Credit Management November 2020

CREDIT MANAGEMENT 

CM 

NOVEMBER 2020 £12.50 

THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND 

COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS 

Transmission Ends 

Can the broadcast media 

industry survive? 

How can CRAs support 

an economic recovery? 

Page 10 

Exclusive interview 

with the CSA’s Chris 

Leslie. Page 12

From 1 January 2021 

The way you 

hire from the EU 

is changing 

Free movement is ending, 

and the new points-based 

immigration system will 

introduce job, salary and 

language requirements 

that will change the way 

you hire from the EU. 

You will need to be a licensed sponsor 

to hire eligible employees from outside 

the UK. Becoming a sponsor normally 

takes 8 weeks and fees apply. 

This will not apply when hiring Irish 

citizens or those eligible for status 

under the EU Settlement Scheme. 

Find out more at GOV.UK/HiringFromTheEU

22 

VIEW FROM THE SEA 

David Andrews 

12 

LABOUR EXCHANGE 

Interview 

26 

OPINION 

Peter Walker 

NOVEMBER 2020 

www.cicm.com 

CONTENTS 

10 – Number Games 

The credit reference agencies are 

determined to support the economic 

recovery. But it’s not all plain sailing. 

12 – Labour Exchange 

Sean Feast discusses the priorities of 

the incoming CEO of the CSA. 

16 – Saving Grace 

First impressions from the new CICM 

Chair. 

17 – Vacant Possession 

Introducing the three new Regional 

Representatives on the Advisory 

Council. 

19 – Buying Signals 

Why can’t HCEOs buy debt? Andrew 

Wilson explains. 

20 – The Show must go on 

The UK Broadcast Media sector is under 

severe pressure so how will it survive? 

22 – Brace. Brace. 

A long winter awaits in the wake of 

COVID-19. 

24 – Panel Bashers 

What is the best measure to use for 

incentivising B2B collections staff? 

26 – Spread Betting 

Spreadsheets often contain errors, but 

who’s ultimately to blame? Peter Walker 

knows who. 

34 – Brain Teasing 

Glen Bullivant ponders on what 

constitutes normal in an abnormal 

world. 

CICM GOVERNANCE 

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. 

20 

LEAD ARTICLE 

Tim Vine 

President Stephen Baister FCICM / Chief Executive Sue Chapple FCICM 

Executive Board: Chair Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) – Vice Chair Phil Rice FCICM /Treasurer Glen Bullivant FCICM 

Larry Coltman FCICM / Victoria Herd FCICM(Grad) / Philip Holbrough MCICM 

Advisory Council: Sarah Aldridge FCICM / Laurie Beagle FCICM / Glen Bullivant FCICM / Alan Church FCICM(Grad) 

Brendan Clarkson FCICM / Larry Coltman FCICM / Niall Cooter FCICM / Peter Gent FCICM(Grad) / Victoria Herd FCICM(Grad) 

Philip Holbrough MCICM / Neil Jinks FCICM / Nick King FCICM / Charles Mayhew FCICM / Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) 

Bryony Pettifor FCICM(Grad)/ Allan Poole MCICM / Alice Purdy MCICM(Grad) / Matthew Roberts MCICM / Phil Rice FCICM 

Chris Sanders FCICM / Stephen Thomson FCICM / Atul Vadher FCICM(Grad) 

Publisher 

Chartered Institute of Credit Management 

The Water Mill, Station Road, South Luffenham 

OAKHAM, LE15 8NB 

Telephone: 01780 722900 

Email: editorial@cicm.com 

Website: www.cicm.com 

CMM: www.creditmanagement.org.uk 

Managing Editor 

Sean Feast FCICM 

Deputy Editor 

Iona Yadallee 

Art Editor 

Andrew Morris 

Telephone: 01780 722910 

Email: andrew.morris@cicm.com 

Editorial Team 

Rob Howard and Imogen Hart 

Advertising 

Grace Ghattas 

Telephone: 020 3603 7946 

Email: grace@cabbell.co.uk 

Printers 

Stephens & George Print Group 

2020 subscriptions 

UK: £112 per annum 

International: £145 per annum 

Single copies: £12.50 

ISSN 0265-2099 

Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / November 2020 / PAGE 3

EDITOR’S COLUMN 

Quis custodiet 

ipsos custodes? 

Sean Feast FCICM 

Managing Editor 

IT’S official. The world has gone 

barking. It has been a month so 

packed with nonsense that I barely 

know where to begin. 

First we had the ‘Debt Threat’ 

campaign come home to roost, 

with an announcement from Her Majesty’s 

Treasury (HMT) that it was finally bringing to 

an end a system that had obliged lenders to 

send what amounted to threatening default 

notices to their customers, even when they 

didn’t want to (see news page 5). 

It was an issue that I’ve been writing about 

in this magazine for at least the last six years, 

and creditors and trade associations across 

the land with far greater insight than me 

have been bemoaning for even longer. It took 

a TV celebrity, however, for the Government 

to finally do something about it, which is 

great news for the industry, even if we did 

have to put up with the vulgar trumpeting 

of individuals embarrassingly eager to claim 

‘victory’. 

Does it matter who gets the glory if we 

get the outcome we’re looking for? Perhaps 

not. But it depends on what policies and 

legislation come off the back of it. If we 

end up with another breathing space fiasco 

(which doesn’t seem to be working) or the illconceived 

Debt and Mental Health Evidence 

Form (which definitely hasn’t worked) then it 

certainly does. 

But just as I thought I’d get over that one, 

a different branch of Government pipes up 

with another pearler. The idea to effectively 

replace the Pre-Pack Pool concept with 

another, as yet unspecified mechanism for 

independently reviewing administrations 

involving sales to connected parties. 

Now I do understand the premise: 

whereas pre-pack administration sales 

are widely considered to be a valuable 

rescue tool, concerns have been raised that 

arrangements may not always be in the 

best interests of creditors especially where 

the sale is made to a connected party. Their 

solution is for ‘an independent opinion’ to be 

provided by someone who has the ‘requisite 

knowledge and experience to do the job’. And 

how do we know they have the said requisite 

knowledge? Simple: they just have to say they 

do! 

Now the story is a little more complicated 

than that (see news page 6), especially as the 

Pre-Pack Pool is a private company, but the 

net result is still the same. Rather than use 

what’s already there and invest properly in 

promoting its use and its value, we’ll invent 

something else. It’s a familiar tale we got 

used to with the Prompt Payment Code, so 

I’m surprised I’m surprised. It’s just that I 

so want to believe that the people in charge 

know what they’re doing. 

And I’m not wholly convinced that they do. 

Does it matter who gets the glory if we get 

the outcome we’re looking for? Perhaps 

not. But it depends on what policies and 

legislation come off the back of it. 


CMNEWS 

A round-up of news stories from the 

world of consumer and commercial credit. 

Written by – Sean Feast FCICM 

Government finally acts to end 

intimidating default notices 

THE letters borrowers receive 

from their lenders when they are 

seriously behind on repayments 

will be easier to understand and 

‘less intimidating’ in the future as a 

result of new rules proposed by the 

Treasury last month. 

Default Notices are designed to give people 

who are falling behind on their debts fair 

warning before lenders take further action, but 

much of the formatting and content has not 

been updated in nearly 40 years. 

Government will now legislate to change 

the language and presentation of information 

in these notices, with the intention of making 

them less threatening by restricting the amount 

of information that must be made prominent 

and requiring lenders to use bold or underlined 

text rather than capital letters. Lenders will also 

now be able to replace legal terms with more 

widely understood words and letters will clearly 

signpost people to the best sources of free debt 

advice. 

John Glen, Economic Secretary to the 

Treasury, said it was right that legislation was 

overhauled: “These new rules will help to take 

the fear out of finance by ensuring that letters 

are easier to understand, less threatening, 

and empower people to take control of their 

finances,” he said. 

Eric Leenders, Managing Director, Personal 

Finance at UK Finance agreed: “Lenders have 

to send Default Notices and these important 

changes announced today will ensure that 

customers receive more appropriate and 

supportive communications,” he said. 

While the debt collection industry and 

others have lobbied Government for the last 

six years to change the rules, it appears to 

have taken the high-profile intervention of TV 

personality Martin Lewis to prompt the Treasury 

to take action. Mr Lewis says the timing of 

announcement is crucial: “With millions of 

people facing debt and distress due to the 

pandemic, the sooner we end these out-of-date 

laws which force lenders to send intimidating 

letters the better,” he said. “These changes will 

make the most distressing debt letters much 

less intimidating, and crucially will also easily 

and calmly point people in serious debt to get 

the free, non-profit, debt advice they need.” 

Chris Leslie, Chief Executive of the 

Credit Services Association (CSA), also 

welcomed the news, describing the 

announcement as long overdue: 

“Making an initial letter less 

intimidating of course has 

to be a good thing,” he says. 

“It’s something that the CSA 

and other trade bodies, as 

well as firms, have argued 

is overdue from as far back 

as 2014.” 

But Mr Leslie cautioned against the 

new rules being too narrowly focused: “Some 

customers will have vulnerabilities or mental 

health issues while others will not. Some 

customers may simply be failing to engage. That 

is why any new legislation must be balanced 

and fair, giving the creditor the opportunity 

to tailor the language used so it is most 

appropriate. 

“We hope that this new policy will take into 

account the views and experience on all sides, 

including that of firms and industry bodies 

which have been trying to improve customer 

experience in spite of some of the anachronistic 

and unhelpful existing regulations.” 

Credit Management carried an article from the 

CSA in 2018 calling for change, and covered the 

story again last year in which the Association 

argued that if the rules and the regulator oblige 

the creditor to follow a particular path, it is 

unfair to criticise the industry for doing what it 

is told in law that it has to do. 

As Mr Leslie concludes: “The technical, 

rigid nature of the Consumer Credit Act 

1974 sometimes means there can be an 

understandable nervousness in writing 

documentation that is clear, simple and concise. 

I think we can all agree that a letter that is 

intended to explain a customer’s situation is 

of little use when all it achieves is to drive the 

consumer to seek further explanation, with all of 

the inherent worry that this brings.” 

The new rules will be delivered through 

secondary legislation and are expected to come 

into force in December 2020. All lenders will 

then be required to make the changes within six 

months. 

John Glen, 

Economic 

Secretary to the 

Treasury 

“These new rules 

will help to take the 

fear out of finance 

by ensuring that 

letters are easier 

to understand, less 

threatening, and 

empower people to 

take control of their 

finances.” 


NEWS ROUNDUP 

Creditor confusion at new plans 

NEW laws will require 

mandatory independent 

scrutiny of pre-pack 

administration sales 

where connected 

parties – such as the 

insolvent company’s existing directors 

or shareholders – are involved in the 

purchase, the Government announced 

last month. 

The new laws are designed to improve 

confidence and transparency in prepack 

administration sales, giving the 

general public and creditors reassurance 

that their interests are being protected 

alongside that of the distressed 

business. Pre-pack administrations 

involve arrangements to sell part or the 

whole of a company’s business or assets 

prior to the company entering into 

administration. The sale is completed 

on or shortly after the appointment of 

an administrator and the speed of the 

transaction helps preserve the value of 

the business while saving jobs. 

Whereas pre-pack administration 

sales are widely considered to be a 

valuable rescue tool, concerns have 

been raised that arrangements may 

not always be in the best interests of 

creditors especially where the sale is 

made to a connected party. 

Minister for Corporate Responsibility 

Lord Callanan said that it was important 

people have confidence in the 

insolvency process: “This new law 

will ensure all sales to connected 

parties are properly scrutinized – 

protecting the interests of creditors 

and the general public, as well as the 

distressed company.” 

Colin Haig, President of insolvency 

and restructuring trade body R3, 

agreed and added: “The insolvency and 

restructuring profession is very sensitive 

to the impact of pre-packs on creditors, 

and there is a careful balance to strike in 

these situations between transparency, 

protecting creditor value, and business 

rescue, which these proposals 

support.” 

The announcement, 

however, has led to 

some confusion among 

industry commentators, 

especially where it 

leaves the Pre-Pack 

Pool. David Kerr FCICM 

on the CICM Technical 

Committee, sees a number 

of problems: 

“While there are some 

restrictions on who can provide 

an opinion, the Government’s draft 

regulations on the qualifications of the 

opinion provider simply state that the 

provider must self-declare that (s)/he 

believe themselves to have the requisite 

knowledge and experience to do the job! 

“Also, rather oddly, the Service’s 

report on its review of pre-packs 

expressly states that the purchaser 

can obtain more than one opinion. One 

possible (but presumably unintended) 

consequence of this might be to give 

purchasers a licence to shop around for 

a positive opinion!” 

David questions whether this will 

enhance the creditor confidence the 

Government is seeking: “The purchaser 

will commission an opinion and 

can pick the opinion provider. 

Although the provider must 

not be someone who has 

advised the parties in the 

previous twelve months, 

how independent will 

they really be? Whereas 

the Pool operates on an 

automated rota basis free 

of manipulation or undue 

influence, the purchaser does 

not choose the reviewer and 

cannot easily ignore or discard the 

opinion provided. Will these measures 

advance trust in the profession and in 

this process?” 

Mike Sargent FCICM, chair of the 

Pre-Pack Pool oversight committee 

on behalf of the CICM, shares similar 

concerns: “Under the Government’s 

plans, an opinion on a connected party 

pre-pack sale will be able to be sought 

“While there are some restrictions on who can provide 

an opinion, the Government’s draft regulations on the 

qualifications of the opinion provider simply state that the 

provider must self-declare that (s)/he believe themselves to 

have the requisite knowledge and experience to do the job.’’ 

David Kerr FCICM serves on the CICM Technical Committee 

Technical Committee warns of impending crisis 

FORBEARANCE, and the support 

consumers will need in the months 

ahead, pose a significant challenge to 

the collections industry as Government 

support mechanisms come to an end, 

and will require joined-up thinking with 

the debt advice sector. 

This was one of the key themes to 

emerge from the latest CICM Technical 

Committee meeting in September 

as experts from the consumer credit 

industry gave their thoughts and insight 

on a fast-changing landscape that would 

seriously impact a customer’s future 

ability to pay. 

The importance of communication, 

and the use of digital channels in 

particular, was now critical to identify 

the vulnerable, especially as many would 

perhaps not fully realise the vulnerable 

position that they now find themselves 

in. It was also in recognition of a shift 

towards a new tranche of much younger 

debtors (16–24) who are more likely to 

engage through a mobile device than 

with a traditional letter or call. 

A deeper understanding and 

recognition of the link between 

‘business’ and ‘personal’ debt was also 

required, since the lines were becoming 

increasingly blurred. 

Committee members, including David 

Sheridan of ARC Europe and Alistair 

Chisholm of Payplan agreed that the 

tipping point would most likely occur in 

the first quarter of 2021, when the need 

for debt advice was likely to rise. While 

customers continued to be making full 


NEWS ROUNDUP 

for pre-pack reviews 

from any ‘independent’ evaluator. 

Creditors need to be aware of this factor 

to ensure that this important aspect 

of the process is not abused 

and challenge if there are 

concerns.” 

Stuart Hopewell 

FCICM, a Director of 

the Pre-Pack Pool 

described the move as a 

something of a pyrrhic 

victory for creditors 

and the Pool: “The draft 

regulations hardly inspire 

confidence,” he said, “and the 

announcement represents quite 

a volte face by Lord Callannan who 

fought tooth and nail in The Lords to 

allow the sunset clause to die!” 

Credit Management understands 

there will be a new mechanism, but 

it has not yet been established what 

that mechanism will be. It asked the 

Insolvency Service to explain why a 

new mechanism was needed when the 

Pre-Pack Pool was already in place. 

A spokesman explained: "Since the 

Pre-Pack Pool is a private limited 

company, it cannot be written into any 

new regulation that the pool should be 

used. However, that didn't discount the 

pool – or members of the pool – from 

providing scrutiny in the future." 

With regards timing, Credit 

Management was told that the issue 

will not be debated in Parliament until 

possibly as late as June 2021. 

Simon Plant, a Licensed Insolvency 

Practitioner with the SFP Group, 

described the announcement as ‘not 

good news’ and one that could force 

businesses down the CVL route: “If 

an independent body has to review 

sales to every connected party on 

each Administration, it could 

actually end up wrecking 

the process,” he explained. 

“Given the volume 

of insolvencies 

expected, how will 

a new independent 

body cope, given that a 

significant proportion of 

Administrations 

result in a sale to 

connected parties? Also, 

what if the body delays or 

keeps seeking information when an 

immediate decision has to be made 

by the Administrator? The cost of 

reporting and providing the necessary 

information to the new body is likely 

to be prohibitive, and if the 

independent evaluator does not fully 

understand the process or the detail 

they could deny a pre-pack for all the 

wrong reasons.” 

“The draft regulations 

hardly inspire confidence, 

and the announcement 

represents quite a volte 

face by Lord Callannan who 

fought tooth and nail in The 

Lords to allow the sunset 

clause to die!” 

Stuart Hopewell FCICM, a Director 

of the Pre-Pack Pool 

The importance of communication, and the use of digital 

channels in particular, was now critical to identify the 

vulnerable, especially as many would perhaps not fully realise 

the vulnerable position that they now find themselves in. 

>NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

Open all hours 

NEW research from Aldermore bank 

reveals that one in five (21 percent) 

small and medium-sized enterprise 

(SME) owners are working an additional 

three hours daily on average to manage 

the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic 

on their business. Many SME owners 

reported that longer working hours 

meant they had to make personal 

sacrifices, such as reducing time spent 

relaxing (37 percent), quality time with 

family (32 percent), and exercising 

(20 percent). Some 43 percent of SME 

owners described themselves as 

being ‘stressed or anxious’ due to the 

pandemic. 

