and training, 

and is excited by the wide range of 

resources available through the new 

Knowledge Hub platform. 

“We are always striving to adapt 

and grow within our sector,” she 

says, “so the introduction of CICM 

Knowledge Hub has made a huge 

impact both personally and as a 

training tool for the wider team.” 

Sharon is a Collections Policy 

and Process Consultant at BT who 

joined the company over 25 years 

ago. It was during her role as a Billing 

Specialist that she first embarked on 

CICM membership, and was one of 

the first employees to join. In 2009, 

she became the company’s lead for 

education and training in credit 

management, which has led to other 

employees embarking on training and 

CICM qualifications every year since. 

Sharon also became a chairperson 

for its ‘trailblazer’ apprenticeship 

schemes for Level 2 and Level 3 

apprentices. BT now has employees 

at every level of the CICM ladder, up to 

and including Level 5 Diplomas. 

“Joining the CICM has had a big 

impact across the credit team at 

BT, who embraced the training and 

assessments from the beginning,” she 

continues. “The change in attitude 

and approach has led to a new 

level of professionalism within the 

organisation. The CICM has provided 

our staff with first-class training 

that has played a big part in the 

transition from a purely customer 

services approach to a more rounded 

and professional focus on collections. 

It has helped us to achieve Best 

Practice in Credit Management 

and be recognised with CICMQ 

accreditation.” 


OPINION 

Rewarding times? 

Appropriate incentive structures can drive 

positive behaviours. 

AUTHOR – Julian Winfield 

Julian Winfield 

CEO Hoist Finance UK. 

RECOGNISING and 

rewarding employees is a 

challenge in any industry. 

Attracting and retaining 

the best talent taxes 

the minds of even the 

most experienced business leaders. It is 

perhaps especially challenging in the debt 

collection industry. Here the requirement 

is not only to satisfy the needs of the 

individual employee, but also to satisfy 

the needs of the client, the regulator, and 

the court of public opinion that maintains 

that it is somehow morally and ethically 

wrong to reward staff based on the money 

collected from people in debt. 

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) 

recently attempted to give the industry a 

steer on what is/is not appropriate, ruling 

nothing in and nothing out. Which wasn’t 

especially helpful. Any incentive plan 

needs to be proportionate, and balanced 

by monitoring an individual agent’s 

behaviour. I would suggest it always has 

been. 

It is certainly true that the structure 

of remuneration – and bonuses in 

particular – can drive certain behaviours. 

Get it wrong and those behaviours can be 

severely detrimental to the customer and 

the reputation of both the business and the 

industry it serves. One only has to think of 

the insurance industry, and the mis-selling 

of PPI and other similar financial services 

products, to understand why the regulator 

was right to intervene. (Had the incentives 

not been so attractive I doubt very much 

the PPI scandal would have come about, 

at least not on the size and scale that was 

eventually uncovered.) 

A DIFFERENT LENS 

There is, of course, another, less 

pessimistic way of looking at incentives. 

When viewed through a different lens, 

and assuming you adopt an appropriate 

rewards structure, a business can drive 

positive behaviours in which everyone 

can benefit. These behaviours not only 

enhance the customer experience but 

also re-inforce the reputation of your 

business and prevent your company – 

and indeed the whole industry you serve 

– from falling into disrepute. Allowing 

competition within a collections team is 

not, in itself, a bad thing. 

In recent times, many have tried 

to find the right balance, and a mix of 

rewards based on a similarly diverse mix 

of ‘targets’. Unfortunately, the bonus, 

whether we like it or not, has unfairly 

(and unhelpfully) become something of a 

dirty word, because it has invariably been 

linked to performance and targets centred 

around cash collected. 

This is totally understandable. When a 

client insists on paying a contingent agency 

a commission based on the volumes and 

values of cash collected, blended with a 

measure of Quality Assurance (QA), it is 

perhaps not surprising that the agencies 

themselves have tended to adopt a similar 

model. Collecting money is, after all, the 

business we are in. 

Many in the industry, and Hoist 

Finance included, today link incentives 

to outcomes, and place various barriers 

and hurdles over which an employee 

must jump before any further financial 

reward is considered. While on the face 

of it this seems like a practical and logical 

step forward, placing the customer at 

the heart of the operation, in reality it is 

fraught with difficulties. 

MEASURING OUTCOMES 

Measuring ‘outcomes’ is particularly 

challenging; strict adherence to 

compliance – while satisfying an 

appropriate QA score – does not 

necessarily always lead to an outcome 

that can honestly be described as being in 

the customer’s best interests; conversely, 

a successful outcome can be conceivably 

achieved even when the rules are not being 

followed to the letter. Both scenarios place 

the employee in an invidious position – 

and make it incredibly difficult for the 

employer to find the right balance. 

Some of the thinking now is to pay 

staff a higher basic salary and remove the 

concept of a bonus altogether, at least in 

relation to any financial target. There is 

obvious logic in this decision. Actually, 

what is needed, however, is more radical 

thinking. 

While on the face of it this 

seems like a practical 

and logical step forward, 

placing the customer at 

the heart of the operation, 

in reality it is fraught with 

difficulties. 

In a perfect world we would do away 

with bonuses completely – if only because 

they are an administrative nightmare! 

We would like to see agencies charging 

for their services per active hour. Of 

course, there would be a clear mandate 

and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in 

place. It would also be clear what was/ 

wasn’t included as part of the service: 

calls in-bound/outbound etc might be 

included, whereas letters or other forms 

of communication might require an 

additional charge on a menu of costs. 

Perhaps this is too much of a Utopian 

world, but it is a world that I think we need 

to consider in swinging the pendulum 

back in favour of fair pay and reward for 

a fair day’s work. Agencies should never 

have to apologise for the work they do, 

neither is the remuneration issue as 

dramatic as it is occasionally painted. 

The industry has proven its ability to 

innovate and adapt; creditors need to 

show the same willingness to invest in 

their agency partners to enable them to 

build relationships that are genuine and 

sustainable. 

Julian Winfield is the CEO 

Hoist Finance UK. 


CAREER’S ADVICE 

Securing top talent 

Employers must improve their hiring process 

to hire the best in credit. 

AUTHOR – Karen Young 

Karen Young 

EMPLOYERS across the 

finance and credit industry 

tell us they are continuing 

to face skills shortages, 

making the task of 

attracting and retaining top 

talent more important than ever. For the 

majority, this is challenging as the market 

remains competitive and candidate 

driven, meaning employers have to work 

harder to entice top-tier professionals to 

their company over a rival. 

The journey from candidate to fulltime 

employee is not a straightforward 

one, and the latest edition of the Hays’ 

‘What Workers Want’ Report examines 

that in more detail; in fact, the interview 

process is where most employers trip up 

– and where many applicants are being 

deterred from pursuing roles. 

Despite this, nearly two-thirds (65 

percent) of finance employers think they 

offer a positive applicant experience. This 

mismatch is a costly one – over half (52 

percent) of credit professionals have left 

a new job within 12 months because the 

expectations they formed during their 

application were not met in reality. It’s a 

mistake that will leave you poorer in time, 

talent and of course, money. 

FOUR STEPS TO SUCCESS 

So, what is the right way to hire a 

new employee? First, it’s important to 

understand that the application process is 

comprised of four distinct stages: search, 

apply, decide and join. While a jobseeker 

will rarely approach the process in this 

manner, it’s useful as an employer to 

break it down in this way. 

Many factors influence a candidate’s 

decision to apply for a job. Usually one 

of the most important is pay, as well as 

the potential for career development, 

benefits, and the working environment. 

Plus, an increasing number value more 

information on culture including a 

company’s commitment to diversity and 

inclusion principles. 

You shouldn’t expect a candidate to 

have reviewed your website for hours in 

order to get a sense of what it is like to 

work for your organisation. Your website, 

social media profiles and jobs portal 

need to clearly and succinctly set out not 

only the advertised responsibilities and 

benefits of the job, but also your company 

and its grand vision. People appreciate 

employee reviews from real people who 

work for you, and find this interesting 

and beneficial when deciding whether to 

apply or when preparing for interview. 