Meritorious Service 

DEE Weston FCICM, Credit Manager 

at Exclusive Networks, has received 

a Meritorious Service Award from 

nominator and CICM Vice President 

Brenda Linger FCICM. Brenda says Dee 

was put forward for the Award for her 

contribution to the Institute and wider 

credit community: “Dee demonstrates 

commitment to endeavouring to 

provide whatever is in her capability, 

to help people qualify and achieve. 

She has proven ongoing involvement 

with the CICM both at branch level 

and nationally, and through other 

organisations. She creates what is best 

for her team and often goes the extra 

mile for the CICM Thames Valley Branch 

network.” Award presentations to the 

remaining 2020 MSA recipients, Tracey 

Westell FCICM and Derek Scott FCICM, 

are being planned. 

and final settlements in the short term, 

that situation was unlikely to last much 

further into the future. 

Forbearance was masking a major 

challenge that would soon be exposed, 

a theme that also related to the new 

Corporate Governance and Insolvency 

Act (CIGA) with much discussion around 

the new moratorium and what this mean 

to creditors. 

Julia Ishak of Shoosmiths was among 

those who highlighted how Retention of 

Title (RoT) is a key area of concern and 

creditors were encouraged to review their 

contracts especially in relation to an 

insolvency situation taking place. Legal 

and practical aspects of all contracts 

should also be clear. 

Of greater concern, arguably, is the 

issue of Frustration of Contract, as is 

wrongful and fraudulent trading. There 

may be an increase in trade creditors 

lending less, extending less credit, and 

charging more for the privilege, none of 

which is deemed good for the economy. 

These and other issues will be explored 

by the Technical Committee members in 

future issues of Credit Management. 

Resolving Issues 

KEY stakeholders have broadly 

welcomed the proposed Business 

Banking Resolution Service (BBRS), 

but with a caveat that it must be truly 

independent to succeed. Sue Chapple, 

CEO of the CICM who responded to the 

consultation, said that the BBRS must 

be transparent in its funding or else 

potential customers may assume the 

process has ‘hidden drawbacks’. A more 

detailed look at the BBRS will follow in a 

future issue. 


NEWS ROUNDUP 

Public sector debt management 

practices are ‘failing’ the vulnerable 

THE Public Sector is failing 

debtors, especially the 

most vulnerable, and 

needs to urgently learn the 

lesson of its private sector 

colleagues. 

The concept of ‘vulnerability’ is also 

too vague, and as such many of those 

most in need of help are falling between 

the cracks. 

This is the view of the Chartered 

Institute of Credit Management (CICM) 

in its response to the Cabinet Office Call 

for Evidence on the issue of government 

debt management, the process of 

recovering public sector debt. The 

CICM, whose members include senior 

executives across both the public and 

private sectors, says that best practice 

should be followed across all aspects of 

debt recovery and collections, regardless 

of how the debt originated: 

“It seems wholly wrong that when the 

Government assesses affordability, it 

does so in order to recover what’s owed 

within a specific time period and by 

instalments, and that cannot be in the 

best interests of the consumer,” says Sue 

Chapple FCICM, CICM Chief Executive. 

“When private debt collection agencies 

seek to recover consumer debt (e.g. 

credit card debts, phone debts, utility 

debts etc), however, it is simply about 

what the customer can afford to pay, 

without a time restriction, and that is 

much fairer on the customer. 

“The public sector is also able to take 

money from an individual’s earnings, 

without the need for Court Proceedings, 

and that seems similarly unfair. 

Individuals who are in debt should 

receive the same level of treatment, 

and fairness, regardless of who they 

owe money to. Debt collection practices 

needs to be much more aligned.” 

Sue says that what is of greater 

concern, is the public sector’s 

inconsistent approach to vulnerability: 

“The fundamental definition 

of vulnerability is too vague. A 

vulnerability assessment should 

recognise and support individuals 

who may be unable to safeguard their 

personal welfare. Vulnerability can be 

permanent, temporary or transient, 

and only by truly understanding the 

customer can you know how vulnerable 

they are. It is not just about looking at 

their finances.” 

This inconsistency extends 

across government departments: 

“Vulnerabilities identified at local 

“When private debt 

collection agencies seek 

to recover consumer debt 

(e.g. credit card debts, 

phone debts, utility debts 

etc), however, it is simply 

about what the customer 

can afford to pay, without 

a time restriction, and 

that is much fairer on the 

customer.’’ 

Sue Chapple 

FCICM, CICM 

Chief Executive 

government level should be shared 

across other departments, as the 

individual is unlikely to realise that they 

may need to notify different parts of 

government of their situation,” she adds. 

The best way of identifying and 

supporting the vulnerable is to adopt 

the processes and procedures used 

by members of the Credit Services 

Association (CSA) who follow a strict 

Code of Practice: “Behavioural insights 

and thoroughly assessing the best 

option for support is key. Each case is 

unique and should be treated as such 

when assessing the best support that 

can be provided.” 

Communication, she says, is also key, 

and that customers need to be reached 

in different ways: “Everyone has their 

own preference – for example, speaking 

on the phone, accessing information 

online, or using an app. We should stop 

talking about customers being ‘hounded’ 

on the phone or by text when actually 

that could be the best way to engage 

with them. That said, communication 

needs to be open and encouraging in 

order to minimise any mental impact on 

those in problem debt.” 

Whereas best practice can support 

people in debt, Sue says poor practice 

can do terrible damage: 

“CICM members commented that poor 

debt management activity could prolong 

or increase the vulnerability,” she 


NEWS ROUNDUP 

says. “Impacts could include mental 

health issues, suicide, alcoholism/ 

drug abuse, domestic abuse. “Poor debt 

management could also prolong the 

amount of time someone is in debt and 

damage the relationship the individual 

has in the future with creditor 

organisations.” 

Elsewhere but on a related theme, 

StepChange has found that, among 

clients with debts to government, 93 

percent said that the actions taken 

to collect money owed had made it 

difficult to afford essential household 

costs. In turn, this led to more than half 

of these clients borrowing further to 

make ends meet – simply exacerbating 

problems. 

Peter Tutton, Head of Policy, 

Research and Public Affairs at 

StepChange Debt Charity, says that 

only a third of StepChange clients 

with debts to local authorities had 

undergone an affordability assessment, 

and similarly only a third of clients 

with debts to DWP: “The Government 

has taken a hugely positive step in 

legislating for Breathing Space to allow 

people in debt a chance to see recovery 

action paused while they work with 

a debt advice provider towards a 

sustainable long term solution,” he 

explains. “It would be a tragedy if its 

own debt collection practices end up 

undermining the outcome.” 

>NEWS 

IN BRIEF 

Advice Gong 

MONEY Advice Trust Chief Executive 

Joanna Elson has been awarded a 

CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 

List for services to people in financial 

difficulty. Joanna has served as 

Chief Executive of the Money Advice 

Trust, the charity that runs National 

Debtline and Business Debtline, 

since 2008. In addition to her role 

at the Trust, Joanna is a Director of 

Fair4All Finance, Vice Chair of the 

Friends Provident Foundation and 

serves on the Board of trade body 

UK Finance, representing vulnerable 

consumers. The team at the CICM 

and Credit Management extend 

their congratulations to Joanna for a 

thoroughly deserved honour. 

Discount Fraud 

THE 14th Annual European AML 

& Financial Crime Conference – 

A Global Outlook is taking place 

virtually on 18/19 November 2020. 

CICM members can take advantage 

of a discounted rate of GBP £396.00 

+VAT. Please quote ‘CICM’ discount 

code when booking. For more 

information visit www.amlpforum. 

com and to book your place email 

events@amlpforum.com 

Turnaround Form 

A key business turnaround process 

could be made more accessible 

for small businesses following the 

publication of a new resource from 

R3, the insolvency and restructuring 

trade body. R3 has developed a 

free Standard Form for Company 

Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs), 

which aims to make it easier for 

small businesses affected by the 

COVID-19 pandemic to enter a CVA by 

providing a foundation for directors’ 

proposals to be developed. 

Arrow Straight 

ARROW Global Group has appointed 

Martina Swart as Group Legal 

and Risk Officer. Martina will be 

responsible for legal and compliance, 

governance and risk management 

across the Group, replacing Stewart 

Hamilton who left the business 

recently. She will report directly to 

Lee Rochford, Group CEO, as part of 

Arrow’s executive management team. 

Government consults to 

beef up powers of SBC 

NEW proposals have been outlined by 

Government to ensure small businesses in 

the UK are paid on time. 

Currently £23.4bn worth of late invoices 

are owed to small firms across Britain, 

according to Government statistics, 

seriously impacting on businesses’ cashflow 

and ultimate survival. As part of a new 

consultation launched last month, the 

Government is looking to further beef up the 

powers of the Small Business Commissioner, 

Philip King FCICM, including the power to 

order companies to pay their partners, either 

as a lump sum or agreed payment plan, when 

a complaint against them for late payment 

has been investigated and upheld. Companies 

that do not do so could face further penalties, 

including fines. This will give a clear 

incentive for companies to pay their partners 

on time. 

The SBC will also have the power to compel 

companies to share information during an 

investigation, and have an expanded scope 

of works to include the power to investigate 

complaints about other businesses relating 

to payment matters in connection with the 

supply of goods and services. 

Speaking exclusively to Credit 

Management, Philip King FCICM believes the 

new measures will go a long way to further 

improving the UK payment culture: “The 

SBC has been in place since December 2017 

and the learnings over the last three years, 

together with the views captured from the 

2019 Call for Evidence, have informed the 

proposals being consulted on,” he explains. 

“The SBC has achieved much since it 

was launched and increasing his scope 

and powers will provide the opportunity for 

even more to be achieved in improving the 

payment culture.” In a separate consultation 

which closed in October, changes are being 

proposed to the Prompt Payment Code, and 

Philip says the Government has an ongoing 

dialogue with signatories and stakeholders: 

“The potential reforms include: paying 95 

percent of invoices from smaller businesses 

within 30 days; introducing additional 

mechanisms to ensure compliance with the 

Code; and the use of additional criteria such 

as the percentage of invoices paid to terms 

and/or the average time taken to pay invoices. 

“The reforms also include allowing the Code 

administrators to approach signatories on the 

basis of a complaint raised by a third party 

such as a trade body.” Credit Management 

understands that the powers of the SBC are 

underpinned by Primary Legislation so, after 

responses to the consultation have been 

considered, any changes will need to go 

through the legislative process. In three years 

the SBC has claimed £7.5 million owed to 

small businesses and publicly named 

eight companies for poor payment 

practice. The consultation will 

run until 24 December 2020. 

Philip King FCICM 


CICM THINK TANK 

NUMBER GAMES 

Is the reality of what is to come being masked 

by Government schemes? 

AUTHORS – Nic Beishon, Richard Leonard and Mark Preston 

PANDEMIC, what pandemic? You 

could be excused for thinking 

that a rally in the stock market 

prices from a low in March 

2020 to renewed growth in the 

months following to August 2020 

suggested that the economies of the USA and 

Europe were in good shape. 

But looking at underlying GDP, this reveals 

significant declines in the UK and across 

Europe, to levels not seen since the crash of 

2008-9. Overall, GDP shows a 15-25 percent 

negative trend. 

And whilst unemployment has not yet seen 

dramatic increases, furlough schemes and 

Government-backed loans have largely masked 

this – commentators are predicting significant 

increases as the pandemic stubbornly refuses 

to go away. Real impacts are likely to be felt by 

more and more businesses as we move towards 

2021. 

What's next in terms of the pandemic and its 

impact on the economy? Will it be a ‘slow burn’ 

where the first wave of COVID-19 is followed by 

ongoing transmission but without a clear wave 

pattern? We may be past that already. Or will we 

see ‘peaks and valleys’ with continued waves 

of the outbreak that persist over a one to twoyear 

period, gradually diminishing sometime in 

2021? Or will there be an autumn/winter peak, 

a larger wave than the first with subsequent 

smaller waves in 2021 – similar to the 1918 

Spanish Flu and the 1958 H2N2 pandemic? 

Much, of course, will depend on the availability 

of an effective vaccine. 

REAL PERFORMANCE 

In terms of real GDP growth performance, 

forecasts suggest that declines in 2020 may be 

somewhat offset by small growth in 2021. But if 

the UK declines negatively by nearly 10 percent 

this year, and an optimistic growth forecast of 

five to six percent in 2021 is realised, this is of 

course still behind the levels seen in 2019. 

And it's worth noting that according to some 

of the data we're seeing, the share of prompt 

payments in the UK has fallen from about 47 

percent in March to 41 percent in August 2020. 

In the UK, Business Liquidations declined in 

the 2nd quarter of 2020, following a stable trend 

during 2019 and into early 2020. But there are 

reasons for this of course – Government Loan 

Intervention, Moratoria in place, etc. When will 

the economic pressures manifest themselves 

in increased financial stress and resultant 

business failures? Are we looking at the socalled 

‘Tsunami of Insolvencies’ that many talk 

about? 

Nic Beishon 

Richard Leonard 

Mark Preston 

What is clear 

though, is that 

SMEs need finance 

more than ever, 

and lenders need 

information that 

gives them the 

confidence to lend 

more than ever. 

In a world full of acronyms 2020 ushered a 

few more, one of these, BBLS (Bounce Back 

Loan Scheme) is now part of the language 

and, following the Chancellor's recent 

announcement, will be part of the business 

environment potentially for the next 10 years. 

There are over 1.26m Government-backed 

fixed interest rate BBLS facilities as per the 

update given on 22 September, 2020, following 

1.55m applications for loans between £2,000 and 

£50,000. 

Undoubtedly many businesses will have 

benefitted from the £38bn (average loan value 

circa £30,000) provided under these schemes. 

However, it's important to remember that the 

Government guarantee covers the lender rather 

than the borrower. 

SELF-CERTIFICATION 

Unlike applications for other facilities where a 

full credit assessment is undertaken, Bounce 

Back Loans rely on the applicant self-certifying 

their turnover and confirming the business 

has been affected by COVID-19, with lenders 

undertaking relevant AML/KYC checks before 

releasing funds. 

In the early days of the scheme, many 

businesses may have applied thinking they had 

a relatively short-term need and may have been 

prudent by restricting their borrowing to a level 

that they felt comfortable with for what at the 

time seemed sufficient. 

The scheme only allows a business to have one 

BBL, which potentially has left some businesses 

wishing they had applied for more to carry them 

through difficult times. 

With the first payment deferred for 12 

months, businesses have some breathing space 

and hopefully can concentrate on the day to 

day before repayments start for some in Q2, 

2021. The number of BBLs will likely have been 

taken by businesses that have not borrowed 

previously. 

The Chancellor's recent amendments to the 

scheme now allow for a payment holiday and 

a term extension to 10 years from the original 

fixed 72 months although it is not yet clear how 

lenders will implement this. 

MINIMISING IMPACT 

BIPA issued a statement in April to say BIPA 

members will work to minimise the impact on 

the Commercial CRA credit assessment of any 

application by a business for a Government 

scheme designed to support business survival 

through the COVID-19 crisis. 

This has covered schemes like the Company 

House filing extensions and the BBLS. There 


CICM THINK TANK 

CHANGE IN DAYS BEYOND TERMS 

45% 

R - Arts, Entertainment and Recreation 

45% 

40% 

40% 

Q - Human Health and Social Work Activities 

35% 

35% 

P - Education 

30% 

I - Accommodation and Food Service Activities 

30% 

% Change in average days beyond terms from January 2020 

25% 

20% 

15% 

10% 

5% 

-0% 

-5% 

Whole Population 

F - Construction 

25% 

20% 

15% 

10% 

5% 

-0% 

-5% 

% Change in average days beyond terms from January 2020 

-10% 

February March April May June July August September October November December 

-10% 

Source: Experian Trade Payment Performance Program Month 2020 

What's next in 

terms of the 

pandemic and 

its impact on the 

economy? Will it 

be a ‘slow burn’ 

where the first 

wave of COVID-19 

is followed 

by ongoing 

transmission but 

without a clear 

wave pattern? 

Nic Beishon is Managing 

Director of N37, Richard 

Leonard is Head of Data 

Partnerships at Experian and 

Chairperson of BIPA, and 

Mark Preston MCICM is Senior 

Consultant and Subject Matter 

Expert, Trade Credit Risk & 

External Affairs at Dun & 

Bradstreet. 

They delivered a presentation 

to the CICM Think Tank 

in September on behalf of 

the Business Information 

Providers Association (BIPA). 

are stories in the media about fraudulent 

applications for BBLS, which are a real concern 

as at the end of the day it is tax payers' money that 

needs to be repaid. However, there is evidence 

that the BBLS cash is being used wisely. 

Days Beyond Terms (DBT) understandably 

rose sharply as the crisis began to bite but seem 

to have peaked in July with an equally sharp 

decline in August. The hypothesis is that the 

cash from the BBLS is being used to pay off 

outstanding invoices, maybe from key suppliers 

recognising the importance of a financially 

stable supply chain. 

The big question is, what will happen when 

this cash runs out? As described earlier, a 

business is not allowed to return for a top-up 

BBL, and so the most readily available form of 

finance is likely to be trade credit. Data from 

September supports this as DBTs sharply rise 

again. 

Trade credit as unsecured lending depends 

heavily on confidence; confidence in the data 

used to make a decision and confidence that 

the invoice will be paid. Such information is, of 

course, the business that the BIPA members are 

in. Generally speaking, we still recommend the 

basic approach of Risk Assessment, Monitoring 

and Portfolio Management, but we are also 

promoting alternative data sources. 

Now that filed company accounts are even 

more aged, up-to-date information is key. This 

can come from data sharing schemes. Some of 

these are regulated on either a mandatory or a 

voluntary basis and are closed user groups. An 

example of this is the HM Treasury Commercial 

Credit Data Sharing scheme whereby the nine 

designated banks are mandated to share their 

data on SMEs (with the consent of the SME) to 

improve access to finance. Some CRAs have 

trade credit data sharing schemes, the benefits 

of which are available to all. 

INSPIRING CONFIDENCE 

BIPA has also identified some key Governmentowned 

data that would help trade creditors 

make confident lending decisions based on 

up-to-date information. A key piece of nonfinancial 

data we would like the Government to 

release to CRAs is the employee numbers from 

the HMRC PAYE Real Time Information system 

which records employees on PAYE every month. 

This would give information about the trading 

status and whether the business is growing 

or shrinking its workforce. It would also be a 

useful dataset in the fight against fraud as it 

would require a fraudster to set up and operate 

a PAYE system to get past such a check. 

A similar use could be made of the 

Corporation Tax number issued by HMRC on 

registration for corporation tax. One of the big 

challenges for the grantors of trade credit is the 

lack of information on small companies. Data 

sharing can certainly help, but a great source 

of information would be for the Government to 

release Corporation Tax returns. Full accounts 

might not be needed to be filed, but they are 

needed for HMRC, and this would fill the gap in 

information for lenders. This one might require 

a little bit more lobbying. What is clear though, 

is that SMEs need finance more than ever, and 

lenders need information that gives them the 

confidence to lend more than ever. 


INTERVIEW 

LABOUR 

EXCHANGE 

Sean Feast FCICM speaks to 

Chris Leslie, the new CEO of the Credit 

Services Association (CSA), about his 

new role, his old life, and playing tennis 

with John Bercow. 

CHRIS Leslie’s passion for 

politics started at an early 

age with a desire to see 

improvements to his school 

building, which coincided with 

a visit to Bradford by the then 

Education Minister, Kenneth Baker: 

“The decrepit state of our school building was 

a big issue – so for some reason when I heard 

about this Minister visiting our area, I took 

the day off school to see what it was all about. 

I managed to get a word with him during his 

official ‘walkabout’ and told him that the roof 

in our school was leaking and I wanted to know 

what was he going to do about it. I received the 

usual politicians’ rebuff and remember feeling 

aggrieved that he wasn’t really listening. That 

fed my interest even further and in the 1987 

election I helped out with leafleting for the local 

Labour Party. I got the bug. I was sucked into 

the world of politics.” 

Looking back on the incident, he winces at 

his own precociousness. Today he has a much 

better understanding of how the Minister 

treated him at the time. He was then only 14. 

Indeed, Chris has never let his age be a barrier 

to progress. 

That Chris entered the world of politics is 

perhaps not a surprise. Born in Keighley, his 

father had been a local authority architect in 

Bradford, in the days when all local authorities 

had in-house teams. His mother, an American, 

came to the UK in 1970 to be a college lecturer. 

“With two parents both working in the public 

sector, it was inevitable that we had some lively 

debates around the kitchen table,” he laughs. 

CAPABLE STUDENT 

A capable student at Bingley Grammar School, 

Chris chose to read Politics and Parliamentary 

Studies at the University of Leeds, during 

which time he was lucky enough to receive a 

placement in Washington DC working with 

Bernie Sanders (the Senator and one-time 

Democrat Presidential nominee then over from 

the US) and in Westminster with then Shadow 

Chancellor Gordon Brown. Graduating with a 

Master of Arts in Industrial and Labour studies, 

he stood in local council elections in 1994 before 

being selected as the Labour Party candidate 

for Shipley in the 1997 general election. (“There 

was only me and one other to choose from,” he 

jokes, “as the area was so traditionally staunch 

Conservative.”) He succeeded in taking the seat 

from Marcus Fox. 

It was a remarkable achievement on two 

levels: firstly, because the seat had been 

Conservative for almost 30 years; and secondly, 

because Chris was still only 24! “I remember 

the morning after the result having to lie down 

in a darkened room and thinking ‘Oh my God 

what just happened’!” It was the days before the 

internet, and Chris had to call his neighbouring 

MP to find out the form and when he was 

expected in Westminster. His colleague bought 

him a railway ticket and they travelled down 

together: “It was Blair era, and although I was 

very young, I looked up to Tony Blair, Gordon 

Brown, Robin Cook, Jack Cunningham, John 

Reid etc and thought ‘with all that experience 

they must know what they are doing!’.” 

As the ‘Baby of the House’ when he first 

entered, promotions quickly followed. He was 

appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary 

(PPS) to Lord Falconer and held onto to his seat 

in the 2001 election, albeit his majority was 

halved. He was rewarded after his re-election 

with a junior Ministerial role in the Cabinet 

Office, overseeing civil service policy and civil 

contingency planning. He remembers being 

asked to take on his next role by Tony Blair in 

2002: “The Blair government was always keen 

to be associated with ‘youth’, so when I was 

summoned to Number Ten I was told to come in 

the front door, presumably so I could be seen by 

journalists making the walk in. Blair asked me 

to become the Housing & Planning Minister and 

rather nervously I replied saying “well of course 

– I’d be happy to do whatever you think best, but 

everyone will say that to you won’t they?”. To his 

surprise, Blair said that, no, most MPs hadn’t 

been happy to take what they were offered. 


INTERVIEW 

AUTHOR – Sean Feast FCICM 

“And he said ‘in fact you are the only one who 

hadn’t pushed back and argued that they wanted 

something else!’ so that was fortuitous!” As it 

was, Leslie got a call later that evening from 

John Prescott to say that he wouldn’t be doing 

Housing after all, for various reasons, and so he 

became a junior Minister for local government 

and the regions in Prescott’s team instead. 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT 

Chris had first-hand experience in local 

government which proved useful in the time 

he spent overseeing that policy portfolio in 

the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Then, 

from 2003 to 2005 he was Minister for Courts 

and Constitutional Affairs. In 2005, however, 

he suffered his first setback, losing his seat in 

Shipley by fewer than 500 votes. 

It was not, however, a crushing blow, and not 

long after leaving the Commons for the first time 

he became a Director of the member organisation 

New Local Government Network, the leading 

local authority research and policy think-tank. 

During the same time, he also became a trustee 

of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service 

advice charity (now StepChange) – working 

alongside Malcolm Hurlston CBE – and Credit 

Action (now the Money Charity). 

He was not out of politics for long, however, 

and in April 2010 was selected as the Labour 

candidate for Nottingham East and returned 

to the Commons, now something of a veteran 

MP. Between 2011 and 2015 he was a member of 

“With two parents 

both working in 

the public sector, it 

was inevitable that 

we had some lively 

debates around the 

kitchen table.” 

the Opposition Treasury team, as Shadow City 

Minister/Financial Secretary to the Treasury (in 

the period during which the Financial Conduct 

Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority 

were established), as Shadow Chief Secretary to 

the Treasury and as Shadow Chancellor of the 

Exchequer. 

Chris resigned from the Labour front bench 

following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as party 

leader. There were various attempts to salvage 

the Labour Party, as he saw it, including a 

successful vote of no-confidence in Corbyn by 

the majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party 

– a vote that the leader chose to ignore – but 

which shone a spotlight that all was not well: 

“I faced political hostility at a local level,” he 

admits, “but quite simply a Corbyn government 

was not a government that I felt should take over 

the country.” 

INDEPENDENT THINKING 

As a founding member of The Independent 

Group (later Change UK), Chris knew that leaving 

Labour would mean losing his Nottingham East 

seat in the 2019 General Election. Westminster’s 

loss, however, proved to be the credit industry’s 

gain, when he applied to become Chief Executive 

of the Credit Services Association. 

“I always wanted to work in the Financial 

Services space and having taken on shadow 

portfolio roles in the field following the global 

financial crisis, I understood a bit about the 

important ‘bridge’ that trade bodies provide 

between their industry and government,” he 

explains. 

“The industry – and the whole credit 

ecosystem – is not something that is always 

popular in political circles, but credit is critical. 

I’m convinced that most members of the public 

accept that, if you take on the responsibilities 

of a loan, then you have a duty to try and fulfil 

that responsibility. People need opportunity, 

and access to credit is an important part of 

helping them realise those opportunities. Of 

course, credit is used sometimes simply to help 

people get by from one day to the next, but it is 

wholly wrong to say that all credit is somehow 

exploitative.” 

This was a view, he says, that gained currency 

after the financial crash of 2008, when the banks 

and other lenders were vilified: “Yes it’s true 

that the sector needed to improve, but Financial 

Services represents 10 percent of our economy – 

the same size as manufacturing – and there are 

many good stories to be told.” 

As CEO of the CSA, Chris has spent the first 

few months in office meeting as many CSA 

members as time, COVID, and social distancing 

will allow, travelling the length and breadth of 

the country – literally and via Zoom – to listen 

to his members’ views, and determine future 

priorities and challenges. He has also met with 

other credit industry stakeholders, including 

the CICM, to discuss areas of mutual interest. 

“It’s clear that our members help people 

Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / November 2020 / PAGE 13 

continues on page 14 >

INTERVIEW 


“The collections industry did not really need 

a statute of legislation to tell it to provide 

breathing space, it was doing it already. It 

had long ago understood that providing 

forbearance was in everyone’s interests and 

led to better outcomes’’. 


INTERVIEW 


with often complex debt problems. 

I’ve listened in on calls and heard 

how often distressed customers are 

calmed by our members’ staff, and the 

sense of relief they feel as a result that 

someone actually cares. The humanity 

our members show to their customers 

is something we should be proud of. 

They do a great deal of unsung work in 

helping people, often before any of the 

advice sector charities are involved.” 

VULNERABILITY DEBATE 

Chris points to the recent debates over 

vulnerability, and how the private 

sector is acknowledged to be far 

ahead of its public sector colleagues in 

offering forbearance: “The collections 

industry did not really need a statute of 

legislation to tell it to provide breathing 

space, it was doing it already. It had 

long ago understood that providing 

forbearance was in everyone’s interests 

and led to better outcomes. The 

challenge within the public sector is 

that forbearance is not an option that 

is always open to them, and that is 

something that has to be seriously 

looked at.” 

Although it is still early days, Chris 

has immediately been impressed 

with the wealth of knowledge and 

talent within the headquarters team in 

Newcastle, and the breadth of services 

they provide to their members: “We 

have experts in policy, law, training, 

apprenticeships, regulation, and 

compliance and they have every right to 

trumpet their achievements,” he says. 

“That’s not to say we can be complacent, 

however, and to deliver value to our 

members we need to continually 

improve.” 

Chris says that while it is right that 

as an Association they react to events, 

he also believes it is vital that they 

continue to be proactive in educating 

and informing key stakeholders of what 

their members deliver: “We understand 

our sector the best and need to use that 

knowledge and the data we have to 

shape future policy, to tell politicians 

what’s coming next. 

“We know that there is currently 

a lull during the pandemic payment 

deferral period, but we also know that 

difficult times are ahead. There will 

be serious capacity issues, and when 

personal finances are being stretched, 

the industry will need to be increasingly 

sensitive in how it responds.” 

While Chris is clearly enjoying his 

new challenge, I wonder if he misses 

politics: “It’s nice to be out,” he laughs. 

He does, of course, keep in touch with 

some of his former colleagues, including 

his regular tennis partner, the former 

Speaker of the House John Bercow who, 

he says, is surprisingly good! If he was 

starting out again, Chris believes the 

best advice he could have given himself 

30 years ago would be to take the advice 

supposedly given to Bob Woodward’s 

informant during the Watergate scandal 

and ‘follow the money!’: “It’s important 

to understand how finance and our 

economy works – it shapes most 

everything else in society,” he says. 

Credit, Chris concludes, is a 

crucial utility in today’s economy and 

safeguarding a fair and well-functioning 

market is more important than ever in 

these challenging times: “The creditcollections 

‘eco-system’ in many ways 

represents the unsung plumbing of our 

economic system, because transactions 

between businesses and individuals 

– or between businesses themselves – 

depend on payments being honoured 

and completed in as timely and full 

manner as possible,” he says. 

“Credit keeps the economy and our 

country strong and is a very important 

piece in the economic jigsaw. We’re 

world-leading in what we do and should 

be proud.” 

“We know that there 

is currently a lull 

during the pandemic 

payment deferral 

period, but we also 

know that difficult 

times are ahead.’’ 


FROM THE CHAIR 

Saving Grace 

In times of crisis, credit management is 

often the saviour. 

AUTHOR – Debbie Nolan FCICM (Grad) 

Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) 

THROUGHOUT my career, I’ve 

spent time with colleagues 

and clients, meticulously 

planning and contracting for 

events that never happened – 

anyone else remember Y2K? 

For years, we’ve stress tested Business 

Continuity Plans, invested in Disaster 

Recovery – but nothing prepared us for 

COVID-19. Even when the news of a 

pandemic broke, and it got closer and closer 

to the UK, I never imagined that we would be 

on the countdown for Christmas before the 

end of the crisis would be in sight. 

My diary is usually full of meetings all 

over the country or at our Divisional HQ in 

Germany; my social calendar packed with 

gigs, meals, drinks, weekends away; in 

between frequent holidays abroad. 

GOING NOWHERE 

I’ve been nowhere since February, so how 

can the year have passed so fast? I thought 

that this was largely down to the fast pace 

at which we have all had to work; the huge 

amount of change we have needed to 

embrace; the adapting to the ‘all hands to the 

pump’ style of working; or simply days and 

days of back to back video calls. 

I did read that our minds are tricked 

into thinking that time has passed quickly 

because we have less milestones to measure 

time by. And I suspect that there is plenty 

of truth in that. But I also think that our 

milestones are just different now. And they 

haven’t been marked in our usual way. I 

know that in my business, we haven’t had 

time to properly celebrate things like how 

quickly and successfully we moved our 

entire HQ team to working from home; how 

well we’ve pulled together as a team – we’ve 

just promised ourselves a celebratory drink 

down the pub – when we can. 

I plan to change that now and create space 

and time to focus on the remainder of 2020, 

remind myself of all the milestones we have 

achieved and make those meticulous plans 

for 2021. 

FURLOUGH FALL-OUT 

We need to anticipate the fall out of Furlough. 

The failure of high numbers of businesses 

and potentially complete industries and 

the resulting redundancies. The flattening 

and lengthening of liquidation curves. 

Increasing vulnerabilities in a population 

that is experiencing this for the first time. 

Demand for support and advice services 

outweighing supply. 

We shall also need to embrace the 

opportunities; remote working might widen 

the pool of talent that we might not have been 

able to attract locally; increasing awareness 

and ability of customers to utilise self-service 

will create opportunities for technological 

improvements; the reducing amount of 

bureaucracy normally encountered when 

trying to make change. 

If you are reading this magazine, then you 

are already passionate about your career in 

credit management – we already know that 

our roles are critical to the smooth running 

and financial stability to any company. But 

far too often, credit management is still the 

poor relation in respect of attention and 

investment compared to a business’ front 

end operations. 

In times of crisis, this changes and focus on 

credit management is given in appropriate 

proportions. Now that we are formally 

declared to be in recession, all aspects of the 

credit management cycle will be the saviour 

of many an organisation. 

The team at CICM HQ have worked hard 

to provide members with forums, webinars, 

workshops, tutorials and examinations that 

are accessible from home. There is plenty of 

support, guidance and education available 

to members (and some for non-members 

too). 

My preparation for 2021 will include 

taking advantage of the informative content 

(I save the CICM website on the homepage 

on my mobile) and making sure that I don’t 

miss out on any of the webinars or handy 

tips (I follow CICM on LinkedIn and Twitter). 

I expect the rest of 2020 to pass by at the 

same speed (and I shan’t be sad to see the 

back of this year) but I am very excited and 

honoured to be part of the CICM Executive 

Team for another term and to be part of the 

planning for us all emerging from a moment 

in history. 

Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) is Vice 

President Collections – UK of Arvato 

Financial Solutions and Chair of the CICM. 


ADVISORY COUNCIL 

Vacant possession 

The final Regional Representatives are now in place. 


Atul Vadher FCICM(Grad) 

Nick King FCICM 

Matthew Roberts MCICM 

FOLLOWING the CICM 

Advisory Council 

Elections, three of the 

remaining Regional 

Representative roles 

have now been filled, 

following appointments made by 

the Executive Board. Atul Vadher 

FCICM(Grad) has been appointed 

Regional Representative for the East 

of England; Matthew Roberts MCICM 

is filling the West Midlands Regional 

Representative post; and Nick King 

FCICM has been appointed South West 

Regional Representative. 

Atul Vadher has worked in the credit 

industry for over 30 years, managing 

specialist EMEA B2B portfolios. His 

personal experience stems from the 

root of AR through to customer account 

management in a full order to cash 

process, he also has a passion for data 

reporting analytics. 

One of his passions is forensic 

analysis of a debtor’s ledger, which 

includes the ability to reconstruct a 

debtor’s transaction history when things 

go wrong, something he finds rather 

satisfying. He has worked within fashion 

retail, security and cleaning, printing 

and publishing, hospitality and currently 

within the energy industry. 