Next, it’s important to create an 

application – be it on your own dedicated 

portal or say on LinkedIn – that is 

simple and easy to use. Close to half (43 

percent) of credit professionals give up 

on applications that take longer than ten 

minutes to complete. 

Candidates are often pushed for time, 

and as a result most will be filling out theirs 

as quickly as possible at work or on their 

commute. Few applicants want to spend 

their evenings ticking boxes, uploading 

documents, or navigating websites. A 

straightforward process will demonstrate 

that your company is modern and invests 

in the employer experience. 

FOLLOWING UP 

You also need to treat candidate 

applications like important project 

deadlines. While the application process 

shouldn’t be rushed, it should be clear 

from the outset how long it will take, 

when the candidate can expect to hear 

back from you, and who their point of 

contact is. 

First impressions do matter a great 

deal at the interview stage, and over a 

third (40 percent) of credit professionals 

told us they had been deterred from 

pursuing a role due to a negative first 

impression of an employer. To combat 

this, treat meetings with candidates as 

you would meetings with valued clients. 

An unfriendly welcome from staff or an 

overly formal interview process could 

encourage your candidate to mentally 

rank you lower than the other job they’ve 

applied for. 

Remember, as well, that meeting 

the team is important to prospective 

hires. Companies that make the effort to 

facilitate this will find better employees. 

The candidate will be able to better 

understand the kind of challenges and 

tasks the team tackles day to day, allowing 

them to hit the ground running when they 

join. For the employer and the manager, 

they’ll see how well the candidate meshes 

with the team and the company ethos. 

Finally, in the last phase, Join, 

candidates need a proper induction. 63 

percent of credit professionals want to 

meet with someone prior to their start 

date so they know what their immediate 

responsibilities will be, yet only 35 percent 

of employers in the industry offer this. 

The ‘What Workers Want’ Report 

demonstrates that in fact the candidate 

application journey is a subtle process 

which requires strategy to attract and 

keep top talent. 

Name alone isn’t enough. Even if you 

work for one of the largest employers, 

haphazardly putting an application 

process together whenever a vacancy 

arises doesn’t work. In today’s employment 

market, talented professionals have the 

freedom and safety to shop around and 

reject offers. Make sure you’re presenting 

the best side of your business at all times. 

Karen Young is Director at Hays. 


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MEET THE PARTNERS 

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For further information and to discuss the opportunities of entering into a 

Corporate Partnership with the CICM, contact Marketing on 01780 727273 

Hays Credit Management is the award winning national specialist 

division of Hays Recruitment, dedicated exclusively to the recruitment 

of credit management professionals in the public and private 

sectors. Whether you are looking to further your career in credit 

management, strengthen your existing team, or would simply like an 

overview of the market, it pays to speak to the market leaders. 

www.hays.co.uk 

HighRadius is the leading provider of Integrated 

Receivables solutions for automating credit, collections, 

cash allocation, deductions and eBilling operations. 

The solutions are delivered as a software-as-a-service 

(SaaS) or as SAP-certified Accelerators for SAP 

Finance Receivables Management. With a track record 

of reducing days sales outstanding (DSO), bad-debt 

and increasing operational efficiency, HighRadius 

solutions help teams achieve payback within a year. 

www.highradius.com 

We offer the most powerful comparable data 

resource on private companies. 

We capture and treat private company 

information for better decision making and 

increased efficiency, so we’re ideally suited to help 

credit professionals. 

Orbis, our global company database has 

information on 250 million companies, and offers: 

Standardised financials 

Financial strength metrics 

Extensive corporate structures 

www.bvdinfo.com 

Sanders Consulting is a niche consulting firm 

specialising in improving Credit Management 

Leadership & Performance for our clients. 

We provide people and process focussed 

pragmatic solutions, consultancy, strategy days and 

performance improvement workshops and we 

are proud to manage and develop the CICMQ 

Programme and the Best Practice Network on 

behalf of the CICM. For more information please 

contact: enquiries @chrissandersconsulting.com. 

www.chrissandersconsulting.com 

Key IVR provide a suite of products to 

assist companies across Europe with credit 

management. The service gives the end-user 

the means to make a payment when and 

how they choose. Key IVR also provides a 

state-of-the-art outbound platform delivering 

automated messages by voice and SMS. In a 

credit management environment, these services 

are used to cost-effectively contact debtors and 

connect them back into a contact centre or 

automated payment line. 

www.keyivr.co.uk 

American Express is a globally recognised provider 

of payment solutions to the business sector 

offering flexible collection capabilities to meet 

company cashflow objectives across a range of 

industries. Whether you are looking to accelerate 

cashflow, create a competitive advantage to drive 

business or looking to support your customers 

in their growth American Express can tailor a 

solution to support your needs. 

www.americanexpress.com 

Credica are a UK based developer of specialist 

Credit and Dispute Management software. We 

have been successfully implementing our software 

for over 15 years and have delivered significant 

ROI for our diverse portfolio of customers. We 

provide a highly configurable system which enables 

our clients to gain complete control over their 

debtors and to easily communicate disputes with 

anyone in their organisation. 

www.credica.co.uk 

Moore Stephens is a top ten accounting and 

advisory network. Our national creditor services 

team has expert insights in debt recovery. This, 

combined with unparalleled industry and sector 

knowledge, enables our team to assist creditors in 

recovering outstanding debts. 

www.moorestephens.co.uk 


Proud supporters 

of CICMQ 

With over 90 years’ experience, we have an 

in-depth understanding of the importance of 

maintaining customer relationships whilst efficiently 

and effectively collecting monies owed, we deliver 

when it comes to collecting outstanding debts. 

Our Client focus is reflected in the customer 

relationships. Structuring our service to meet your 

specific needs, providing a collection strategy that 

echoes your business character, trading patterns 

and budget. 

www.atradiuscollections.com/uk/ 

Graydon UK provides its clients with Credit 

Risk Management and Intelligence information 

on over 100 million entities across more than 

190 countries. It provides economic, financial 

and commercial insights that help its customers 

make better decisions. Leading credit insurance 

organisations, Atradius, Coface and Euler Hermes, 

own Graydon. It offers its seamless service 

through a worldwide network of offices and 

partners. 

www.graydon.co.uk 

Rimilia provides intelligent, finance automation 

solutions that enable customers to get paid 

on time and control their cashflow and cash 

collection in real time. Rimilia’s software solutions 

use sophisticated analytics and artificial intelligence 

to predict customer payment behaviour and 

easily match and reconcile payments, removing 

the uncertainty of cash collection. Rimilia’s 

software automates the complete accounts 

receivable process improving cash allocation, bank 

reconciliation and credit management operations. 

www.rimilia.com 

DWF is a global legal business, transforming 

legal services through our people for our clients. 

Led by Managing Partner & CEO Andrew 

Leaitherland, we have over 26 key locations and 

2,800 people delivering services and solutions 

that go beyond expectations. DWF offers a full 

range of cost effective debt recovery solutions 

including pre-legal collections, debt litigation, 

enforcement, insolvency proceedings and ancillary 

services including tracing, process serving, debtor 

profiling and consultancy. 

www.dwf.law/recover 

Data Interconnect provides integrated e-billing 

and collection solutions via its document delivery 

web portal, WebSend. By providing improved 

Customer Experience and Customer Satisfaction, 

with enhanced levels of communication between 

both parties, we can substantially speed up your 

collection processes. 

www.datainterconnect.com 

Dun & Bradstreet grows the most valuable 

relationships in business. Whether your customer 

portfolio spans a city, a country or the globe, Dun 

& Bradstreet delivers the data, analytics and insight 

to grow your most profitable relationships and 

obtain a global, unified view of your customer 

relationships across credit and collections. 

www.dnb.co.uk 

Organisations around the world rely on Company 

Watch’s industry-leading financial analytics to drive 

their credit risk processes. Our financial risk 

modelling and ability to map medium to long-term 

risk as well as short-term credit risk set us apart 

from other credit reference agencies. With our 

unique H-Score® predicting almost 90 percent 

of corporate insolvencies in advance, it is the risk 

management tool of choice, providing actionable 

intelligence in an uncertain world. 