Atul is the current Chair of the East of 

England Branch, serving his second year, 

having previously been the vice chair and 

a committee member. 

“As a branch of the CICM in this growing 

virtual environment it is vital that we are 

here to support our members and those 

in search of knowledge,” he says. “Having 

held four successful virtual events 

since May and a further two more in 

the pipeline, for members it is 

paramount to reach out and connect as 

together we are stronger, in learning 

and/or in just being supportive. Since 

March, the branch LinkedIn page has 

doubled due to the hard work of the 

committee.” 

PROUD WINNER 

Matthew Roberts MCICM has been in 

the credit industry for more than 20 

years, working in the business services, 

property and utilities sectors. A proud 

winner of Credit Professional of the 

Year and Winner of Winners at the 2019 

CICM British Credit Awards, he is an 

extremely passionate individual who 

believes in continual development and 

has led on a number of successful CICMQ 

assessments, corporate membership and 

the education programme for collections 

teams within npower Business Solutions. 

“The West Midlands is such a large 

and diverse region with businesses 

adding so much to the UK economy,” he 

says. “I would love to meet with as many 

people as I can to understand where 

they need further support in the field of 

credit, in terms of assisting business and 

personally, in order that they continue 

striving in a much-needed profession. 

“I invite people to get in touch with 

me and to be actively involved with the 

CICM West Midlands Branch, harnessing 

the real potential of a very popular 

and engaging network for the credit 

community.” 

INTERNATIONAL EXPERTISE 

Nick King FCICM, the Director, Credit 

Management & Collections (Europe), 

for Agility Logistics is another veteran 

credit manager with more than three 

decades of experience. He has worked 

both internationally and domestically 

with some major companies such as Atlas 

Copco Compressors, NACCO Materials 

Handling and Brightpoint Europe. For a 

short time Nick sat on the other side of 

credit insurance using his knowledge and 

skills to support customers buying credit 

insurance and encouraging good credit 

management. 

Nick has spoken at a number of 

conferences with the view of always 

looking for opportunities to promote 

good credit management and recognising 

new talent within the industry. 

“I am delighted to be serving the South 

West Region and my aim is to provide 

different channels and opportunities to 

support the seasoned credit manager 

and the up and coming professional 

in both their daily work channels and 

professional development,” he says. 

“I will be reaching out to the South 

West membership to see what they need 

and what it will take to be more actively, 

even if only a small part, in the CICM 

South West events. There is nothing 

more powerful than people sharing their 

experiences and challenges.” 

Nick believes that networking is the best 

form of knowledge and support: “I would 

encourage the South West membership, 

new to the industry or seasonal 

professionals, to take the opportunity 

to meet their fellow professionals and 

members, or please reach out to me to 

tell me what you as a South West CICM 

member needs.” 


presents 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

www.ddisoftware.co.uk 

sales@ddisoftware.co.uk 


HIGH COURT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ASSOCIATION 

BUYING SIGNALS 

Why can’t HCEOs buy debt? 

AUTHOR – Andrew Wilson FCICM 

AUCTIONEERS buy in stock to 

sell on at auction, so why can’t 

HCEOs (or any Certificated 

Enforcement Agent) buy 

debt? There are two answers 

to this. The first is because of 

regulation preventing it. The second is also 

simple or rather more complicated, depending 

on which way you look at it. 

Dealing with the simple one first: regulation. 

Regulation 4(2)(f) of the High Court 

Enforcement Officers Regulations 2004 says: 

“The individual must not — (f) carry on or 

be involved in any business relating to or 

including the purchase or sale of debts”. And 

Question 6 of Form EAC1, required for applying 

for an Enforcement Agent’s Certificate says: “A 

certificate cannot be issued to any person who 

carries on the business of buying debts.” 

So that’s an easy one. The longer answer is 

still a comparatively simple one too. The fact 

of the matter is that no individual entrusted 

with the power to take control of goods by 

removal and sale should have a personal 

interest in the outcome. 

HCEOs have a duty to be impartial between 

creditor and debtor – they are not the mere 

agents of the creditor. On occasions, such as 

where a debtor is clearly vulnerable, an HCEO 

must be free to refuse enforcement against 

goods and suggest an alternative method of 

enforcing a judgment, of which, in practical 

terms, there are four. 

For example, a creditor chasing a debtor 

in the final stages of cancer should be told 

to seek a Charging Order against the debtor’s 

house, rather than insisting that the car the 

debtor needs to get to hospital is removed and 

sold. (A real case where I did indeed, refuse to 

enforce against goods). 

The question that we need to ask ourselves 

therefore, is: would the HCEO be even-handed 

if he had a personal interest in the outcome? 

Clearly, the law believes not. But is there ever 

an exception to the rule? The issue gets more 

complex when we look at the commercial 

reality of how an HCEO or bailiffs, past and 

present, acquire new business. 

The usual approach, when a customer 

seems fairly happy with the service provided 

by his existing HCEO, is to offer to rework 

cases which have been returned as No Goods 

at no cost to the customer. This involves paying 

the new Writ fee of £66.00 (a court fee and not 

a TCG (Fees) Regulations scale fee) which is 

only recovered if money is paid by the debtor 

as part of the £117.75 Execution Costs (£51.75 

fixed costs + £66.00). 

This means that, with unsuccessful cases, 

there is a loss of £156.00 per case (£66.00 + 

the waived Compliance Fee of £90.00). Again, 

we must ask ourselves – could this be seen as 

buying debt? Perhaps not, or not yet, at least. 

But what happens when this is taken further? 

Some will offer to underwrite their potential 

customer by not only paying Writ fees 

and waiving Compliance Fees, but by also 

guaranteeing a percentage of the face value of 

the old debt – whether recovered or not. 

Now could this be seen as buying debt? It 

is certainly getting close. The HCEO now has 

an interest in recovery, both to avoid making 

a loss, and to secure a new customer. So, what 

can be done to avoid this becoming the norm? 

We have a continuing discussion in the 

Association about professionalism and 

competition. Our current conclusion is, quite 

simply, that we compete on service and not 

price. Our articles reflect that: we have a 

Fee Scale and we stick to it; we work not just 

within the letter of the TCG Regulations, but 

within the spirit of those Regulations. 

If professionalism means anything in the 

world of civil enforcement (the Court of 

Appeal has recently decided that HCEOs and 

Enforcement Agents are definitely Officers 

of the Court and must behave accordingly), it 

must mean that we do not try to bend the rules 

on fees and buying debt. 

That is what we, as HCEOs, and through our 

Association, have agreed. 

Andrew Wilson FCICM is Chairman of the 

High Court Enforcement Officers Association 

(HCEOA). 

HCEOs have a duty to be impartial between creditor and debtor – 

they are not the mere agents of the creditor. On occasions, such as 

where a debtor is clearly vulnerable, an HCEO must be free to refuse 

enforcement against goods and suggest an alternative method of 

enforcing a judgment. 


SECTOR FOCUS 

The show must go on 

What is scripted for the UK’s media industry 

following COVID-19? 

AUTHOR – Tim Vine 

THE camera lens has closed on 

many popular TV shows this 

year, due to social distancing. 

Filming in the media industry 

took a significant hit throughout 

the pandemic, especially for 

series that rely on live audiences, or regular 

installments. 

As a result, TV guides have become sparse 

and most evenings are a choice between a rerun 

of Poirot or a repeat of Midsomer Murders. 

If you’re lucky, you may find a film you’ve not yet 

seen. Of course, there may be a wider range on 

streaming services, but many of these platforms 

have also turned to reviving older series in order 

to have ‘new’ content available. 

However, as restrictions continue, the industry 

is adapting to work in new environments. 

For example, soaps like Coronation Street are 

getting around a ban on kissing by filming closeups 

of actors kissing their real-life partners. 

Meanwhile, other creators have made the most 

of video conferencing by creating an entire 

horror film, called ‘Host’, over Zoom. 

Yet, navigating significantly different film 

set protocol is still an ongoing issue that many 

are trying to overcome. Filming for The Batman 

film had to be quickly halted after Robert 

Pattinson tested positive for COVID-19. With 

unpredictability the new norm, we looked at our 

data to see how is the media industry faring in 

this new environment. 

THE MEDIA INDUSTRY’S MAKE UP 

Currently, 46.3 percent of U.K. media companies 

in the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud are based in 

London, which has been a hotspot for COVID-19. 

Although some companies have moved out of 

the capital, they haven’t been able to escape 

the impact of the pandemic. For instance, the 

BBC and ITV both have operations in MediaCity, 

Salford, which is currently facing even tougher 

COVID-19 restrictions than London. 

The challenge of national and local 

lockdowns, and the end of furlough schemes 

could accelerate the dwindling number of 

businesses in the broadcasting industry. There 

are 74,000 businesses operating in this space – a 

drop of 11,000 since 2017 according to our data. 

Of the 74,000, 88.8 percent of broadcast 

businesses are categorised as ‘micro’ (10 or 

less employees), which positively could mean 

they are more agile in reacting to unforeseen 

challenges brought about by the pandemic, 

but equally they could be more exposed to the 

financial disruption wreaking havoc across the 

media industry and many others. 

Broadcast Business Size August 2020 

100.0% 

80.0% 

60.0% 

40.0% 

20.0% 

0.0% 

88.8% 

Micro Small Medium Large GOV Unclassified 

Tim Vine 

Dun & Bradstreet 

3.8% 

The Ofcom stats 

show broadcast 

TV viewing fell at 

the end of June, 

when lockdown 

measures 

began to ease 

and the sector 

remains fiercely 

competitive due to 

the huge amount 

of choice. 

1.6% 

2.8% 

0.0% 

3.1% 

CHANGING BEHAVIOUR 

Consumer behaviour also shifted as the 

restrictions took hold, according to statistics 

released by Ofcom. With people limited 

on leisure options and forced to stay at home, 

viewing figures went up. In April 2020 alone, the 

average number of people watching audiovisual 

content increased to around six hours and 25 

minutes daily, surpassing that of any April 

figure in the previous five years. 

The majority of time (three hours and 46 

minutes, to be precise) was spent watching 

broadcast television – the likes of BBC and ITV 

– likely due to increased focus on the news 

and COVID-19 updates. Although, subscription 

video-on-demand services (SVoD) saw the 

biggest growth. Viewership on platforms such 

as Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix 

increased by 37 minutes to an hour and 11 

minutes per day. 

What does this all mean? Ultimately, it 

shows us demand for the media industry is 

there, generating increased pressure for media 

companies to deliver despite restrictions. In 

turn, this has ignited a bidding war among 

streaming services and British broadcast 

channels, as they looked to satisfy audiences 

with new content while a shortage of shows 

persists. 

The Ofcom stats show broadcast TV viewing 

fell at the end of June, when lockdown measures 

began to ease and the sector remains fiercely 

competitive due to the huge amount of choice. 

(SVoD) viewing and non-broadcaster content, 

on the other hand, has largely retained its 

lockdown popularity. 


SECTOR FOCUS 

AUTHOR – Tim Vine 

60.0% 

Prompt Payment by Media Industry 

50.0% 

40.0% 

30.0% 

20.0% 

10.0% 

.0% 

Aug 17 

Aug 18 Aug 19 Aug 20 

Motion picture, video 

and television programme 

Radio broadcasting 

Sound recording and 

music publishing 

Television programming and broadcasting 

Programming and 

broadcasting 

UK 

KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON 

Despite an overall increase in viewers 

during the pandemic, crisis strategies 

from production and broadcast 

businesses have prevented this demand 

from translating into revenue. 

To survive, budgets have remained 

skeletal. For example, ITV cut production 

budgets by £100 million, Channel 4 is 

expecting to cut around £150 million, 

while Channel 5 announced a 10 percent 

cut to its programming spend. 

This has had implications for media 

advertising, as marketing is one of the 

main areas that budgets have been 

withdrawn from. 

Our latest trade payment data reveals 

the number of bills paid on time by media 

businesses has decreased by 9.3 percent 

from August 2019 to August 2020. It is one 

of the lowest performing sectors with only 

29.6 percent of media companies paying 

their bills on time according to the latest 

data for August, compared to a national 

average of 40.2 percent. 

CAN THE SHOW GO ON? 

It’s fair to say 2020 has been a challenging 

time. There isn’t an immediate solution for 

media businesses that depend on face-toface 

and close-contact filming. However, 

the industry is expected to transition back 

to its former state over the next five years, 

according to a recent report from PwC. 

For those struggling in the current 

environment, the coming months could 

be ‘make or break’ time. The end of the 

Government furlough scheme and loans 

will only add to the pressure to keep 

businesses afloat. This places a huge 

emphasis on managing cashflow and risk 

and identifying growth opportunities to 

help the UK media industry survive and 

thrive in the future. 

It’s often about the numbers in the 

media industry be it viewing figures or 

downloads. Data and analytics will also 

be key to support businesses navigate 

through the coming months and drive 

recovery. Data can help to outline potential 

disruptions to plan ahead, mitigate the 

impact of COVID-19 and identify new 

opportunities. 

Perhaps, these are the measures that 

will keep the cameras rolling. 

Tim Vine is Head of Credit Intelligence 

at Dun & Bradstreet. 

There isn’t an immediate solution for media businesses 

that depend on face-to-face and close-contact filming. 

However, the industry is expected to transition back to 

its former state over the next five years, according to a 

recent report from PwC. 


VIEW FROM THE SEA FRONT 

BRACE. BRACE. 

A long winter awaits in the wake of COVID-19. 

AUTHOR – David Andrews 

GEORGE Krazov looks down in the 

dumps. With good reason. His 

little, retro Bohemian bar in the 

heart of Brighton’s North Laine 

community had been getting 

back on its feet over the summer 

months. The joint was jumping, the beer – all 

locally brewed – was swashing around like there 

was no tomorrow. 

Things were looking up. But this is now. The 

UK in November 2020. And no-one knows what 

tomorrow will bring. 

George, however, knows one thing for sure. 

The recent clampdown on opening hours could 

scupper him. Perhaps for good this time: ‘Oh 

man, it was going so well,’ he says, voice lowering 

to a dejected whisper. ‘We brew on the premises 

here, have a great product and a really loyal crew 

stopping by. We were like, busy busy, man. Now…. 

now this….’. George trails off. 

He is a nice-looking man. Kind face, father to 

two lovely kids. He wants – like millions of others 

in our divided kingdom – to do his absolute best for 

them. Now George has his back to the wall. Deeply 

etched frown lines criss-cross his countenance, 

like railway tracks disappearing down a longforgotten 

siding. George is silent. 

There is nothing else to add. Not, that is, if you 

are self-employed in plague-hit Britain in late 2020. 

SAFETY NETS 

Safety nets have been put into place for those in 

‘viable’ jobs. A percentage of salary, part made 

up by employer, part by the Government. A lot of 

number crunching involved. Roger, my accountant 

of 25 years plus, tells me his head hurts every time 

he tries to get his head around the shift in strategy 

to keep our flailing economy afloat. And Roger is a 

numbers guy. 

What is a viable job? George thought he had a 

viable job, making nice beer for an appreciative 

local community. But when the punters stop 

coming in, he will no longer be ‘viable.’ Those in 

so called viable employment will hopefully utilise 

their viability and continue to spend money, to 

spread the love. Assuming we do not all get totally 

locked down again. 

That is the problem with a constantly mutating 

virus. It has all kinds of dirty tricks up its sleeve. 

Just when you think it is fine to book that flight, 

chance a week soaking up the rays somewhere 

nice, back it comes with a vengeance. Next thing 

you know, your trip is cancelled. You’re grounded. 

Maybe no longer even viable. 

We have been here before with pandemics of 

course. And history tells that society recovers, 

staggers, perhaps, but recovers. And eventually the 

pandemic fades into memory, like so much before 

it. The ‘flu emergency in 1918 ironically carried 

off tens of thousands of young soldiers who had 

That is the problem with a constantly mutating 

virus. It has all kinds of dirty tricks up its sleeve. 

Just when you think it is fine to book that flight, 

chance a week soaking up the rays somewhere 

nice, back it comes with a vengeance. 


VIEW FROM THE SEA FRONT 

AUTHOR – David Andrews 

We have been here before with pandemics of course. And history tells that society 

recovers, staggers, perhaps, but recovers. And eventually the pandemic fades into 

memory, like so much before it. 

fought so bravely on those Flanders 

fields, only to be struck down, not by a 

sniper’s bullet, but by an unseen, also 

deadly, attacker. Wind the clock back 

even further, to London in 1665, and we 

have a hell of a plague surging through 

the ranks. Historians of the era calculate 

that up to 750,000 lost their lives in that 

epidemic – a considerable chunk of the 

UK’s population back in those far off 

days. 

Naturally, people’s lives and 

businesses suffered terribly because so 

many had little choice but to remain 

in their homes and hope they did not 

contract the bug. Sound familiar? Many 

businesses went to the wall and let us 

not forget there was not the safety net of 

an NHS – or a Dishy Rishi come to that 

– to help. 

ASTUTE CHRONICLER 

Samuel Pepys, the cantankerous diarist, 

and astoundingly astute chronicler of 

daily life, wrote in his diary that ‘the 

plague (is) making us cruel as dogs to 

one another.’ So not 

much by way of a 

charitable overture 

to one’s fellow man 

and woman. 

Recovery 450 

years ago was, however, 

swift. Economic 

growth rebounded 

rapidly, and even 

Can we ‘trust’ 

science to sort out 

the greatest threat 

to world prosperity 

since the ending of 

the Second World 

War? 

though medicine 

was primitive at best 

and nonexistent at 

worse, people found their way through. 

I suspect that we, too, will find our 

way through. Whoever is first past the 

finishing post to find the thus far elusive 

COVID-19 vaccine will be spurred on by 

the additional incentive of an almost 

guaranteed Nobel Prize for Science, 

along with the riches of Croesus for the 

company that can bag the patent. 

Curiously, I recall a conversation 

with an acquaintance from my tennis 

club a few years back, someone I found 

to be rather objectionable on many 

levels. The person in question was 

just finishing her PhD in an area of 

molecular biology. She was destined for 

higher things in life. Humour did not 

feature in her journey on any level that 

I at least could ascertain. Science, she 

asserted, has all the answers. ‘Science 

will always triumph over all else. 

Science is truth and is deterministic. 

You name it, science has always 

triumphed. It is the base root from 

which all medicine grows. We can trust 

science.’ Or sentiment to that effect. 

But can we ‘trust’ science to sort out the 

greatest threat to world prosperity since 

the ending of the Second World War? 

FEEBLE BULLETINS 

As we have seen from various feeble 

bulletins from Messrs. Putin and 

Trump, science is not impervious to 

fake news. It is ripe for manipulation 

and distortion and has proved to be a 

handy tool in scaremongering across 

so many platforms. Right now, few of 

us can have a real grasp of truth. And 

truth, as we know, has meaning. 

So as all the newsrooms in all the 

world – to misquote a few lines from a 

famous old movie – prepare once again 

for their daily bulletins, let us assume 

the brace position. 

Those innumerable paid-for 24 hour 

television platforms, you know the ones, 

the type which infect 

the everyday lives of 

300 million Americans 

for example, the ones 

which have to generate 

millions of dollars in 

subscriber income to 

satiate their insatiable 

media baron owners, 

then we know we 

in turn must ready 

ourselves for a long 

winter of front line 

grim ‘news’ reporting. 

The trick, if there is a trick, will be 

to disseminate the ‘real’ news from the 

phoney. 

If indeed there is such a thing as ‘real’ 

news? Readers with long memories will 

recall the exigencies of the Nixon era, 

when the search for truth by genuinely 

heroic news hounds was brushed under 

the carpet. We are seeing a re-run of 

that troubled era 50 years on, when the 

actuality is too often elbowed out of the 

equation. 

In its place we have the avarice and 

self-interest which lies at the dark heart 

of human nature. 

David Andrews is a freelance writer and 

former Personal Finance Editor of the 

Sunday Express. 


NEW 

FEATURE 

PANEL BASHERS 

Fair’s fair 

We ask a panel of credit management experts to 

answer some of our reader’s biggest questions. 

What is the best 

measure to use for 

incentivising 

B2B collections 

staff, and how do 

you ensure it is 

rigorous but fair 

and balanced? 

Panellist 

Nigel Fields FCICM 

ALL managers will agree that 

motivated employees are 

crucial for organisational 

success, regardless of 

company size or industry. 

So, how’s best to motivate 

individuals and teams? 

It’s certainly more complex than simply 

offering the employees performance-based 

incentive like bonuses or shares etc. These 

benefits are important but are simply seen 

as part of the overall employee benefits 

package. 

Thinking back to my days at Twentieth 

Century Fox, when we transitioned to 

Shared Service Centres (SSCS), where AR 

teams were based in off-shore regional 

hubs, I soon noticed that these teams were 

often invisible to the wider business groups 

and, regrettably, only being recognised for 

the one percent of things that went wrong 

rather than 99 percent of work successfully 

completed. 

Offshore teams are often not informed 

about products or how the business 

is performing. Knowledge is the most 

important ingredient for motivating teams; 

keeping everyone aware of your brand, 

products, customers, and business strategy 

are critical to developing employees 

and ensuring interest. It allows teams 

to develop, grow and improve. It makes 

life easier for everyone across the entire 

organisation. I spent a great deal of time 

ensuring our SSCs had access to movies, 

trailers and products. I encouraged people 

to speak up about ideas, issues, difficulties 

etc. This is perhaps a more holistic benefit 

to the business, but the attrition of your 

valuable trained employees can be an 

expensive factor. 

So, what else can you do to keep things 

interesting and get ongoing improvements 

without breaking the bank? Here are some 

of my top tips: 

‣ What does success look like? Find a few 

activities to incentivise, keep it simple, 

maybe the volume of invoices produced, 

DSO, Percentage Overdue, Cash Collected, 

etc. Whatever you decide upon, make sure 

it’s consistent and accurate. I previously 

used a monthly scorecard report, it was 

extremely easy and consistent and required 

no additional effort or investment. 

‣ Honour the best! Shout out publicly who 

the best performing teams and individuals 

are, explaining what achievements and 

contributions they made. 

‣ Celebrate! Maybe set aside an hour every 

six months or so for your own AR/Credit 

celebration ceremony. I used to transmit 

an event across various international 

offices using ZOOM. This also helped 

to build internal relationships and 

ensured recognition of the hard work and 

achievements performed by SSCs teams 

and individuals. 

‣ Say thank you. Let employees know when 

they have done great work and share it with 

other key people in the organisation. I used 

a simple on-line voting form that allowed 

team members to vote for their colleagues 

and give a dedication that was printed onto 

certificates at our bi-annual ‘AR Oscars’ 

event, (be aware, this sometimes did also 

led to happy tears too). 

‣ Roll out the red carpet. Give winners a 

special gift or perk, maybe teams can have 

a night out, go to the movies, go bowling or 

to the theatre. Maybe allow for individual 

winners to have a special dinner with their 

family or friends or a voucher to treat 

themselves. 

Incentives are a balance between 

making daily work life more bearable and 

having high moments that employees can 

look forward to. 

NIGEL FIELDS 

A career in credit management spanning more than 30 years, Nigel is now a 

senior consultant with a new start-up company TheBossCat.com which provides 

knowledge, skills and various services to a wide range of businesses. Nigel spent 

20 years working for Twentieth Century Fox International Film Corp. starting out 

in its UK business as Credit Manager and rising to Executive Director for Credit, 

responsible for Order to Cash (O2C) across Fox’s entire international business 

portfolio. Prior to Fox, he worked as the Credit Manager at Hornby Hobbies and 

a Credit Controller for GEC. Nigel says: “I attribute much of my career success to 

the CICM community where I am always able to draw upon knowledge and skills 

from the extensive array of members and partners.” 


PANEL BASHERS 

Incentives are a balance between 

making daily work life more bearable 

and having high moments that 

employees can look forward to. 

Once you have the target, you need 

to make it visible. It doesn’t matter 

whether you have a large TV monitor, a 

whiteboard or flipchart paper, you want 

your team, and the rest of the business, 

to be able to see the progress. 

Panellist 

Mark Greatorex 

MCICM(Grad) 

MARK GREATOREX 

Mark Greatorex a graduate member of the CICM and has 

worked in B2B credit environments for over 20 years. 

Approximately 12 of those years were in management roles 

for L’Oréal, Lafarge (Later becoming Tarmac) and ATS 

Euromaster (Part of the Michelin group). His experience 

includes all aspects of the order to cash process and also 

expanded into accounts payable when he took responsibility 

for the function as part of a wider transactional finance 

role. Since 2019 he has been running his own consultancy 

concentrating on process and performance improvement 

within order to cash and procure to pay. 

If you’d like to join our panel of experts, or 

if you have a question to ask, contact the 

editor at sfeast@gravityglobal.com 

CREDIT controllers love the thrill of the chase. 

Seeing payments roll in, difficult debts being 

cleared or changing a customer’s payment 

behaviour can bring a real buzz. Over the years, 

seeing the satisfaction of my team achieving targets 

became as rewarding as actually hitting the targets. 

The day-to-day thrill for credit controllers can’t be measured on 

a spreadsheet, isn’t displayed in the balance sheet and probably 

goes unnoticed by most of the company. 

The contradiction here is that many finance departments stick 

to traditional measures for their collection team such as DSO or 

percentage overdue. Don’t get me wrong, these measures have 

their place, however, they are a static snapshot at period end. 

The collection team may even be several days into a new month 

before they know the results. The trick is to take those indicators 

and convert them into something tangible that can be seen by the 

collections team every day. 

So, what is the solution? I always found that the most visible 

way to measure a team’s performance on a daily basis was to set 

a cash target. Not only are you able to quickly track and update 

progress but combining this with ‘payment promises’ helps your 

team to understand if they are going to achieve the target. 

Sounds straight forward doesn’t it? However, there is a danger 

with this simplistic approach. Cash arriving from relatively new 

invoicing will eventually result in an aged debt issue. Cashflow 

may be good in the short term and the FD might be happy with 

the bank balance, but you are building a problem for the future. 

This is where you will need to dedicate time creating the correct 

target. You need your team to understand the target and more 

importantly believe it’s achievable. My solution for this was to 

create a target using three steps: 

Step 1. Convert the business objective (DSO, overdue etc) into a 

cash target. 

Step 2. Split the cash target across aging buckets. This ensures 

that the collection team places the right amount of focus on aged 

items. 

Step 3. Most importantly, discuss these targets with the team. 

Credit controllers understand their ledger better than anyone and 

know the potential blockers to achieving the results. Give them 

the opportunity to highlight these. That doesn’t necessarily mean 

you change the targets. Instead it’s an opportunity to support your 

team and help them to deliver. Be realistic though - if you don’t 

believe an issue can be overcome before month end, don’t punish 

your team with unrealistic goals. Be prepared to remove those 

values from the target. 

Once you have the target, you need to make it visible. It doesn’t 

matter whether you have a large TV monitor, a whiteboard or 

flipchart paper, you want your team, and the rest of the business, 

to be able to see the progress. 

Now, let your collection team start the chase, update them 

regularly and enjoy the buzz it creates. Who knows, with a target 

as easily understood as cash, your team’s excitement might just 

spread across the company! 


LEGAL MATTERS 

SPREAD 

BETTING 

If a spreadsheet contains an error, who’s liable? 

AUTHOR – Peter Walker 

YOU can make two and two to 

equal five in a spreadsheet, an 

error of one, and a recent case 

reminds all of us to be careful. 

In Lehman Bros Australia v 

MacNamara (2020) 3 WLR 

147, another Lehman Bros case, the error was 

£1.67m, so any credit manager relying on such a 

spreadsheet would be very worried. 

In that case the judges of the Court of 

Appeal could leave their calculators in their 

pockets because everyone by then had agreed 

the calculations. The effect of the law on the 

figures was more significant than the figures 

themselves. 

The calculations were an ingredient in the 

administration of Lehman Bros International 

(Europe) Limited, which owed money to Lehman 

Bros Australia Limited. A court in December 

2009 ordered the administrators of the Europe 

company to give notice of a distribution to 

its unsecured creditors, and to make that 

distribution. This would be governed by Part 1, 

Chapter 10, of the Insolvency Rules 1986. 

As part of the procedure the administrators 

reported that it would take many years to 

conclude the process. To speed things up 

the administrators used an optional procedure 

offered to settle creditors’ claims by using 

the Europe company’s ‘in-house valuation 

methodology’. The administrators ‘developed’ a 

Claims Determination Deed (CDD), and many 

creditors signed up. 

INDEPENDENT DECISION 

The Deed confirmed that each creditor had 

made its own independent decision to accept 

its provisions, and the Australia company’s 

liquidators put in a claim for just over £23m. The 

administrators paid up. That should have settled 

the matter, but the claims were later reconciled. 

There was a spreadsheet attached to an 

email, which valued a bond in euros instead of 

Australian dollars. Once it was discovered that 

the result was an undervalue of £1.67m, the 

Australia company’s liquidators requested the 

Europe company’s administrators to pay this 

extra amount. 

Everyone agreed that the spreadsheet was 

incorrect, but the administrators refused 

because clause 4.1 in the CDD capped the 

liquidators’ claim to the agreed sum, i.e. the 

lower amount. The administrators therefore 

applied to a court for a remedy. The judges of 

To speed 

things up the 

administrators 

using an optional 

procedure offered 

to settle creditors’ 

claims by using 

the Europe 

company’s ‘inhouse 

valuation 

methodology’. 

‘I think that the 

principle that 

money paid 

under a mistake 

of law cannot be 

recovered must 

not be pressed too 

far, and there are 

several cases in 

which the Court of 

Chancery has held 

itself not bound 

strictly by it.’ 

the Court of Appeal eventually had to decide if 

they should succeed in their claim. 

They turned for guidance to an older case 

because there is nothing new under the sun. The 

judges of the then Court of Appeal in Chancery 

in the case In re Condon. Ex parte James (1874) 

9 Ch App 609 considered the difficulties of 

Mr Condon, a debtor of Mr H Bradshaw. Mr 

Bradshaw obtained a judgment for the debt and 

costs amounting to £274 3s 5d or two hundred 

and seventy-four pounds three shillings and 

fivepence. The sheriff took possession of goods 

from Mr Condon at Millwall. A few days later Mr 

Condon filed for bankruptcy, which was served 

on the sheriff. On the same day, the sheriff sold 

the goods for just over £142 (£142 15s 6d or one 

hundred and forty-two pounds fifteen shillings 

and sixpence). 

Nothing much else happened with the 

bankruptcy petition, so the sheriff handed the 

money over to Mr Condon. Another creditor 

filed for bankruptcy, and this resulted in a 

declaration of bankruptcy against Mr Condon. 

Mr James was appointed trustee of Mr Condon’s 

estate. He threatened Mr Bradshaw with 

proceedings if he did not hand over the money. 

Mr Condon complied, but later sued the Trustee 

for the return of the money. 

The legislation of the day, the Bankruptcy 

Act 1869, did not apply, because the trustee in 

bankruptcy had not been appointed at the time 

the sheriff gave the £142 15s 6d to Mr Condon. Sir 

W M James, LJ, considered effects of a payment 

made under an error of law rather than of fact, 

because a court in those days generally would 

not order restitution to the payer. James LJ said: 

‘I think that the principle that money paid under 

a mistake of law cannot be recovered must not 

be pressed too far, and there are several cases in 

which the Court of Chancery has held itself not 

bound strictly by it.’ He furthermore ruled that 

the trustee in bankruptcy was an officer of the 

court. ‘He has inquisitorial powers given to him 

by the Court, and the Court regards him as its 

officer, and he is to hold money in his hands for 

its equitable distribution among the creditors. 

The Court, then, finding that he has in his hands 

money which in equity belongs to someone else, 

ought to set an example to the world by paying it 

to the person really entitled to it. In my opinion 

the Court of Bankruptcy ought to be as honest 

as other people.’ 

Mellish LJ agreed and confirmed that as 

soon as the first filing for bankruptcy could 


LEGAL MATTERS 


not continue, and that the sheriff had no notice 

of any other petition, he ‘was justified in paying 

over the money to the execution creditor, and 

that it cannot be recovered from him.’ The trustee 

therefore had to return the £142 15s 6d to Mr 

Condon. 

SIGNIFICANT REASONING 

The reasoning behind that decision was 

significant to David Richards LJ in the Lehman 

Bros Australia case. He noted that other cases 

relying on the principle of the Ex parte James 

decision introduced the concept of fairness. In 

the case In re Clark (a bankrupt) (1972) 1 WLR 

959 Walton J said, for example, that it would be 

unfair if a trustee took advantage of his legal 

rights, The court would not allow it, and would 

order the trustee to return any money he may 

have collected. 

There have, however, been changes in the 

law since then, and the judges in Lehman 

Bros Australia case considered paragraph 74 

in Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act 1986. 

The Schedule itself concerns Administration, 

while paragraph 74 is headed ‘Challenge to 

Administrator’s conduct of company’. A creditor 

or member of a company in administration may 

apply to the court claiming, for example, that the 

continues on page 28 > 


LEGAL MATTERS 


administrator has ‘acted unfairly,’ or proposes so to 

act, to harm the interests of the applicant. The claim 

may allege too that the administrator is not performing 

his duties quickly or efficiently ‘as is reasonably 

practicably’. 

In the Lehman Bros Australia case David Richards LJ 

had already commented that although ‘unfair’ without 

definition was used in various statutes, it did not make 

such terms ‘unruly horses’. He said that it was up to the 

courts to define their meaning and, I add, perhaps to 

tame them. 

The judges of the Court of Appeal had to do some 

defining in the context of paragraph 74 in Fraser Turner 

Ltd v PricewaterhouseCoopers llp (2019) EWCA Civ 

1290. The Claimant provided consultancy services to a 

UK company and to its wholly owned Sierra Leonean 

subsidiary. The subsidiary was a leaseholder of the 

Marampa iron ore mine, and because of a facilitation 

agreement, the subsidiary would pay royalties to the 

claimant in accordance with a royalty deed. 

Administrators of the UK company, Pricewaterhouse 

Coopers (PwC) were appointed, and they knew about 

the royalty deed. The mine was sold to a mining 

company, which had no notice of the deed. Receivers 

from PwC in Ghana were later appointed as receivers 

of the subsidiary. 

The judges of the Court of Appeal confirmed that the 

duties of the administrators included the achievement 

of the best price for all the creditors, and not to prefer 

the interests of just one of them. They could not risk 

the value of the deal by requiring the purchaser to pay 

a royalty. Although paragraph 74 allowed the creditor to 

apply to the court, there was no unfairness to suggest 

that the administrators were not complying with the 

Insolvency Act 1986. 

A good decision! but judges are 

not always on hand to correct your 

spreadsheet, so it is important to 

recognise its limitations. In my 30-yearold 

book ‘Finance for your business’ I 

advised that financial analysts use their 

calculators to check business plans in 

spreadsheets. 