www.companywatch.net 

Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ: EPAY) helps 

businesses pay and get paid. Businesses and banks 

rely on Bottomline for domestic and international 

payments, effective cash management tools, 

automated workflows for payment processing 

and bill review and state of the art fraud 

detection, behavioural analytics and regulatory 

compliance. Every day, we help our customers by 

making complex business payments simple, secure 

and seamless. 

www.bottomline.com/uk 

Tinubu Square is a trusted source of trade 

credit intelligence for credit insurers and for 

corporate customers. The company’s B2B 

Credit Risk Intelligence solutions include the 

Tinubu Risk Management Center, a cloud-based 

SaaS platform; the Tinubu Credit Intelligence 

service and the Tinubu Risk Analyst advisory 

service. Over 250 companies rely on Tinubu 

Square to protect their greatest assets: customer 

receivables. 

www.tinubu.com 

The Recognised Standard 


New CICM members 

The Institute welcomes new members who have recently joined 

MEMBERS 

ASSOCIATE 

FELLOW 

MEMBER BY EXAM 

Gavin Cuttle 

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Connor 

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Steven Cracknell 

Fiona Highcock 

Aurelie Smith 

Michael Burke 

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Alison Pringle 

Paul Nolan 

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AFFILIATE 

Julie Ahronson 

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Debbie Knights 

Christie Lloyd 

STUDYING MEMBERS 

Valentina Aru 

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Samantha Coleman 

Paul Edwards 

Elvin Gerzim 

Remi Gilbert 

Matthew Gratton 

John Griffiths 

Sophie Harlow 

Antony Harrild 

David Henderson 

Gemma Heyes 

Andrew Hills 

Yetunde Idowu 

Lorena Iglesias 

Teresa James 

Ryan Lewis 

Magnus Logan 

Maria Lunden 

Emma Macdonald 

Sue McGeehan 

Deon Metcalfe 

Zuzana Michalkova 

David Miller 

Holley-Ann Mimms 

Holly Moore 

Manesh Parmar 

Emily Pitts 

Michelle Puddefoot 

Jakub Rozwadowski 

Hannah Shirtcliffe 

Deborah Simon 

Jason Smith 

Astle Smith 

Megan Spencer 

Nicola Strafford 

Philip Treasure 

Mark Tymm 

Jamie Upchurch 

Vikaas Verma 

Felice Verrino 

Daniella Wakelin 

Ian Woodfield 

Geannie Barry 

Amanda Barton 

Leigh Bell-Roberts 

Warren Bolton 

Michael Brient 

Sharon Burrows 

Robbie Cunningham 

Natalie De Sousa 

Shaun Egan 

Jennifer Fairclough 

Andrew Flanagan 

Jacqueline Free 

Sarah Geary-Aird 

Harsha Harrison 

Jessica Hewitt-Wooldridge 

Wendy Janes 

Eric Lambert 

Ajay Lathwal 

Gareth Lealand 

Christopher Leeming 

Kane Link 

Louise Maddox 

Arlene Magowan 

Lorna Marshall 

Zak McBride 

James Oakes 

Lauren Powell 

Philip Powell 

Lalwani Puneet 

Martina Ryan 

Tiffany Savage 

Alison Shadbolt 

Shazya Shakur 

Sumeet Singh 

Steven Smith 

Charlotte Sweeney 

Lewis Tombs 

Philip Tweedie 

Harshit Wasan 

Paul Wingfield 

2018 CICM EVENTS 

NOT TO BE MISSED 

Personal Skills Workshops 

Law Conference 

Webinars 

Industry Workshops 

Fellows’ Lunch Education Conference 

CICM Best Practice 

Just another great reason to be a member 

See full programme at www.cicm.com/events 


BRANCH NEWS 

PARALYMPIAN Tim Lodge 

commenced proceedings 

by giving a moving and 

often humorous account 

of his life to date covering 

family, career, his canoeing 

exploits and narrow miss in making Rio. 

Tim has high hopes for Toyko, however, a 

theme throughout his talk was maintaining 

a healthy work/life balance. Should he not 

make Tokyo he has a ‘plan B’ in place! 

Mark Preston MCICM, Dun and 

Bradstreet, and Jason Braidwood 

FCICM(Grad), Creditsafe, spoke about the 

history of credit information. Both gave 

updates on recent industry changes and 

the effect they have had (e.g. published VAT 

information) plus the work they and others 

do together as members of the Business 

Information Providers Association (BIPA). 

Chatbots and collections analytics 

featured in presentations from David Scott 

FCICM, Verizon and Jonasz Adamski, 

IBM. They focused on how analysing data 

including historic payment dates enabled 

credit controllers to make contact with 

customers at specific times to maximise 

chances of prompt payment. 

Next up Mark Chapman, Herrington 

Carmichael – sponsor for the day, 

spoke about commercial law providing 

information on subjects such as contract 

by email and tips on ‘Battle of Form’s’ 

scenarios. 

David Sheridan MCICM, ARC Europe 

– another sponsor, then provided insight 

into how the world of consumer collections 

had changed. Where once it was debt 

collection and payment in full, it’s now 

credit counselling, treating customers 

fairly and consumer outcomes as a priority 

over commercial objectives. To address this 

shift, ARC successfully implemented new 

technology (e.g. propensity scoring) and 

Steve Preston of elanev went through a case 

study to illustrate. 

Gideon Jones FCICM, Atradius, covered 

commercial debt collections and focused 

Canoeing and the 

credit profession 

CICM Southern Branches 

on country and insolvency risks globally. 

He ended with a piece on China, its effect 

on world trade plus the problems it’s now 

facing in collecting monies due to it. 

Richard Seadon FCICM, TG Baynes, 

gave a legal update on pre-action protocols 

and insolvency making visual reference to 

the paperwork behind these changes, and 

provided quotes on some difficulties being 

faced including the high cost of issuing 

writs. 

Matt Pollard, Portland Communications, 

followed with an update on UK politics. 

Brexit featured heavily with Matt giving 

insight into key politicians’ views, a timeline 

showing upcoming key milestones, and 

poll results showing that views haven’t 

really changed since the referendum (polls 

however show most think it’s not going 

well!) 

Robert Syms MCICM, Herrington- 

Carmichael, then updated everyone on 

corporate insolvency including recent 

changes relating to wrongful trading and 

company directors, with a number of court 

cases referenced to emphasise his points. 

Paul Bohil from the Channel 5 

programme, ‘Can’t Pay We’ll Take It Away!’, 

then spoke about his background including 

personal struggles dealt with prior to 

joining the enforcement industry. Talking 

about the programme, he explained it 

had educated people on both sides of the 

industry. Paul spoke about developments 

within enforcement giving details of cases 

he had worked. 

Closing, Andrew Scarborough, 

Bottomline Technologies, focused on 

changes within the UK payment industry 

including items such as open banking and 

request to pay. Thanks again to all involved, 

planning has begun for next year! 

Author: Gary Baker FCICM 

WE WANT YOUR NEWS! 

Get in touch with Andrew Morris by emailing andrew.morris@cicm.com with your 

branch news and event reports. Please only send up to 400 words and any images need 

to be high resolution to be printable, so 1MB plus. 


BRANCH NEWS 

CICM Membership Surgery 

Thames Valley Branch 

THAMES Valley Branch 

welcomed members to 

Verizon, Reading, for an 

early breakfast. By the 

wonders of technology, we 

started with a presentation 

by Jonasz Adamski, Delivery Manager for 

IBM delivered live from Krakow via video 

link. He explained how IBM assessed and 

developed its training requirements. IBM 

and Verizon have worked in partnership 

with CICM since 2015 to develop bespoke 

qualifications for members based in 

Krakow and India with 37 achieving Level 

2 accreditation. This is the first time CICM 

has not had members outside the UK study 

and pass examinations. David Scott FCICM, 

Collections Manager at Verizon highlighted 

some of the challenges faced, for example: 

access to study materials and courses; 

allowing employees the time to complete 

courses without access and outside the 

office; and encouraging employees to 

invest in themselves, take ownership of 

their career and development and ‘staying 

relevant’. 

Imelda Reddington from Herrington 

Carmichael then gave an update on the 

latest Employment Law changes relating 

to Brexit and the status options available 

to employees from Europe both inside and 

outside the EU after March 2019 and the 

agreed implementation period. This will 

affect around 3.5 million citizens currently 

living in the UK plus those who arrive 

during the transition period. The Home 

Office will require an estimated 1,200 extra 

staff. 

Following Imelda, Katie Harris also from 

Herrington Carmichael, gave advice on how 

to manage employee performance issues. 

She highlighted the difference between 

performance and conduct issues, the 

importance of identifying which scenario is 

applicable, and the best way of dealing with 

these from a management perspective. She 

also highlighted the importance of having 

regular appraisals. These are all issues an 

employer faces to prevent a claim of unfair 

dismissal or discrimination. 

The session closed with Sue Kettle and 

Claire Bishop from CICM HQ who spoke 

about membership and highlighted, 

in particular, the new Knowledge Hub 

and how members can record their CPD 

hours – not only logging the hours, but 

also what you have actually learned or 

gained. Mentoring is now a big CICM 

focus and members were encouraged to 

register on the new Mentoring Hub on the 

website. 

Thames Valley Branch would like to 

thank Verizon, IBM, Herrington Carmichael 

and the presenters. 

Author: Heidi Pocock 

Credit Managers Network Event 

East of England Branch 

CICM East of England Branch was pleased to 

have been invited to participate in this local 

credit event in Cambridge in partnership 

with hosts Hays and Cambridge University 

Press. 

Credit professionals took advantage 

of this free event, which began with 

a fascinating tour of the Cambridge 

University Press Museum. An overview of 

the local credit market by Hays, CICM’s 

Premium partner, was followed by an open 

discussion on current credit challenges and 

successes. This was led by two well-known 

credit management professionals, Atul 

Vadher FCICM (Vice Chair of CICM East of 

England Branch) and Brian Morgan FCICM 

(Director of CICM Corporate Partner, 

Rimilia). 

The audience participated in this open 

discussion, enjoying the opportunity to 

become involved and to share their views, 

thoughts and ideas, while picking up 

insightful and factual information. This 

interaction element kept everyone highly 

engaged and was very well received by all of 

the attendees, with feedback excellent. The 

Branch, Hays and Cambridge University 

Press look forward to organising more 

events in Cambridge in the future. 

Author: Zara Newman. 


BRANCH NEWS 

STRIKE IT 

LUCKY! 

East Midlands Branch 

A walk back in time 

CICM Sheffield and District Branch 

AS in 2017, the Sheffield and District 

Branch once again enjoyed a hot and sunny 

tour of Sheffield’s up and coming Kelham 

Island. This year we saw the Western end of 

this former industrial area – by Ball Street 

Bridge and Neepsend. The tour began in 

Shalesmoor at the 1930s period pub The 

Wellington, with its original wooden bar 

and fittings, and tap to the local Neepsend 

Brewery. Then we went to the magnificently 

tiled Ship Inn where we heard tales of ghosts 

in the cellar and small boys collecting jugs 

of beer from the dram shop from our local 

tour guide, Brian Holmshaw of Sheaf Valley 

Heritage. 

It was not all pubs: history came through 

Robotic Process Automation 

North East Branch 

IMAGINE you are three weeks into your 

new job and you’re asked to cover a 

presentation for your boss…tomorrow. 

Oh, and it’s a three-and-a-half-hour train 

journey away. And it’s in a dance venue 

so wear comfortable shoes. You’d do it, 

probably, but you might just be a bit 

nervous. 

That’s the scenario Jim Adams from 

Rimilia found himself in. If you didn’t 

know the story, you would not have 

guessed it. Jim took us on an informative, 

and entertaining journey through the 

automation of cash allocation and 

collections – showing how software can 

do the boring bits. Staff time is freed up 

to take on more challenging tasks of credit 

a visit to the Globe Works, scene of a C19th 

union dispute and bombing; and the nowresidential 

Dixon’s silvermithing works – 

where one million ‘Type B’ military helmets 

were cast for the war effort in World War 

One. We stood and looked out across the 

weir from Ball Street Bridge, ruined by the 

Great Sheffield flood in 1864, and re-built 

soon afterwards. 

Community pub The Gardeners Rest was 

visited, and by luck, the Sheffield Brewery 

Company, based in the old Blanco building 

at Albyn Works was hosting an open day 

as we passed, so an impromptu visit there 

capped off this very sunny and social day. 

Author: Carl Goodman MCICM. 

assessment, more complex collections 

and improved customer service. The cash 

allocation software learns to match 93 

percent of payments after just six weeks 

from installation. Less of the problems 

caused when asking customers to pay who 

have already paid. 

Keen to investigate other ways of using 

this newly discovered free time, members 

looked for possibilities at our Dance City 

venue. There was general disappointment 

that the Intermediate Flamenco class 

had already started. Instead, we walked 

together into the Newcastle sunset in 

search of the sound of a Spanish Guitar. 

Author: Paul Woodward MCICM(Grad). 

ON an evening in the middle of the 

biggest heatwave this country has 

experienced since 1976, the CICM East 

Midlands Summer Social was held 

indoors at a dark ten pin bowling centre 

on a Nottingham industrial estate. 

The format was boys and girls in 

separate lanes, with the exception that 

James Morris went over to join the 

girls due to uneven numbers (stewards 

enquiry please). 

A rollercoaster battle of bowling 

ensued with emotions all over the 

place, along with bodies and balls – 

even though the girls activated their 

lane bumpers (stewards enquiry 

please). The arrival of food and more 

lager at the midway point seemed to 

give the boys a fresh impetus as the 

trays of burgers, nuggets and chips 

were demolished quicker than an Earl 

Anthony strike (he’s the most famous 

10 pin bowler according to Google). 

Ultimately a great evening was 

had by all thanks to the superb 

organisational skills of our esteemed 

leader Brent Cummings. The winners, 

each receiving a bottle of Aldi Prosecco 

but more importantly the honour, were: 

Freya ‘Hammerball’ Hanbury of Loomis 

UK; James ‘Megabowl’ Morris of Hays 

Recruitment; Lewis ‘Hasty Arm’ Hastie 

of Nelsons Solicitors; and Tim ‘Simply 

the Best’ Turner of Legal Recoveries & 

Collections. Congratulations to them 

all! 

Author: Michael Whitaker 


TAKE CONTROL 

OF YOUR CREDIT 

CAREER 

CREDIT AND BILLING SPECIALIST – 

12 MONTH FTC 

ACHIEVE SUCCESS 

London, £35,000-£40,000 

An excellent opportunity has arisen for an experienced 

AR specialist to join a thriving media advertising 

business. You will be solely responsible for the complete 

order to cash process, focusing on credit control, billing 

and cash management. Ideally, you will have worked for 

one of the big four media agencies or a media owner 

previously and be a pro-active, resourceful team player 

with a friendly and outgoing persona. In return, you 

will receive 25 days leave plus your birthday off, private 

dental cover, massages and wellbeing initiatives and 

an office bar from 4pm on a Friday. Ref: 3377687 

Contact Julia Foster on 020 3465 0020 

or email julia.foster2@hays.com 

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE ANALYST 

MAXIMISE PROFITABILITY 

London, up to £32,000 

A rare opportunity has arisen to work for a rapidly 

growing property company in an analytical role. 

With a strong emphasis on reporting on the aged 

debt and specific property based report, this role will 

focus on maximising the profitability of collections and 

minimising exposure to risk. You will develop a team of 

four administrators, working as an intermediary between 

the finance manager and the administrators. You will be 

an analytical mind and have experience in an operational 

environment. Experience within an AR role is also 

essential. This is a fantastic opportunity where you can 

achieve results and be rewarded accordingly. 

Ref: 3384662 

Contact Akshay Caussy on 020 3465 0020 

or email akshay.caussy@hays.com 

SENIOR CREDIT CONTROLLER 

IMPLEMENT IDEAS AND PROCESSES 

Sutton, up to £35,000 + CICM study support 

This highly recognised company has a reputation for 

innovation, excellence and progression opportunities. 