CONCLUSION 

In Lehman Bros Australia the Claims Determination 

Deed was not a bar to a remedy under Paragraph 74. 

It depended on the facts, and the test of unfairness 

was an objective one. The terms of that Paragraph 

meant that a creditor who had suffered harm by the 

actions of an administrator, that creditor has a remedy. 

If the correct amount had been entered in the Deed, 

the creditor would have received the correct amount, 

and no question about unjust enrichment would have 

arisen. As David Richards LJ concluded that in his 

judgment ‘…no right-thinking person would think it 

fair…’ that the administrators would insist on their 

strict contractual rights as set out in the Deed ‘…and 

refuse to correct a shared mistake.’ 

A good decision! but judges are not always on hand to 

correct your spreadsheet, so it is important to recognise 

its limitations. In my 30-year old book ‘Finance for your 

business’ I advised that financial analysts use their 

calculators to check business plans in spreadsheets. 

When I received one such plan, I took my own advice, 

particularly because my directors did not understand 

the figures. I discovered that the anticipated first year’s 

profit was overstated by around £2m, i.e. all the profit 

disappeared. I did not have the original spreadsheet, so 

I never found the reason for the error, but that business 

plan did not go ahead. Beware of the spreadsheet! 

Peter Walker is a freelance journalist. 


Oneplatform 

forall your AML 

compliance needs 

A“one-stop-shop” which makes compliance easy 

UK AND INTERNATIONAL INDIVIDUAL 

AND BUSINESS CHECKS 

EASY-TO-UNDERSTAND REPORTS 

PERSONALISED ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT 

Call us nowtobookafreedemo on: 

+44 (0)113 333 9835 

Or visit us online: 

smartsearch.com 

SmartSearch delivers verificationservices forindividuals andbusinessesinthe 

UK andinternational markets. Theseservices include worldwide Sanction &PEP 

screening, dailymonitoring, emailalertsand AutomatedEnhancedDue Diligence. 


INTERNATIONAL 

TRADE 

Monthly round-up of the latest stories 

in global trade by Andrea Kirkby. 

POST-PANDEMIC PRODUCTION RELOCATION 

ACCORDING to a report from credit insurer 

Coface, Coronavirus has ‘triggered a 

discussion on increasing supply chain 

resilience to foreign supply shocks.’ The 

report notes that before Coronavirus 

came to Europe, a number of factories 

had already temporarily suspended 

manufacturing in China, putting the supply 

of intermediary goods at risk; supply chain 

managers had to think about diversifying 

their sources. 

While it’s not expected that China 

will lose its position of being a global 

supplier, the pandemic could bring more 

opportunities for Central and Eastern 

European (CEE) countries to gain a larger 

share of global supply chains, a process 

that started in 2004 when some gained 

membership of the European Union. 

With an educated workforce, 

geographical proximity to Western 

Europe, low labour costs, relatively good 

infrastructure and a stable business 

climate, it’s easy to see why CEE countries 

are gaining traction, especially on 

assembly line-based products. 

Exporters should more closely examine 

the region for it could be well positioned 

to grow further in automotive, machinery, 

chemicals, as well as transport and storage. 

As the report highlights, if CEE countries 

continue investing in digital technologies, 

the Baltics and the most developed CEE 

countries, including the Czech Republic, 

Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, 

could become IT hubs. 

CAN YOU EXPLOIT 

MARKET PRICING? 

IT’S impossible to have missed the rising level 

of domination of retail sales by Amazon. But 

while many in the UK buy from Amazon UK, it’s 

entirely clear from hagglezon.com, an online 

aggregator of goods across all of the Amazon’s 

European operations, that pricing across the 

continent is not uniform – and it’s not even close 

considering currency fluctuations. 

Take, for example, Jabra Elite Active 65t 

Earbuds. Hagglezon shows them (with currency 

conversion) as £103.89 in the UK, £127.36 in 

Italy and £136.46 in France. On the other hand, 

look at the Samsung Galaxy S20+. It’s £699.39 in 

Germany but £962.00 in the UK. 

The point is this. If you’re an online retailer, 

either see if you can beat European rivals at 

their own game and offer prices that entice 

local buyers to purchase from you, assuming 

of course that you can both engender trust and 

can ship economically. Alternatively, if you’re 

a manufacturer, don’t do what some European 

fashion brands that trade in the UK do, that is, 

have universal price tags (in euros and pounds 

to the same value). Instead, price according the 

market. 

As Amazon has shown, Europe may use euros, 

but prices can fluctuate wildly. There may be a 

single market in Europe, but there is no single 

market in terms of prices and if the differential 

is large enough, even with shipping, buyers will 

look overseas. 

OH DEAR – BREXIT’S BACK IN THE NEWS AGAIN 

WITH the Government pushing legislation 

which seeks to alter the withdrawal 

agreement, some – Moneyweek included 

– are thinking that a no-deal end to our 

European adventure might actually be 

quite a good thing. The gulf between the 

two sides is seemingly unassailable and 

neither side wants to compromise on its 

principles. 

As to the reasoning, on the one hand, 

tariffs that will be placed on Anglo- 

European trade are viewed by Moneyweek 

as being minor and will be partially wiped 

out by currency movements. On the other, 

the publication argues that UK businesses 

will be free to grow and do what they like 

without European influence. 

Moneyweek thinks that there might 

be other benefits too: Competition 

between the UK and the EU is good 

since it might actually lead to lower EU 

and national taxes and regulation all 

round; also, it might keep the European 

Commission in check in terms of any more 

centralising power that it wants to grab, 

sparking greater innovation and reform. 

But another no-deal argument forwarded 

by Moneyweek is that everyone 

benefits if the UK thrives since the UK is 

one of the largest markets for Europe, and 

vice versa. Trade should increase 

and some UK exporters might open 

offices in European locations with jobs that 

follow. 

All will become clear in the next month 

or so. Either way, prepare for a no-deal. 


Don’t forget about export finance 

IT’S one thing to run a business badly 

and lose out, but it’s quite another to have 

contracts affected by a supervening event 

such as Coronavirus. But that’s what 

happened to Coriolis Technologies, a UK 

tech start-up based in London, which was 

Watch your debt, know your customer 

ATRADIUS, which describes itself as 

a worldwide specialist in trade credit 

insurance and debt collections, naturally 

has an eye for bad news for if everyone paid 

their bills on time there would be no need 

for debt collection firms. 

And to prove the need for good backup, 

readers should take a quick look at the 

headlines in the publications section of its 

website: ‘2020 insolvencies forecast to jump 

due to Covid-19’, ‘USMCA: late payments 

rise as pandemic recession bites’, ‘Canada: 

late payments growth knocks business 

confidence’, ‘Mexico: doubling of write-offs, 

deep economic stress?’ and ‘India: bleak 

WATER WAY TO GO 

READERS may recall a column last 

month which referred to a dam in 

Ethiopia and issues relating to water 

shortages. Well another story on the 

subject not only drives the point home 

but also highlight export targets. 

A recent piece in the South China 

Morning Post noted how Hong Kong is 

‘notorious for its dependence on imports’, 

particularly water; China could turn off 

the tap in an instant since its Dongshen 

Water Supply Scheme supplies 70 to 80 

percent of fresh water and around 52 

percent of all water consumed in the 

territory. 

The Post writes that water security 

is a ‘growing global concern’; it is a 

problem for many of the estimated global 

recently helped by UK Export Finance 

(UKEF) to double its revenue during 

Coronavirus through protection of a major 

export deal with export insurance. 

Coriolis Technologies provides data 

intelligence to the trade finance sector 

and 80 percent of its revenue comes from 

international business, mostly to clients in 

Africa and the Middle East. The company 

had grown substantially in the last three 

years by supplying data that could predict 

trade wars. 

In August 2019, Coriolis won a £1m 

contract with a client in Africa to supply 

trade finance data. However, the overseas 

client had to delay payment when the 

Coronavirus hit, which put pressure 

on Coriolis’ cashflow. Coriolis also lost 

existing business as clients sought to cut 

back on their expenditures at the same 

time. The company’s survival was at stake 

and unable to get export insurance on the 

private market. It found that due to its size 

it qualified for UKEF’s Export Insurance 

Policy. As a result, Coriolis could pay 

pre-delivery fees to its subcontractors 

and trade knowing that it would get paid 

throughout the Coronavirus pandemic. 

The moral of the story is to not give 

up hope and most certainly look to see if 

government can somehow help. 

outlook for credit risk in B2B trade’ – while 

there’s plenty of business to be done across 

international borders, there’s also plenty of 

negativity out there and it seems to revolve 

around payment times and risk. 

This might be like telling granny how 

to suck eggs, but don’t let sales – at any 

price – become so addictive that you 

end up making a thumping great loss on 

activity that isn’t paid for. The usual caveat 

therefore applies – know your customer 

and be sure that they can and will pay. If 

they cannot, you may as well tune into 

the Archers with a cup of tea; it’ll be less 

stressful. 

population of 7.8bn now, but by 2100 

the global population may reach 10.9bn. 

Worryingly, Cape Town was the first 

major city to run out of water in 2018; 

Mexico City is sinking, in places, up to 38 

centimetres a year due to groundwater 

extraction; and even London could have 

‘severe shortages’ by 2040 because of 

leaks. 

Water security is a strategic issue 

and countries are increasingly looking 

at desalination plants. Singapore, 

for example, is investing heavily in 

membrane technology. 

So, again, if you’re in water-based 

technologies, hunt down those countries 

and cities where water is or will become 

an issue before others do. 

China’s big 

banks bad news 

CHINA’S not been in the best of places for 

a while and a report on Reuters suggests 

that the country’s five largest stateowned 

banks are preparing for rising bad 

debt, a situation clearly made worse by 

Coronavirus. 

It appears that borrowers are struggling 

to repay debt after months of lockdown and 

some sectors, such as those in the travel 

industry, not unlike those in the UK, are 

struggling to survive while at the same 

time, consumer behaviour is changing. 

Tread carefully if you sell into a Chinese 

sector that is heading for the buffers. 

But good news for 

Chinese semiconductors 

CHINA has been vilified by President 

Trump, but it’s still a key technology 

manufacturing hub and as a result, is 

likely to import at least $300bn worth 

of semiconductors for the third year 

running – a figure which indicates 

China’s continuing reliance on foreign 

expertise. The China Semiconductor 

Industry Association noted how imports 

of semiconductors stood at $200bn in 

2013, exceeded $300bn in 2018 and stayed 

around $300bn in 2019 and will probably 

stay at that level in 2020. 

But while the level of imports is good 

news for overseas exporters, it should be 

of interest that China has been spending 

billions of dollars to grow its domestic chip 

industry. 

Both elements of this story are a clarion 

call to those in semiconductors to expand 

their footprint in China; export the chips 

or the technology to make the chips, either 

way it’s a sale. 

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 

GBP/EUR 1.11004 1.08542 Flat 

GBP/USD 1.30746 1.26998 Flat 

GBP/CHF 1.19522 1.16848 Flat 

GBP/AUD 1.83284 1.76455 Up 

GBP/CAD 1.72814 1.69146 Flat 

GBP/JPY 138.03370 133.31468 Up 

TREND 

This data was taken on 19th October and refers to the 

month previous to/leading up to 18th October 2020. 


Let us show you why 

our years of High Court 

expertise and a fast, fair, 

client-focused approach 

continues to yield the 

sector’s leading results, 

without risking any loss 

of reputation. 

39% 

Achieving such a high 

engagement rate during the 

Compliance Period helps 

us to deliver faster, fairer 

resolutions for you. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Pre-visit Intelligence 

Bespoke Process 

Vulnerability & Brand Protection 

Award-Winning Technology 

Added Value Services & Training 

courtenforcementservices.co.uk 


By delivering an approach that differs from traditional providers 

or panels, we have worked tirelessly on the frontline to earn our 

reputation as the UK’s leading High Court Enforcement company. 

Our founding strategy continues to offer the market a combination that is hard to match – speed 

of ‘expert’ frontline delivery, depth of client sector enforcement and legal knowledge, a unique 

approach to fairness and managing vulnerability, and an absolute dedication to serving our clients. 

LET THE EVIDENCE SPEAK FOR US 

100,000+ 

High Court Writs 

We are the fastest growing High Court Enforcement company. To-date we 

have handled over 100,000 High Court Writs. 

£187 million 

Debt Fairly Collected 

Since forming in 2014, we have fairly recovered more than £187 million 

for our clients. 

39% 

Engagement during the 

Compliance Period 

We promote early resolution and are proud to achieve an above industry average 

engagement rate of 39% during the Compliance Period. We feel it is important to 

open communication with the customer at this early stage to resolve the matter 

as quickly as possible. This ensures that the creditor gets what they are owed 

quickly and reduces additional costs and interest being added. 

24/7 

Real-time updates 

‘Client View’ our online client portal is available 24/7 and allows you to view 

in real-time the progress we are making on your behalf. This includes all 

case history, correspondence and notes with full financial breakdown and 

photographs of premises and goods. You can also update cases, add notes and 

run a full suite of management reports and obtain headline statistics. 

350+ years 

Specialist experience in 

High Court Enforcement 

We pride ourselves on our personable and expert-led approach. The foundations 

of the business were built on the vast knowledge and experience of the directors 

and senior management team, who have operated for a combined 350+ years in 

the High Court Enforcement sector. Our team has an in-depth understanding of 

each client sector’s regulatory requirements and governance, which clients tell 

us is what helps to make our dedicated services and support invaluable. 

150+ 

Enforcement Agents 

Operating nationwide with highly trained and certificated agents. 

We are aiming to lead the way with our 

approach to fairness and vulnerability. 

Our clients know how important it is that any potentially 

vulnerable person or situation is identified as soon as 

possible. Court Enforcement Services has a dedicated 

Welfare Team that is highly trained both internally, and 

externally with organisations such as The Samaritans, to 

spot vulnerability early. 

Our Welfare Team also works closely with debt advisory 

organisations, including StepChange, Citizens Advice 

Bureau, National Debt Line, Money Advice Service and 

Advice UK. In addition, each member of our team receives 

full Vulnerability Awareness training which includes 

consistent indicators and guidance to refer any potentially 

vulnerable customers to our Welfare Team. 

Please contact us today to find out more about our 

extensive range of fairness measures: 

01993 220557 

BD@courtenforcementservices.co.uk 

courtenforcementservices.co.uk 


OPINION 

BRAIN TEASING 

What constitutes normal in an abnormal world? 

AUTHOR – Glen Bullivant FCICM 

THE 2 June, 1953 was 

something of a momentous 

day in the Bullivant 

household – I only know 

what I have been told 

by family members, but 

apparently that day the Bullivants at 

number 34 decamped to the Carters at 22 

to gather round a strange illuminated box 

in the Carters’ lounge. 

I am not sure whether the fact that 

the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was 

being televised by the BBC was the real 

attraction for my mother, or simply the 

opportunity to have a nose around the 

inside of number 22 – the Carters always 

did give the impression of being a cut 

above the rest. Be that as it may, it was the 

catalyst for the later (much later – my dad 

was a true Yorkshireman) installation of a 

television set in the front room of number 

34. It was a rather strange and primitive 

contraption, with a magnifying glass 

screen and an often wobbly black and 

white image flickering in the darkened 

front room. 

In those days, most everything 

transmitted was live and in the days 

before the BBC put four or five programme 

trailers between each broadcast there 

was an ‘Interlude’. This was sometimes a 

short film of a potter’s wheel and about as 

riveting a watch as Celebrity Masterchef. 

Of course, being live back then meant 

that there was a constant danger of 

breakdowns in transmission. When this 

happened, a notice appeared on the 

screen and lasted as long as it took for 

the chief assistant to rummage through 

the box of spares to find a condenser and 

a flux capacitor so that repairs could be 

undertaken and transmission resumed. 

The screen notice simply read ‘Normal 

service will be resumed as soon as 

possible.’ 


OPINION 

AUTHOR – Glen Bullivant FCICM 

Glen Bullivant FCICM 

DICTIONARY DEFINITION 

We hear a great deal about ‘normal’ these 

days and I for one am no longer sure what 

normal actually is and if indeed there has 

ever been a time when one could use the 

word to describe any situation or any set 

of circumstances. The dictionary defines 

the noun ‘normal’ as usual, typical or 

expected and if we accept that definition, 

then normality is a state of constant 

change, brought about and influenced 

by a variety of outside factors. 

If 2020 defines working from home, 

self-isolation, family bubbles, digital 

conferences and webinars, and camping 

in a tent at Flamborough Head as normal, 

then it follows that in 1940 being bombed 

every night, blackouts, powdered eggs, 

rationing and Vera Lynn was normal. I 

imagine that most people were delighted 

by the end of the 1940 normality, just 

as I suspect that we will all be glad to 

see the back of many aspects of the 

2020 normality. We will move on, not 

necessarily going back to 2019 but what 

was good about 1939 came back in part 

in 1945, so what was good about 2019 

will be back in 2021. I have absolutely no 

doubt, for example, that a large number 

of Flamborough Headers will be back in 

Benidorm before you can say my wi-fi is 

down again. 

I was having a conversation along these 

lines a little while ago with my favourite 

number one daughter. Gemma is a bit of 

an expert in the human psyche – she has 

so many letters after her name that her 

business card holder resembles a pencil 

case. Of course, she inherited her brains 

and her looks from her mother, the only 

father gene being the one that influences 

her taste in Whitby fish and chips. 