You will be responsible for the timely collection of due 

date payments, maximising cash flow and minimising 

exposure to risk. Key duties includes maintaining regular 

contact with customers, planning and arranging customer 

visits, proactively planning pre-due date collection 

calls, processing write-off’s, updating cash forecast for 

accounts, credit checking accounts, querying resolution 

and cash allocations. With credit control experience, 

you will be an effective decision maker and problem 

solver, with the ability to work in a team as well as 

individually with minimum supervision. Ref: 3351128 

Contact Sarah Nelson on 020 8686 4686 

or email sarah.nelson@hays.com 

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE CONTROLLER 

JOIN A LEADING COMPANY 

Hemel Hempstead, up to £28,000 

Due to success and expansion, a new opportunity has 

arisen at a leading technology service provider. You will 

process manual invoices and support sales transactions 

through the review of credit exposure and risk, debt 

collection for Europe as well as resolve debt queries 

promptly and professionally. Other responsibilities 

include producing cash forecasts, aged debtor reporting, 

management of bad debt and DSO’s. This role requires 

flexibility to cover team members and support integration 

activities from acquisitions. If you are an individual 

that wants to progress and achieve great results and 

simultaneously be rewarded, then this is the role for you. 

Ref: 3357072 

Contact Ghofran Malek on 01923 205286 

or email ghofran.malek@hays.com 


MULTILINGUAL SENIOR CREDIT 

CONTROLLER 

MAKE AN IMPACT 

Sheffield, £23,000 + benefits 

This well-established, market leading company is looking 

for a senior credit controller with linguistic capability to 

join its finance team. Your duties will include ensuring cash 

collection is achieved and payments obtained by agreed 

terms through the maintenance and control of the sales 

ledger across the entire EMEA region. Previous credit 

control experience is essential and you will ideally be 

a French or Italian speaker. To be successful, you will have 

the ability to work towards and achieve deadlines, work 

well as part of a team or on your own initiative, possess 

good self-motivational and organisational skills and 

excellent Excel skills. Ref: 3178916 

Contact Daniel Cherry on 0114 273 8775 

or email daniel.cherry@hays.com 


SUCCESS THROUGH EXPERTISE 

Doncaster, up to £22,000 + benefits 

Established for over 100 years, a large, successful recycling 

company has a great opportunity for an experienced 

credit controller. Dealing with over 1,700 live accounts, 

complex queries and the timely collection of debt, this 

role will be fast paced. The role would suit an individual 

who has an understanding of both purchase and sales 

ledger. First class communication skills coupled with the 

ability to build rapport is essential. 

Ref: 3383355 

Contact Samantha Cooper on 01302 247981 

or email samantha.cooper@hays.com 

CREDIT CONTROLLER 

MANAGE YOUR OWN ACCOUNTS 

Falkirk, £20,000-£22,000 DOE 

This reputable and commercial organisation is looking 

for a hardworking, experienced credit controller to add 

to its finance function. You will take responsibility for 

your own accounts and ledger and build relationships 

with clients and colleagues alike. This is a broad role 

where duties will include recovery of debt via telephone, 

email and letter, bank reconciliations, liaising with other 

internal departments, dealing with enquiries, escalating 

accounts and all other credit management tasks. 

This is an exciting opportunity to work for a marketleading 

organisation that offers on-site parking. 

Ref: 3365529 

Contact Lauren Hamilton on 0141 212 3665 

or email lauren.hamilton@hays.com 

REVENUE CONTROLLER 

JOIN AN INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM 

London, £competitive + benefits 

This international law firm deals with market-leading 

complex transactions and regularly places them within 

top M&A adviser league tables. With its strategic advice 

given in multiple high-profile disputes having clarified 

English law and setting legal precedents, it is looking for 

a for a full time revenue controller. You will provide an 

assigned group of fee earners with WIP management, 

billing and debt collection support. You will be driven 

and professional, with experience in billing and revenue 

gained within the legal sector and have worked with 

Elite 3E. Ref: 3383768 

Contact Holly Parkes on 020 3465 0020 

or email holly.parkes@hays.com 

This is just a small selection of the many 

opportunities we have available for credit 

professionals. To find out more email 

hayscicm@hays.com or visit us online. 

hays.co.uk/creditcontrol 


FORTHCOMING EVENTS 

Full list of events can be found on our website: www.cicm.com/events 

CICM 

EVENTS 

5 September 

CICM Northern Ireland Branch 

BELFAST 

– Improve Your Skills In Credit Control – 

Part 2 (2 CPD) 

Contact : Email northernirelandbranch@cicm. 

com to secure your place. (028) 70350682 / 

07979992110 Paul Taylor. 

VENUE : Clayton Hotel, 22-26 Ormeau Avenue, 

Belfast, BT2 8HS 


CICM South Wales Branch 

CARDIFF 

Summer Social – Cruise around Cardiff Bay 

Contact : Email southwales.branch@cicm. 

com or contact Branch Chair, Diana Keeling on 

07889 492234 

VENUE : Cardiff Bay 


CICM North East Branch 

NEWCASTLE 

Hays Credit Management Event 

Contact : T: 0191 261 3996 

E: Sarah.Smith2@hays.com 

VENUE : Sage, North Park, Newcastle, 

NE13 9AA 


CICM Sheffield and District Branch 

SHEFFIELD 

A Special Night of Insight 

Contact : sheffieldanddistrictbranch@cicm.com. 

Booking Deadline: 07 September 2018. 

Simon Johnson (0114) 2842109 / 07720 427951 

VENUE : Mercure Sheffield Parkway Hotel 

Britannia Way, Catcliffe, Sheffield, S60 5BD 


CICM West Midlands Branch 

COVENTRY 

Legal Update 

Contact : To reserve a place please contact 

Darren Davoile on 02476 627 262 

E: ddavoile@coltmanco.com 

VENUE : Stonebridge Golf Club, Somers Road, 

Meriden, Coventry, CV7 7PL 


Best Practice Credit Management 

Conference 

IRELAND 

Republic of Ireland Branch Launch 

Contact : Email roi@cicm.com if you would like 

to attend or call T: +44 (0)1780 722900 

VENUE : Croke Park Stadium, Jones' Road, 

Dublin 3, Ireland 


CICM Kent Branch 

FAVERSHAM 

Annual Charity Wine & Wisdom Evening 

Contact : To reserve your place, please email 

kentbranch@cicm.com. 

Booking Deadline: 14 September 2018 

VENUE : The Assembly Rooms, Faversham 

Building Preservation Trust, 66 Preston Street, 

Faversham, ME13 2BP 


CICM East Midlands Branch 

LOUGHBOROUGH 

Business Breakfast Meeting (2 CPD hours) 

Contact : Email Branch Chair brent.cumming@ 

experian.com or eastmidlandsbranch@cicm.com 

VENUE : Loughborough University, Sport Stadium 

Suite, Loughborough, LE11 3TL 


CICM Yorkshire Ridings Branch 

HULL 

Hull Breakfast Briefing 

Contact : Email: yorkshireridingsbranch@cicm. 

com 

VENUE : The Deep, Tower St, Hull, HU9 1TU 

TRAINING 

DAYS 


COLLECTING WITH CONFIDENCE 

VENUE : London 


CICM WEBINAR - CREDIT MANAGEMENT IN A 

NUTSHELL 

VENUE : ONLINE 


CICM WEBINAR - TELEPHONE COLLECTIONS 

VENUE : ONLINE 

OTHER 

EVENTS 


Experian Credit Forum 

WHERE 

Business Supplies Forum 

Contact : For more information email: 

bsf@forumsinternational.co.uk 




DERBY 

Engineering Forum 

Contact : Please contact Brent.cumming@ 

experian.com on 07885 675 092 if you would like 

further details. 

VENUE : PWC Pegasus Business Park, Beverley 

Rd, Derby, DE74 2UZ 


UK Credit & Collections Conference (UKCCC) 

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 

Contact : T: 0191 217 3073 E: sales@csa-uk.com 

VENUE : Crowne Plaza Stratford-upon-Avon 

Bridge Foot, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6YR 



DERBY 

On-Trade Supplies 

Contact : Brent.cumming@experian.com on 

07885 675 092 if you would like further details. 