Gemma told me all about the Reticular 

Activating System, though I have to confess 

that about three quarters of an hour into 

the explanation my grip on consciousness 

was beginning to slacken. Suffice to say, 

as I understand it, we all have a sort of 

filter in our brains – our eyes pass the 

pictures back to the brain, which sorts 

out what we want to see and discards that 

which we don’t need. We talk a great deal 

about the world of today and information 

overload, but the reality is that there has 

always been far too much stuff out there 

for us to cope with and depending on our 

family upbringing and environment, our 

work and hobby interests, and a variety of 

other influencing factors, our brain filters 

what we take in accordingly. We will all 

see the same Paris panorama from the 

viewing platform of the Eiffel Tower (that 

is to say, you will – I get dizzy upstairs on 

a double decker 

bus), but each may 

well see something 

different – colours, 

architecture, 

people, traffic and 

so on. What we see 

is what our brain 

filter, programmed 

by our lives, has 

presented to our 

consciousness from 

the huge plethora 

of stuff passed 

to it by the eyes. 

‘The dinner was 

wonderful and the company exhilarating, 

but my goodness they have no taste in 

wallpaper, have they?’ 

The brain filter works in both Credit 

and Sales and as credit professionals 

we all know that we see things that our 

colleagues in Sales do not necessarily 

see – and vice versa, of course. That 

is why, in spite of all the doom and 

gloom predictions about the post Covid 

normality, I sincerely hope that we will 

recover the pre 2020 practice of customer 

visits. No amount of data analysis, 

scoring templates and determined ratings 

completes the jigsaw puzzle picture of the 

customer better than the taste, smell and 

sounds gleaned from being physically in 

the office, factory or shop floor. 

When the FD shows me round, my 

eyes take it all in, and the filter presents 

to me the activity, the competitors stock 

on the shelves, the happy smiling faces or 

the moribund feeling of despair, the dirt 

and the cleanliness – in other words that 

which is actually the real measure of what 

is going on. The bad news is that unlike 

the oil filter in the car, my brain filter 

cannot be replaced at regular intervals. 

The good news is that it never wears out. 

Glen Bullivant FCICM remembers 

the olden days. 

What we see is what our 

brain filter, programmed by our lives, 

has presented to our consciousness 

from the huge plethora of stuff 

passed to it by the eyes. ‘The dinner 

was wonderful and the company 

exhilarating, but my goodness they 

have no taste in wallpaper, have they?’ 

The brain filter 

works in both 

Credit and Sales 

and as credit 

professionals we 

all know that we 

see things that our 

colleagues in Sales 

do not necessarily 

see – and vice 

versa, of course. 

Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / Novemberw 2020 / PAGE 35

OPINION 

Survival strategies 

With challenging times set to continue, the best 

approach for credit managers is to share. 

AUTHOR – Bethan Evans 

FEW credit management 

professionals could fail to 

agree that COVID-19 has 

brought many challenges. 

Among them, the lack 

of certainty about when 

the pandemic might end and whether 

business activity will bounce back quickly 

or not, makes it difficult to plan ahead. 

Attending a virtual roundtable hosted 

by accountancy firm, Menzies LLP, the 

message from credit managers operating 

across industry sectors was loud and clear 

– we need to share our experiences and 

learn from each other, because there is no 

known outcome for this situation. 

Coming just prior to a fresh round of 

national restrictions being imposed, the 

mood from the delegates was relatively 

upbeat, with most back in the office for 

at least one or two days a week. Just a 

day later however, the guidance about 

working from home where possible was 

reinstated. 

For some people it is clear that the 

‘stay-at-home-if-you-can’ rule is starting 

to grate. Sue Chapple FCICM, Chief 

Executive of the CICM said: “We’ve got 

used to virtual meetings and they work 

well in the main. But it’s not until you 

have your first post-lockdown face-to-face 

meeting that you realise what you’ve been 

missing!” 

For credit management professionals, 

being physically removed from the 

business and its customers at this 

challenging time may be a significant risk 

factor, making it harder to resolve issues as 

they arise. All agreed however that staying 

close to customers and understanding 

the pressures their businesses are facing 

can help to keep credit lines open. 

More communication and sharing of 

information means risks are better 

managed and working from home has 

improved this, especially for businesses 

operating in overseas jurisdictions with 

different time zones. 

FURLOUGH REPLACEMENT 

The Chancellor’s decision to replace the 

outgoing furlough scheme with a new Job 

Support Scheme (effective 1 November 

2020) will help to remove some of the 

pressure on employers through the winter 

season. Crucially, however only jobs 

where workers are being paid by their 

employer to do a third of their normal 

hours will be eligible for the scheme. The 

decision to extend existing loan schemes 

from six- to 10-years, and allow businesses 

more time and flexibility to repay, will 

also help to ease pressure on cashflow. 

“The key to survival from a cashflow 

perspective is to focus on meaningful 

revenues,” said Simon Underwood, 

business recovery partner at accountancy 

firm, Menzies LLP. He acknowledged 

that some businesses are finding this 

easier than others, particularly those with 

e-commerce platforms and businesses in 

the logistics sector. 

“We’ve got used to virtual 

meetings and they work 

well in the main. But it’s 

not until you have your 

first post-lockdown faceto-face 

meeting that you 

realise what you’ve been 

missing!” 

“Some businesses have been able to 

pivot to make the most of online channels 

in response to shifts in consumer demand, 

and this approach should continue,” he 

added. 

Credit managers know that, at times 

of crisis, keeping funds flowing into 

the business is critical, particularly if 

revenues have dipped and customer 

insolvencies are a distinct possibility. 

However, they also know that a softer 

approach is needed. 

At the start of the pandemic, most 

credit managers reviewed their customer 

base carefully to consider how each might 

be impacted. As the crisis continued, their 

cash position has been kept under review, 

to understand whether it is supported by 

meaningful revenues or just there because 

support funding has been paid into their 

bank account. This requires open, twoway 

communication with clients and a 

willingness to work through cashflow 

challenges together. If the customer 

is pushed to the point of insolvency, 

creditors will not just lose some of the 

money they are owed, but their ongoing 

business too. With ‘force majeure’ clauses 

being invoked in many commercial 

contracts and cashflow pressures set to 

worsen as support schemes are removed, 

it is clear that some tough conversations 

will need to take place. 

RIPPLE EFFECT 

Sue Chapple commented that the extent 

of the ‘ripple effect’ of Coronavirusrelated 

issues is likely to have a long tail 

for the credit management industry: 

“There are challenging times ahead. The 

situation remains uncertain and really 

knowing your customer has never been 

more important. There is no accurate 

data available confirming what the 

post-pandemic future will look like across 

industry sectors, so credit managers 

definitely have their work cut out,” 

she said. 

Credit managers attending the 

roundtable agreed that staying close to 

customers will become even more critical 

in the months ahead. If customers request 

a change in payment terms, they are 

encouraged to be as open and honest as 

possible; sharing information including 

profit and loss accounts and other key 

management data. This information can 

be relayed to trade insurers as necessary, 

which can diffuse some of the financial 

pressure. Relationships with insurers 

have also come under the spotlight, and in 

some cases credit managers have chosen 

to change broker and switch insurers in 

order to provide the right cover for the 

business and its trading customers. 

While some businesses have increased 

revenues through the pandemic, others 

are struggling to provide a product or 

service that consumers no longer want 

or are unable to use for now. They may 

have been hoping for the best, while 

planning for the worst, but staying cashflow 

positive has become impossible. 

With the prospect of a spike in corporate 

insolvencies just around the corner, credit 

managers shouldn’t be afraid to reach out 

to insolvency practitioners for advice and 

assistance. 

This report is based on a recent virtual 

roundtable event for credit managers, 

chaired by the CICM and hosted by 

accountancy firm, Menzies LLP. 

Bethan Evans is partner and head of the 

firm’s credit services team. 


Credit After COVID-19 

Lisa Baker-Reynolds, CEO, Baker Ing International 

How has the pandemic affected credit professionals? 

Collaboration and information sharing amongst credit professionals 

have increased and been commendable. The realisation 

that insolvencies are going to inevitably and significantly 

increase in the coming months has, in turn, prompted elevated 

activity across the industry. Now that grants and fiscal stimulus 

have been heavily utilised in many countries, there has been 

a significant rise in debt placements for cases in which credit 

professionals have discovered that their clients did not utilise 

those programmes to help address their cash flow problems. 

Many companies have thus been prompted to more proactively 

recover outstanding debtor segments. 

What has been the most significant impact of 

COVID-19? 

The pandemic is challenging global credit policies and pushed 

credit management to the forefront across all sectors and territories. 

How we adapt our credit policies will have a direct and 

fundamental impact upon our companies’ commercial survival, 

not to mention our customer relationships and brand reputations 

for many years to come. 

The most valuable response to the crisis? 

Credit managers need to have granular knowledge of the 

COVID-19 situation in their clients’ particular territories. Their 

knowledge should include information regarding fiscal stimulus 

programmes in the country. Where appropriate, credit managers 

need to be capable of proactively assisting their clients obtain 

funding and grants, on the basis that the customer makes them 

a primary creditor for payment. These are extraordinary times, 

and if we are to confront it, we must be able to go above-andbeyond 

in securing payment. 

How can we mitigate the credit risks? 

We recommend researching to produce weekly updated 

forecasts regarding the political and fiscal interventions one 

can expect in clients’ countries. Our global roster of insolvency 

and restructuring partners helps us to anticipate issues across 

accounts, as well as advising and assisting with equity release 

and restructuring on behalf of our clients. 

What is Baker Ing International doing differently now? 

We are providing clients with the live-status of debtor assets 

and legal escalations. Furthermore, client documentation now 

includes both Lawyer and Insolvency Practioner advice on the 

viability of escalation routes available to them, as standard. 

We’ve also published our ‘COVID-19 Collection Policy’ which 

includes information about the depth of propensity-to-pay assessment 

which we undertake before debtor contact, as well as 

the data sources we utilise in calculating aggregated and current 

liquidity statuses. We believe this transparency serves to reassure 

our clients and empowers them to make informed decisions 

based on risk exposure – vital in these rapidly changing times. 

Please visit bakering.global/resources or email 

admin@bakering.global for more information about 

COVID-19 Collection Policies. 

bakering.global 

Lisa is CEO of Baker Ing international and has worked across the credit industry for 

almost 20 years. 

Baker Ing offers full-cycle receivables management tailored to high value and 

highly-sensitive accounts. 

“Our reputation has been built on delivering the best of in-house control & oversight, 

with the best of outsourced flexibility, niche expertise and scalability. We’ve 

built a solution for credit directors by credt directors, to deliver a service our clients 

can trust to deliver when risk of poor performance is simply not an option”. 


PAYMENT TRENDS 

Steady progress 

Payment performance is improving especially 

in farming and fishing. 

AUTHOR – Rob Howard 

The Agriculture, 

Farming and Fishing 

sector is now the best 

performing sector 

following a further 

reduction of 0.4 days, 

taking its overall DBT 

to 8.2 days. 

DESPITE continued 

uncertainty surrounding 

the COVID-19 pandemic, 

the latest monthly 

business-to-business 

payment performance 

statistics show some signs of improvement. 

The average Days Beyond Terms (DBT) 

figures reduced by 0.7 days and 1.1 days 

across regions and sectors respectively. 

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT 

For the most part, the sector standings 

show real improvement, with the majority 

of sectors making important reductions 

to payment terms. The biggest movers are 

the Education and Mining and Quarrying 

sectors, who made impressive reductions 

of 9.1 and 7 days respectively. 

Elsewhere, the Health & Social (-5 days), 

Entertainment (-4.4 days) and Business 

from Home (-3 days) sectors also made good 

progress in reducing payment terms. The 

Agriculture, Farming and Fishing sector is 

now the best performing sector following 

a further reduction of 0.4 days, taking its 

overall DBT to 8.2 days. 

However, some sectors have struggled 

and experienced increases to payment 

terms. It has been a particularly tough 

month, for example, for the Water and 

Waste sector, which saw its DBT increase 

by a massive 8.3 days. The Professional 

and Scientific (+4.5 days), IT and Comms 

(+3 days) and Manufacturing (+2.1 days) 

sectors also struggled. 

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT 

The regional standings also provide some 

encouragement, with eight of the 11 regions 

managing to reduce their DBT. 

The South West continues to be the 

best performing region following a further 

reduction of 2.5 days to its payment terms, 

taking its overall DBT to 10.7 days. Across 

the map, the South East is also moving in 

the right direction, reducing its DBT by 

2.5 days. Scotland (-2.4 days), London (-1.3 

days) and the West Midlands (-1 day) also 

made steady improvements. 

Despite a slight reduction (-0.8 days) 

to its payment terms, Northern Ireland 

remains the worst performing region with 

an overall DBT of 19.8 days. Moving in the 

wrong direction, East Anglia (+2.9 days), 

East Midlands (+0.8 days) and the North 

West (+0.8 days) all saw increases. 

Written by Rob Howard 


PAYMENT TRENDS 

Data supplied by the Creditsafe Group 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

Region Sep 20 Change from Aug 20 

South West 10.7 -2.5 

Scotland 11.6 -2.4 

Wales 13.1 -0.9 

West Midlands 13.1 -1 

London 13.4 -1.3 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 

Region Sep 20 Change from Aug 20 

Northern Ireland 19.8 -0.8 

East Anglia 16.6 2.9 

East Midlands 15.9 0.8 

North West 15.5 0.8 

Yorkshire and Humberside 15.5 -0.7 

Getting Worse 

Water and Waste 8.3 

Professional and Scientific 4.5 

IT and Comms 3 

Manufacturing 2.1 

Business Admin & Support 1.7 

Wholesale and retail trade 1.5 

Financial and Insurance 1.4 

Other Service 0.4 

Getting Better 

Education -9.1 

Mining and Quarrying -7 

Health & Social -5 

Entertainment -4.4 

Dormant -3.7 

Business from Home -3 

Hospitality -2.7 

Energy Supply -2.4 

Real Estate -2.2 

Construction -1.7 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

Sector Sep 20 Change from Aug 20 

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 8.2 -0.4 

Financial and Insurance 8.5 1.4 

Hospitality 9 -2.7 

Public Administration 9.9 -1.6 

International Bodies 11.1 -0.7 

Public Administration -1.6 

Transportation and Storage -1.3 

International Bodies -0.7 

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing -0.4 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 

Sector Sep 20 Change from Aug 20 

Business from Home 29.2 -3 

Transportation and Storage 22.1 8.3 

Mining and Quarrying 21.1 -7 

Education 20.4 -9.1 

Professional and Scientific 18.8 4.5 

SCOTLAND 

-2.4 DBT 

Region 

Getting Better – Getting Worse 

-2.5 

-2.5 

-2.4 

-1.3 

-1 

-0.9 

-0.8 

-0.7 

2.9 

0.8 

0.8 

South East 

South West 

Scotland 

London 

West Midlands 

Wales 

Northern Ireland 

Yorkshire and Humberside 

East Anglia 

East Midlands 

North West 

NORTHERN 

IRELAND 

-0.8 DBT 

SOUTH 

WEST 

-2.5. DBT 

WALES 

-0.9 DBT 

NORTH 

WEST 

0.8 DBT 

WEST 

MIDLANDS 

-1 DBT 

YORKSHIRE & 

HUMBERSIDE 

-0.7 DBT 

EAST 

MIDLANDS 

0.8 DBT 

LONDON 

-1.3 DBT 

SOUTH 

EAST 

-2.5 DBT 

EAST 

ANGLIA 

2.9 DBT 


INTRODUCING OUR 

CORPORATE PARTNERS 

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

Corporate Partnership with the CICM, please contact corporatepartners@cicm.com 

The Company Watch platform provides risk analysis 

and data modelling tools to organisations around 

the world that rely on our ability to accurately predict 

their exposure to financial risk. Our H-Score® 

predicted 92 percent of quoted company insolvencies 

and our TextScore® accuracy rate was 93 

percent. Our scores are trusted by credit professionals 

within banks, corporates, investment houses 

and public sector bodies because, unlike other credit 

reference agencies, we are transparent and flexible 

in our approach. 

T: +44 (0)20 7043 3300 

E: info@companywatch.net 

W: www.companywatch.net 

Satago helps business owners and their 

accountants avoid credit risks, manage debtors 

and access finance when they need it – all in 

one platform. Satago integrates with 300+ cloud 

accounting apps with just a few clicks, helping 

businesses: 

Understand their customers - with RISK INSIGHTS 

Get paid on time - with automated CREDIT CONTROL 

Access funding - with flexible SINGLE INVOICE FINANCE 

Visit satago.com and start your free trial today. 

T: 020 8050 3015 

E: hello@satago.com 

W: www.satago.com 

HighRadius is a Fintech enterprise Software-as-a-Service 

(SaaS) company. Its Integrated Receivables platform 

reduces cycle times in the Order to Cash process through 

automation of receivables and payments across credit, 

e-invoicing and payment processing, cash allocation, 

dispute resolution and collections. Powered by the RivanaTM 

Artificial Intelligence Engine and Freeda Digital 

Assistant for Order to Cash teams, HighRadius enables 

more than 450 organisations to leverage machine 

learning to predict future outcomes and automate routine 

labour intensive tasks. 

T: +44 7399 406889 

E: gwyn.roberts@highradius.com 

W: www.highradius.com 

Chris Sanders Consulting (Sanders Consulting 

Associates) has three areas of activity providing 

credit management leadership and performance 

improvement, international working capital 

improvement consulting assignments and 

managing the CICMQ Best Practice Accreditation 

programme on behalf of the CICM. Plans for 

2019 include international client assignments in 

India, China, USA, Middle East and the ongoing 

development of the CICMQ Programme. 