VENUE : PWC Pegasus Business Park, Beverley 

Rd, Derby, DE74 2UZ 

13-14 September 

Forums International 

CANADA 

International Telecoms Risk Forum (ITRF) 


itrf@forumsinternational.co.uk 

VENUE : Tata, Montreal Canada 



DUBLIN 

FMCG Ireland 




VENUE : Dublin, Ireland. 



DUBLIN 

Oil & Fuelcard Ireland 




VENUE : Dublin, Ireland. 


Forums International 

Branch 

LONDON 

Export/International Credit Forum (ECF/ICF) 


ecf@forumsinternational.co.uk 

VENUE : Moore Stephens, 150 Aldersgate Street, 

London, EC1A 4AB. 


ABFA 

LONDON 

Understanding Management Accounts and 

Annual Accounts 

Contact : T +44 (0)20 7706 3333 Online booking 

form. http://www.abfa.org.uk/bookevent/480 


3 October 

CICM Industry Workshop 

LONDON 

Practical Skills for a Credit Manager 

Contact : Register online cicm.com/events 

VENUE : Hays Recruitment 107 Cheapside, 

London, EC2V 6DN 


Market leaders in Credit Control recruitment. 

We keep it simple. 

Portfolio Credit Control are recruitment specialists, exclusively supplying credit professionals at all levels 

across the UK in permanent, contract and temporary roles. 

Call us now for more information 020 7650 3199 

or email recruitment@portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com 


Cr£ditWho? 

CICM Directory of Services 

COLLECTIONS 

COLLECTIONS LEGAL 

CONSULTANCY 

Atradius Collections Ltd 

3 Harbour Drive, 

Capital Waterside, 

Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, CF10 4WZ 

United Kingdom 

T: +44 (0)2920 824700 

W: www.atradiuscollections.com/uk/ 

Atradius Collections Ltd is an established specialist in business 

to business collections. As the collections division of the Atradius 

Crédito y Caución, we have a strong position sharing history, 

knowledge and reputation. 

Annually handling more than 110,000 cases and recovering over 

a billion EUROs in collections at any one time, we deliver when 

it comes to collecting outstanding debts. With over 90 years’ 

experience, we have an in-depth understanding of the importance of 

maintaining customer relationships whilst efficiently and effectively 

collecting monies owed. 

The individual nature of our clients’ customer relationships is 

reflected in the customer focus we provide, structuring our service 

to meet your specific needs. We work closely with clients to provide 

them with a collection strategy that echoes their business character, 

trading patterns and budget. 

For further information contact: Hans Meijer, UK and Ireland Country 

Director (hans.meijer@atradius.com). 

Lovetts Solicitors 

Lovetts, Bramley House, The Guildway, Old Portsmouth 

Road, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1LR 

T: +44(0)1483 457500 E: info@lovetts.co.uk 

W: www.lovetts.co.uk 

Lovetts has been recovering debts for 30 years! When you 

want the right expertise to recover overdue debts why not use a 

specialist? Lovetts’ only line of business is the recovery of 

business debts and any resulting commercial litigation. 

We provide: 

• Letters Before Action, prompting positive outcomes in more than 80 

percent of cases • Overseas Pre-litigation collections with 

multi-lingual capabilities • 24/7 access to our online debt 

management system ‘CaseManager’ 

Don’t just take our word for it, here’s recent customer feedback: 

“...All our service expectations have been exceeded...” 

“...The online system is particularly useful and is extremely easy 

to use... “...Lovetts has a recognisable brand that generates 

successful results...” 


Sanders Consulting Associates Ltd 

T: +44(0)1525 720226 

E: enquiries@chrissandersconsulting.com 

W: www.chrissandersconsulting.com 

Sanders Consulting is an independent niche consulting firm 

specialising in leadership and performance improvement in all aspects 

of the order to cash process. Chris Sanders FCICM, the principal, is 

well known in the industry with a wealth of experience in operational 

credit management, billing, change and business process improvement. 

A sought after speaker with cross industry international experience in 

the business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets, his 

innovative and enthusiastic approach delivers pragmatic people and 

process lead solutions and significant working capital improvements to 

clients. Sanders Consulting are proud to manage CICMQ on behalf of 

and under the supervision of the CICM. 

COURT ENFORCEMENT SERVICES 

Premium Collections Limited 

3 Caidan House, Canal Road 

Timperley, Cheshire. WA14 1TD 

T: +44 (0)161 962 4695 

E: paul.daine@premiumcollections.co.uk 

W: www.premiumcollections.co.uk 

For all your credit management requirements Premium Collections 

has the solution to suit you. Operating on a national and international 

basis we can tailor a package of products and services to meet your 

requirements. 

Services include B2B collections, B2C collections, international 

collections, absconder tracing, asset repossessions, status reporting 

and litigation support. 

Managed from our offices in Manchester, Harrogate and Dublin our 

network of 55 partners cover the World. 

Contact Paul Daine FCICM on +44 (0)161 962 4695 or 

paul.daine@premiumcollections.co.uk 

www.premiumcollections.co.uk 


Blaser Mills Law 

40 Oxford Road, 

High Wycombe, 

Buckinghamshire. HP11 2EE 

T: 01494 478660/478661 

E: Jackie Ray jar@blasermills.co.uk or 

Gary Braathen gpb@blasermills.co.uk 

W: www.blasermills.co.uk 

A full-service firm, Blaser Mills Law’s experienced Commercial 

Recoveries team offer pre-legal collections, debt recovery, 

litigation, dispute resolution and insolvency. The team includes 

CICM qualified staff, recommended in both Legal 500 and 

Chambers & Partners legal directories. 

Offices in High Wycombe, Amersham, Rickmansworth, London 

and Silverstone 

STRIPES SOLICITORS LIMITED 

St George’s House, 56 Peter Street, Manchester, M2 3NQ 

W: www.stripes-solicitors.co.uk 

T: 0161 832 5000 

95percent success rate in disputed litigation 

cases over several decades 

Stripes technical excellence, tenacity and commercial insight has led 

to this 95 percent success rate over several decades. We have been 

particularly recommended as a leading law firm by the Legal 500 in 

the litigious field for representing clients with significant and complex 

issues. 

Our specialist commercial debt recovery and insolvency team work 

with businesses ranging from SMEs to larger PLCs recovering 

business debts on a no cost or fixed fee basis and often 

recovering debts within days. We aim to understand your business 

and tailor our services to suit your requirements. Our online service 

provides you with 24/7 access to manage your account, to upload 

new debtor cases and to generate new legal instructions. 

ATTENTION PRODUCT 

& SERVICE PROVIDERS 

You can connect with them all now 

by having a listing in CreditWho. 

FOR JUST 

£1,247 + VAT per annum: 

- your business will be listed in 

Credit Management magazine, 

which goes out to all our members 

and subscribers and has an 

estimated readership of over 25,000. 

TO BOOK YOUR LISTING 

IN CREDITWHO CONTACT: 

GRACE GHATTAS ON: 020 3603 7946 

Court Enforcement Services 

Wayne Whitford – Director 

M: +44 (0)7834 748 183 T : +44 (0)1992 663 399 

E : wayne@courtenforcementservices.co.uk 

W: www.courtenforcementservices.co.uk 

High Court Enforcement that will Empower You! 

We help law firms and in-house debt recovery and legal teams to 

enforce CCJs by transferring them up to the High Court. Setting us 

apart in the industry, our unique and Award Winning Field Agent App 

helps to provide information in real time and transparency, empowering 

our clients when they work with us. 

• Free Transfer up process of CCJ’s to High Court 

• Exceptional Recovery Rates 

• Individual Client Attention and Tailored Solutions 

• Real Time Client Access to Cases 

CREDIT INFORMATION 

BUREAU VAN DIJK 

Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London, EC1V 0PP 

T: +44 (0)20 7549 5000E: bvd@bvdinfo.com 

W: www.bvdinfo.com 

We offer the most powerful comparable data resource on private 

companies. We capture and treat private company information for 

better decision making and increased efficiency, so we’re ideally suited 

to help credit professionals. Orbis, our global company database has 

information on 250 million companies, and offers: 

• Standardised financials so you can assess companies globally 

• Financial strength metrics using a range of models and including a 

qualitative score for when detailed financials aren’t available 

• Projected financials 

• Extensive corporate structures so you can assess the complete group 

– or take the financial stability of the parent into account 

Credit Catalyst is a platform where you can combine information from 

Orbis with you own knowledge of your customers and get dashboard 

views of your portfolio. 

Register for your free trial at bvdinfo.com. 


FOR INFORMATION, 

OPTIONS AND PRICING 

PLEASE EMAIL: 

grace@cabbell.co.uk 



CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 

Company Watch 

Centurion House, 37 Jewry Street, 

LONDON. EC3N 2ER 

T: +44 (0)20 7043 3300 

E: info@companywatch.net 

W: www.companywatch.net 

Organisations around the world rely on Company Watch’s industryleading 

financial analytics to drive their credit risk processes. Our 

financial risk modelling and ability to map medium to long-term risk as 

well as short-term credit risk set us apart from other credit reference 

agencies. 

Quality and rigour run through everything we do, from our unique 

method of assessing corporate financial health via our H-Score®, to 

developing analytics on our customers’ in-house data. 

With the H-Score® predicting almost 90 percent of corporate 

insolvencies in advance, it is the risk management tool of choice, 

providing actionable intelligence in an uncertain world. 

Graydon UK 

66 College Road, 2nd Floor, Hygeia Building, Harrow, 

Middlesex, HA1 1BE 

T: +44 (0)208 515 1400 

E: customerservices@graydon.co.uk 

W: www.graydon.co.uk 

Graydon UK is a specialist in Credit Risk Management and Intelligence, 

providing access to business information on over 100 million entities 

across more than 190 countries. Its mission is to convert vast amounts 

of data from diverse data sources into invaluable information. Based 

on this, it generates economic, financial and commercial insights that 

help its customers make better business decisions and ultimately 

gain competitive advantage. Graydon is owned by Atradius, Coface 

and Euler Hermes, Europe's leading credit insurance organisations. It 

offers a comprehensive network of offices and partners worldwide to 

ensure a seamless service. 

Credica Ltd 

Building 168, Maxell Avenue, Harwell Oxford, Oxon. OX11 0QT 

T: 01235 856400E: info@credica.co.uk 

W: www.credica.co.uk 

Our highly configurable and extremely cost effective Collections and 

Query Management System has been designed with 3 goals in mind: 

• To improve your cashflow • To reduce your cost to collect 

• To provide meaningful analysis of your business 

Evolving over 15 years and driven by the input of 1000s of Credit 

Professionals across the UK and Europe, our system is successfully 

providing significant and measurable benefits for our diverse portfolio 

of clients. 

We would love to hear from you if you feel you would benefit from our 

‘no nonsense’ and human approach to computer software. 


CoCredo Limited 

Missenden Abbey, Great Missenden, Bucks, HP16 0BD 

T: 01494 790 600 

E: customerservice@cocredo.com 

W: www.cocredo.co.uk 

Celebrating 15 years in business, CoCredo’s award winning credit 

reporting and monitoring systems have helped to protect and secure 

over £27 billion of turnover on behalf of our customers. Our company 

data is updated 500,000 per day and ensures customers have the most 

current information in the market place. Access to the online portal is 

available 365 days a year 24/7 from anywhere in the world. 

At CoCredo we aggregate data from a range of leading providers across 

the globe so that our customers can view the best available data in one 

easy to use report. We also offer customers XML Integration and D.N.A. 

Portfolio Management. 

From simply looking at a prospect through to acquisition, to monitoring, 

we pride ourselves on helping our customers every step of the way. CICM 

members receive their first five credit reports for free. 

Experian 

The Sir John Peace Building 

Experian Way 

NG2 Business Park 

Nottingham NG80 1ZZ 

T: 0844 481 9920 

W: www.experian.co.uk/business-information/ 

For over 30 years Experian have been processing, matching and deriving 

insights to provide accurate, up-to-date information that helps B2B 

organisations to make more effective, fact based decisions, reduce 

risks and meet regulatory standards. We turn complex data into clear 

insights that help manage UK and international businesses to maximise 

opportunities for growth and identify and minimise the associated risks. 

Blending our business and consumer data we can offer a truly blended 

score for sole traders and enhanced scoring on SME’s to tell you more 

about the business and the people behind the business. Experian can 

support with new business, acquisition through to collections while 

managing KYC requirements online or via our suite of APIs. 

Top Service Ltd 

2&3 Regents Court, Farmoor Lane, Redditch, 

Worcestershire, B98 0SD 

T: 0152 750 3990. 

E: enquiries@top-service.co.uk 

W: www.top-service.co.uk 

Top Service is the only credit reference and debt recovery 

agency to specialise in the UK construction sector. Top Service 

customers benefit from sector specific information, detailed 

payment history intelligence and realtime trade references in 

addition to standard credit information. There are currently 

3,000 construction sector companies subscribing to the service, 

ranging from multi-national organisations to small family firms. 

The company prides itself on high levels of customer service 

and does not tie its customers into restrictive contracts. Top 

Service offers a 25 percent discount to all CICM Members as 

well as four free credit checks of your choice. 


Innovation Software 

Innovation Software, Innovation House, 

New Road, Rochester, Kent, ME1 1BG. 

T: +44 (0)1634 812300 

E: jay.inamdar@innovationsoftware.uk.com 

W: www.creditforceglobal.com 

Innovation Software are the authors of CreditForce, the leading 

Collections and Working Capital Management Systems. Our solutions are 

used in over 26 countries and by over 20 percent of the Top 100 Global 

Law Firms. 

Our solutions have optimised Accounts Receivables processes for over 

20 years and power Business Intelligence, with functionality to: 

• improve cash flow • reduce DSO • control risk 

• automate cash allocation • speed up query resolution 

• improve customer relationship management 

• automatically generate intelligent workflows and tasks 

• manage the entire end-to-end collections cycle. 

Fully integrated with over 40 leading ERP and Accounting systems, 

including SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics and product partners with 

Thomson Reuters Elite we can deliver on either your own computing 

infrastructure or through Microsoft Azure’s award winning and secure 

cloud service.CreditForce remains the choice solution for world class 

businesses. 

Book a demonstration by calling T: +44 (0)1634 812 300 or visit 

www.creditforceglobal.com for more information. 


STA International 

3rd Floor, Colman House, King Street Maidstone , ME14 1DN 

T: +44(0)844 324 0660. 

E: enquiries@staonline.com 

W: www.stainternational.com 

GETTING BUSINESS PAID 

STA is an award winning B2B and B2C debt collection, confidential 

credit control and tracing supplier. ISO9001 quality accredited, and 

with the CSAs Collector Accreditation Initiative, duty-of-care is as 

important to us as it is to you. Specialising in international debt, in the 

past 12 months we’ve collected from 146 countries worldwide. “Your 

Debts Online” gives you transparent access to our collection success 

and detailed management information, keeping you in control of your 

account. We look forward to getting your business paid. 



Cr£ditWho? 

CICM Directory of Services 

FOR INFORMATION, 

OPTIONS AND PRICING 

PLEASE EMAIL: 

grace@cabbell.co.uk 


Tinubu Square UK 

Holland House, 

4 Bury Street, London . 

EC3A 5AW 

T: +44 (0)207 469 2577 / 

E: uksales@tinubu.com 

W: www.tinubu.com 

Tinubu Square offers companies across the world the appropriate 

SaaS platform solutions and services to significantly reduce their 

exposure to risk, and their financial, operational and technical 

costs. Easy to implement, our solutions provide an accurate 

picture of a customers’ financial health through the entire 

order-to-cash cycle, improve cash flow, and facilitate control 

of risk across the organization whether group-wide or locally. 

Founded in 2000, Tinubu Square is an award winning expert in 

the trade credit insurance industry, with offices in Paris, London, 

New York, Montreal and Singapore. Some of the largest multinational 

corporations, credit insurers and receivables financing organizations 

depend on Tinubu to provide them with the means to drive greater 

trade credit risk efficiency. 


Data Interconnect Ltd 

Unit 7, Radcot Estate, 7 Park Rd, Faringdon, 

Oxfordshire. SN7 7BP 

T: +44 (0) 1367 245777 F: +44 (0) 1367 240011 

E: sales@datainterconnect.co.uk 

W: www.datainterconnect.com 

Data Interconnect provides integrated e-billing and collection 

solutions via its document delivery web portal, WebSend. 

By providing improved Customer Experience and Customer 

Satisfaction, with enhanced levels of communication between both 

parties, we can substantially speed up your collection processes. 

Proud supporters 

of CICMQ 

Rimilia 

Corbett House, Westonhall Road, Bromsgrove, B60 4AL 

T: +44 (0)1527 872123 E: enquiries@rimilia.com 

W: www.rimilia.com 

Operating globally across any sector, Rimilia provides intelligent, 

finance automation solutions that enable customers to get paid on time 

and control their cashflow and cash collection in real time. Rimilia’s 

software solutions use sophisticated analytics and artificial intelligence 

(AI) to predict customer payment behaviour and easily match and 

reconcile payments, removing the uncertainty of cash collection. The 

Rimilia software automates the complete accounts receivable process 

and eliminates unallocated cash, reducing manual activity by an 

average 70% and achieving best in class matching rates recognised 

by industry specialists such as The Hackett Group. 


DATA AND ANALYTICS 

Dun & Bradstreet 

Marlow International, Parkway Marlow 

Buckinghamshire SL7 1AJ 

Telephone: (0800) 001-234 Website: www.dnb.co.uk 

Dun & Bradstreet grows the most valuable relationships in business. 

By uncovering truth and meaning from data, we connect our 

customers with the prospects, suppliers, clients and partners that 

matter most, and have since 1841. Whether your customer portfolio 

spans a city, a country or the globe, Dun & Bradstreet delivers the 

data, analytics and insight to grow your most profitable relationships 

and navigate credit risk. By combining your insights with our own, 

Dun & Bradstreet facilitates a global, unified view of your customer 

relationships across credit and collections. 

FINANCIAL PR 

Gravity London 

Floor 6/7, Gravity London, 69 Wilson St, London, EC21 2BB 

T: +44(0)207 330 8888. E: sfeast@gravitylondon.com 

W: www.gravitylondon.com 

Gravity is an award winning full service PR and advertising 

business that is regularly benchmarked as being one of the best 

in its field. It has a particular expertise in the credit sector, building 

long-term relationships with some of the industry’s best-known 

brands working on often challenging briefs. As the partner agency for 

the Credit Services Association (CSA) for the past 13 years, and the 

Chartered Institute of Credit Management since 2006, it understands 

the key issues affecting the credit industry and what works and what 

doesn’t in supporting its clients in the media and beyond. 

INSOLVENCY 

Moore Stephens 

Moore Stephens LLP, 150 Aldersgate Street, 

London EC1A 4AB 

T: +44 (0) 20 7334 9191 

E: Brendan.clarkson@moorestephens.com 

W: www.moorestephens.co.uk 

Moore Stephens is a top ten accounting and advisory network, 

with offices throughout the UK. Our clients range from individuals 

and entrepreneurs, through to large organisations and complex 

international businesses. We partner with them, supporting their 

aspirations and helping them to thrive in a challenging world. 

Our national creditor services team has expert insights in debt 

recovery which, combined with their unparalleled industry and 

sector knowledge, enables them to assist creditors in recovering 

outstanding debts. 

LEGAL MATTERS 

PAYMENT SOLUTIONS 

American Express 

76 Buckingham Palace Road, 

London. SW1W 9TQ 

T: +44 (0)1273 696933 

W: www.americanexpress.com 

American Express is working in partnership with the CICM and is 

a globally recognised provider of payment solutions to businesses. 

Specialising in providing flexible collection capabilities to drive a 

number of company objectives including: 

•Accelerate cashflow •Improved DSO •Reduce risk 

•Offer extended terms to customers 

•Provide an additional line of bank independent credit to drive 

growth •Create competitive advantage with your customers 

As experts in the field of payments and with a global reach, 

American Express is working with credit managers to drive growth 

within businesses of all sectors. By creating an additional lever 

to help support supplier/client relationships American Express is 

proud to be an innovator in the business payments space. 

PAYMENT SOLUTIONS 

Bottomline Technologies 

115 Chatham Street, Reading 

Berks RG1 7JX | UK 

T: 0870 081 8250 E: emea-info@bottomline.com 

W: www.bottomline.com/uk 

Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ: EPAY) helps businesses 

pay and get paid. Businesses and banks rely on Bottomline for 

domestic and international payments, effective cash management 

tools, automated workflows for payment processing and bill 

review and state of the art fraud detection, behavioural analytics 

and regulatory compliance. Businesses around the world depend 

on Bottomline solutions to help them pay and get paid, including 

some of the world’s largest systemic banks, private and publicly 

traded companies and Insurers. Every day, we help our customers 

by making complex business payments simple, secure and seamless. 

RECRUITMENT 

PORTFOLIO 


Portfolio Credit Control 

1 Finsbury Square, London. EC2A 1AE 

T: 0207 650 3199 

E: recruitment@portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

W: www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

Portfolio Credit Control, solely specialises in the recruitment of 

permanent, temporary and contract Credit Control, Accounts 

Receivable and Collections staff. Part of an award winning recruiter 

we speak to and meet credit controllers all day everyday understanding 

their skills and backgrounds to provide you with tried and tested credit 

control professionals. We have achieved enormous growth because we 

offer a uniquely specialist approach to our clients, with a commitment 

to service delivery that exceeds your expectations every single time. 

HighRadius 

T: +44 7399 406889 

E: gwyn.roberts@highradius.com 

W: www.highradius.com 

HighRadius is the leading provider of Integrated Receivables 

solutions for automating receivables and payment functions such 

as credit, collections, cash allocation, deductions and eBilling. 

The Integrated Receivables suite is delivered as a software-as-aservice 

(SaaS). HighRadius also offers SAP-certified Accelerators 

for SAP S/4HANA Finance Receivables Management, enabling 

large enterprises to maximize the value of their SAP investments. 

HighRadius Integrated Receivables solutions have a proven track 

record of reducing days sales outstanding (DSO), bad-debt and 

increasing operation efficiency, enabling companies to achieve an 

ROI in less than a year. 

DWF LLP 

David Scottow Senior Director 

D +44 113 261 6169 M +44 7833 092628 

E: David.Scottow@dwf.law W: www.dwf.law/recover 

DWF is a global legal business, transforming legal services through 

our people for our clients. Led by Managing Partner & CEO Andrew 

Leaitherland, we have over 26 key locations and 2,800 people 

delivering services and solutions that go beyond expectations. We 

have received recognition for our work by The Financial Times who 

named us as one of Europe's most innovative legal advisers, and we 

have a range of stand-alone consultative services, technology and 

products in addition to the traditional legal offering. 

Hays Credit Management 

107 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6DN 

T: 07834 260029 

E: karen.young@hays.com 

W: www.hays.co.uk/creditcontrol 

Hays Credit Management is working in partnership with the CICM 

and specialise in placing experts into credit control jobs and credit 

management jobs. Hays understands the demands of this challenging 

environment and the skills required to thrive within it. Whatever 

your needs, we have temporary, permanent and contract based 

opportunities to find your ideal role. Our candidate registration process 

is unrivalled, including face-to-face screening interviews and a credit 

control skills test developed exclusively for Hays by the CICM. We offer 

CICM members a priority service and can provide advice across a wide 

spectrum of job search and recruitment issues. 


CICM MEMBER 

EXCLUSIVE 

Your CICM lapel badge demonstrates your 

commitment to professionalism and best practice 

TAKE PRIDE IN 

WEARING YOUR BADGE 

If you haven’t received your badge 

E: cicmmembership@cicm.com 

Call 01494 790600 

for a FREE trial* 

*Trial valid for UK Ltd report

Dynamic credit management 

The wayforward 

An exciting newseries of 

credit management events. 

Comingtoacity nearyou... 

Manchester -4th October 

Birmingham -5th October 

Bristol -9th October 

Leicester -11th October 

Leeds -16thOctober 

London -17th October 

Glasgow -25th October 

Learnmoreand register at 

rimilia.com/wayforward 

or email us on enquiries@rimilia.com 

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Credit Management September 2018

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