T: +44(0)7747 761641 

E: chris@chrissandersconsulting.com 

W: www.chrissandersconsulting.com 

Dun & Bradstreet Finance Solutions enable modern 

finance leaders and credit professionals to improve 

business performance through more effective risk 

management, identification of growth opportunities, 

and better integration of data and insights 

across the business. Powered by our Data Cloud, 

our solutions provide access to the world’s most 

comprehensive commercial data and insights 

supplying a continually updated view of business 

relationships that help finance and credit teams 

stay ahead of market shifts and customer changes. 

T: (0800) 001-234 

W: www.dnb.co.uk 

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. 

T: +44 (0) 1302 513 000 

E: sales@keyivr.com 

W: www.keyivr.com 

Operating across seven UK offices, Menzies LLP is 

an accountancy firm delivering traditional services 

combined with strategic commercial thinking. Our 

services include: advisory, audit, corporate and 

personal tax, corporate finance, forensic accounting, 

outsourcing, wealth management and business 

recovery – the latter of which includes our specialist 

offering developed specifically for creditors. For 

more information on this, or to see how the Menzies 

Creditor Services team can assist you, please 

visit: www.menzies.co.uk/creditor-services. 

T: +44 (0)2073 875 868 - London 

T: +44 (0)2920 495 444 - Cardiff 

W: menzies.co.uk/creditor-services 

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. 

T: +44 (0)207 469 2577 / 

E: uksales@tinubu.com 

W: www.tinubu.com. 

Building on our mature and hugely successful 

product and world class support service, we are 

re-imagining our risk awareness module in 2019 to 

allow for hugely flexible automated worklists and 

advanced visibility of areas of risk. Alongside full 

integration with all credit scoring agencies (e.g. 

Creditsafe), this makes Credica a single port-of-call 

for analysis and automation. Impressive results 

and ROI are inevitable for our customers that also 

have an active input into our product development 

and evolution. 

T: 01235 856400 

E: info@credica.co.uk 

W: www.credica.co.uk 


Each of our Corporate Partners is carefully selected for 

their commitment to the profession, best practice in the 

Credit Industry and the quality of services they provide. 

We are delighted to showcase them here. 

THEY'RE WAITING TO TALK TO YOU... 

Hays Credit Management is a national specialist 

division dedicated exclusively to the recruitment of 

credit management and receivables professionals, 

at all levels, in the public and private sectors. As 

the CICM’s only Premium Corporate Partner, we 

are best placed to help all clients’ and candidates’ 

recruitment needs as well providing guidance on 

CV writing, career advice, salary bench-marking, 

marketing of vacancies, advertising and campaign 

led recruitment, competency-based interviewing, 

career and recruitment trends. 

T: 07834 260029 

E: karen.young@hays.com 

W: www.hays.co.uk/creditcontrol 

The Atradius Collections business model is to support 

businesses and their recoveries. We are seeing a 

deterioration and increase in unpaid invoices placing 

pressures on cashflow for those businesses. Brexit is 

causing uncertainty and we are seeing a significant 

impact on the UK economy with an increase in 

insolvencies, now also impacting the continent and 

spreading. Our geographical presence is expanding 

and with a single IT platform across the globe we can 

provide greater efficiencies and effectiveness to our 

clients to recover their unpaid invoices. 

T: +44 (0)2920 824700 

W: www.atradiuscollections.com/uk/ 

Shoosmiths’ highly experienced team will work 

closely with credit teams to recover commercial 

debts as quickly and cost effectively as possible. 

We have an in depth knowledge of all areas of debt 

recovery, including: 

• Pre-litigation services to effect early recovery and 

keep costs down • Litigation service • Insolvency 

• Post-litigation services including enforcement 

As a client of Shoosmiths, you will find us quick to 

relate to your goals, and adept at advising you on the 

most effective way of achieving them. 

T: 03700 86 3000 

E: paula.swain@shoosmiths.co.uk 

W: www.shoosmiths.co.uk 

Forums International has been running Credit and 

Industry Forums since 1991 covering a range of 

industry sectors and international trading. Attendance 

is for credit professionals of all levels. Our forums 

are not just meetings but communities which 

aim to prepare our members for the challenges 

ahead. Attending for the first time is free for you to 

gauge the benefits and meet the members and we 

only have pre-approved Partners, so you will never 

intentionally be sold to. 

T: +44 (0)1246 555055 

E: info@forumsinternational.co.uk 

W: www.forumsinternational.co.uk 

Data Interconnect provides ERP-agnostic AR 

software. The Corrivo platform transmits invoices 

in multiple formats using tax compliant templates 

custom-designed for your business. Corrivo expedites 

collections, reconciliation and dispute processes with 

flexible workflow tools for creating and assigning tasks, 

limits, chase paths or stops and a self-service portal 

where customers can query, comment, dispute or pay. 

Corrivo manages data securely and efficiently so that 

you can manage your customers and cashflow better. 

T: +44 (0)1367 245777 

E: sales@datainterconnect.co.uk 

W: www.datainterconnect.com 

Serrala optimizes the Universe of Payments for 

organisations seeking efficient cash visibility 

and secure financial processes. As an SAP 

Partner, Serrala supports over 3,500 companies 

worldwide. With more than 30 years of experience 

and thousands of successful customer projects, 

including solutions for the entire order-to-cash 

process, Serrala provides credit managers and 

receivables professionals with the solutions they 

need to successfully protect their business against 

credit risk exposure and bad debt loss. 

T: +44 118 207 0450 

E: contact@serrala.com 

W: www.serrala.com 

American Express® is a globally recognised 

provider of business payment solutions, providing 

flexible capabilities to help companies drive 

growth. These solutions support buyers and 

suppliers across the supply chain with working 

capital and cashflow. 

By creating an additional lever to help support 

supplier/client relationships American Express is 

proud to be an innovator in the business payments 

space. 

T: +44 (0)1273 696933 

W: www.americanexpress.com 

C2FO turns receivables into cashflow and payables 

into income, uniquely connecting buyers and 

suppliers to allow discounts in exchange for 

early payment of approved invoices. Suppliers 

access additional liquidity sources by accelerating 

payments from buyers when required in just two 

clicks, at a rate that works for them. Buyers, often 

corporates with global supply chains, benefit from 

the C2FO solution by improving gross margin while 

strengthening the financial health of supply chains 

through ethical business practices. 

T: 07799 692193 

E: anna.donadelli@c2fo.com 

W: www.c2fo.com 

Esker’s Accounts Receivable (AR) solution removes 

the all-too-common obstacles preventing today’s 

businesses from collecting receivables in a 

timely manner. From credit management to cash 

allocation, Esker automates each step of the orderto-cash 

cycle. Esker’s automated AR system helps 

companies modernise without replacing their 

core billing and collections processes. By simply 

automating what should be automated, customers 

get the post-sale experience they deserve and your 

team gets the tools they need. 

T: +44 (0)1332 548176 

E: sam.townsend@esker.co.uk 

W: www.esker.co.uk 


INTRODUCING OUR 

CORPORATE 

PARTNERS 

For further information and to discuss the 

opportunities of entering into a Corporate 

Partnership with the CICM, please contact 

corporatepartners@cicm.com 

Onguard is a specialist in credit management 

software and a market leader in innovative solutions 

for Order to Cash. Our integrated platform ensures 

an optimal connection of all processes in the Order 

to Cash chain and allows sharing of critical data. Our 

intelligent tools can seamlessly interconnect and 

offer overview and control of the payment process, 

as well as contribute to a sustainable customer relationship. 

The Onguard platform is successfully used 

for successful credit management in more than 50 

countries. 

T: 020 3868 0947 

E: lisa.bruno@onguard.com 

W: www.onguard.com 

‘‘ 

CICM offered the 

prospect of qualifications, 

but as soon as I became 

a member, loads of other 

opportunities came to 

light that I hadn’t initially 

realised were available. 

Molly Kane 

ACICM 

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. 

T: 0870 081 8250 

E: emea-info@bottomline.com 

W: www.bottomline.com/uk 

With 130+ years of experience, Graydon is a leading 

provider of business information, analytics, insights 

and solutions. Graydon helps its customers to make 

fast, accurate decisions, enabling them to minimise 

risk and identify fraud as well as optimise opportunities 

with their commercial relationships. Graydon 

uses 130+ international databases and the information 

of 90+ million companies. Graydon has offices in 

London, Cardiff, Amsterdam and Antwerp. Since 2016, 

Graydon has been part of Atradius, one of the world’s 

largest credit insurance companies. 

The value 

of CICM 

membership 

Molly Kane ACICM 

Senior Credit Controller Executive 

Oxford University 

Read more about her story and join your 

credit community by visiting: 

www.cicm.com/value-of-cicm-membership/ 

T: +44 (0)208 515 1400 

E: customerservices@graydon.co.uk 

W: www.graydon.co.uk 

info@cicm.com 

www.cicm.com 

01780 722900 


would you love 

an easy way to 

speed up your cash 

collection cycle? 

You can … and gain access to a whole host of other benefits 

with Esker’s Collection Management solution. 

Esker’s cloud-based solution combines process automation and CRM properties 

to streamline the entire collections process and bring AR leaders 

the visibility needed to properly manage their receivables. 

IMPROVE 

CASH MANAGEMENT 

AND FORECASTING 

INCREASE VISIBILITY 

WITH CUSTOMISABLE 

KPIS AND DASHBOARDS 

BOOST 

PRODUCTIVITY 

Visit now to find out more www.esker.co.uk 

or contact us info@esker.co.uk 


Forums International 

Credit Forums Designed 

& Delivered for Credit Professionals 

Are you looking for your next role in Credit? 

We understand that credit professionals who are between jobs still 

want to keep up to date and stay connected. They want to make sure 

that they are the best informed candidate when that interview comes 

along. 

With that in mind, we understand that being a member of a Forum 

without the support of a company can be expensive so we have come 

up with a package for the individual which gives them all the 

benefits of corporate membership. 

Forthcoming 

Events 

November 

11th November 

Amazon 2 


International Media & 

Publishing Forum 


International 

Pharmaceutical 

Manufacturers Forum 

December 

All Forums International events qualify for CICM CPD points 

Join Forums International today 

We can help you stay ahead in the world of Credit and put you in the 

room with your potential employer. For less than £35 per month, you 

get all of the benefits listed above but also access to our growing Credit 

Community who can help you progress your career. 

3rd December 

Fraud Prevention 

Network 

8th December 

International Credit 

Forum 

10th & 11th December 

International Telecoms 

Risk Forum 

If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Laurie Beagle 

+44 (0)7880 551067 or email lauriebeagle@forumsinternational.co.uk 

M: +44 (0)7880 551067 

T: +44 (0)1260 275716 

E: lauriebeagle@forumsinternational.co.uk 


NEW AND UPGRADED MEMBERS 

Do you know someone who would benefit from CICM membership? Or have 

you considered applying to upgrade your membership? See our website 

www.cicm.com/membership-types for more details, or call us on 01780 722903 

Member 

Vanessa Peck 

Eric Leenders 

David Mills 

Christopher Roland 

Joshua Yorke 

Gbenga Fatoki 

Elaine Fish 

Member (by exam) 

Patricia Brown 

Sally Nolan 

Jody Hamilton-Smith 

Nicola Joynson 

Susan Pearson 

Studying Member 

Riya Bristol 

Marie Dodd 

Obed Aboagye Asare 

Laura Corbett 

Marina De Sousa 

Maria Brooks 

Joanne Green 

Carlie Devon 

Gillian Brades 

Martin Stafford 

Benjamin Alleguen 

Reece McIntosh 

Olivia Edwards 

Christin Ray-Odekeye 

Abayomi Woodley 

Rita Rabadia 

Kutlo Precious Ntwayapelo 

Georgie Joyce 

Claire Jamieson 

Charlie Balls 

Matthew Mclaren 

Lorraine Job 

Jonathan Callow 

Craig Taylor 

Troy Burgess-Rodrigues 

Taylan Kani 

Susan Mitchell 

Ryan Hook 

Martin Paunov 

Mahesh Chouhan 

Kieran Clayson 

Jonathan Harris 

Jamie Norman 

Grant Rynn 

Daniel Byrne 

Marcia Gillett 

Kristie Maxwell 

Darren Gardner 

Mohammed Ali 

Candice Marlen 

Tammy Midgley 

Kim Rogerson 

Affiliate 

Stacey O'Connor Holly Lawrence Martin Collins Sanjay Chandarana 

Congratulations to our current members who have upgraded their membership 

Upgraded member 

Peter Wallwork FCICM 

Joseph Okochi MCICM 

Hussain Aljama MCICM 

AWARDING BODY 

Congratulations to all of the following, who successfully achieved Diplomas 

Level 3 Diploma in Credit Management (ACICM) 

NAME 

Kelsey Toon 

Level 3 Diploma in Credit & Collections (ACICM) 

NAME 

Emma Hynes 

Ben Jamieson 

WE WANT YOUR BRANCH NEWS! 

Get in touch with the CICM by emailing branches@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. 


BUSINESS SKILLS 

PRESS TALK 

Handling media interviews 

successfully is largely a question 

of confidence. 

AUTHOR – Clive Hawkins 

THE sight of politicians and 

celebrities being thrust into the 

media spotlight as they leave their 

home or office and faced with 

camera flashlights and a barrage 

of questions by journalists, is 

what often springs to mind in any interaction 

with journalists. This interview technique is 

known as doorstepping and can unnerve even 

the most media-savvy person. Imagine if you 

were faced with this situation – how would you 

react? 

This intense and unexpected media 

questioning is normally experienced by only a 

small number of business people such as senior 

executives. What is more likely, is being asked to 

participate in a planned interview and agree the 

interview format and discussion topics. 

PREPARING FOR INTERVIEW 

The more prepared you are, the greater the 

likelihood of a positive outcome. Research the 

journalist’s interview style to determine your 

approach. Read regional and national news 

regularly in the run-up to interview, and on the 

day, so you’re up-to-speed on current affairs and 

not caught out with any breaking news. 

Focus on who you are communicating with 

and what will interest them – media is a conduit 

for relaying information to a wide audience. 

Identify the three to five key messages you want 

to focus on that will have impact. Have answers 

prepared for all likely questions you will face. 

INFLUENCING THE DISCUSSION 

It is important to remember that you are 

representing your organisation and want to 

create a positive impression. You need to focus 

on what you say and how you use your voice 

and body language to deliver your key points 

effectively. 

Tip one: Positive Interaction. It is important to 

establish a rapport with the interviewer. This 

will rely on: 

• Control. Take control of the interview agenda. 

There is more than one interview agenda at play 

here – the reporter’s and yours. 

• Confidence. Be comfortable, confident and 

maintain a high energy level. If you are nervous 

or unprepared, you won’t be at your best. 

• Connection. Have a conversation with the 

interviewer rather than just respond with ‘yes/ 

no’ answers. A tip here is: listen-think-respond. 

Listen to the entire question, think about the 

implication of your answer and respond after 

consideration. 

• Credibility. Use your industry knowledge and 

experience, backed with interesting facts and 

figures. You want the interviewer to believe 

what you believe! 

Tip two: Keep Calm. You will be asked a range 

of questions – some you will be comfortable 

with, others will be taxing or asked in a way to 

provoke a reaction. At all times remain calm, 

polite, focused on answering each question and 

reiterating your key messages. 

Tip three: Pitfalls. Avoid using personal 

opinions, speculation, hypotheticals or simply 

not answering the question. These responses 

can risk becoming news headlines. There are 

many ways to avoid responding to a specific 

question than just saying ‘no comment’! 

Tip four: Interruptions. An interviewer can 

sometimes anticipate your answer and interrupt 

before you have completed your point. If this 

happens, ask to finish your answer to ensure 

your position is understood. 

Tip five: Follow-up. Make yourself available for 

any queries prior to deadline and monitor the 

news for interview publication. 

Journalists want to forge strong relationships to 

gain insights into industry developments and 

identify news scoops. Your ability to control 

the interview agenda from start to finish and 

relay information in a newsworthy manner will 

strengthen your hand with journalists, increase 

the likelihood of a positive article and improve 

your media handling skills – whether you are in 

a planned interview or have the misfortune to 

be doorstepped! 

Clive Hawkins 

Spoken Word Communications 

clive@spokenwordgroup.co.uk 

www.spokenwordgroup.com 


BUSINESS SKILLS 

AUTHOR – Clive Hawkins 

Focus on 

who you are 

communicating 

with and what will 

interest them – 

media is a conduit 

for relaying 

information to a 

wide audience. 

Your ability 

to control the 

interview agenda 

from start to 

finish and relay 

information in 

a newsworthy 

manner will 

strengthen 

your hand with 

journalists. 

Clive Hawkins 


ADVERTORIAL 

Lovetts Solicitors launches 

direct debt payments platform 

LOVETTS Solicitors has 

launched a direct debt 

payments platform, 

securely accessible via the 

firm’s website. The new 

portal enables accountto-account 

payments from debtors to 

creditors online, removing the need for 

intermediary transfers. It encourages 

faster payments to creditors, while 

providing debtors with greater 

transparency, more information, 

and less of the stress traditionally 

associated with the debt collection 

process. 

Powered by payment processing 

solution Banked, the new Lovetts 

platform allows debtors to sign-in 

securely using their case number and 

solicitor letter reference. From there, 

users simply authorise their bank to 

make payment directly to the creditor 

company, via either their online or 

mobile banking app. 

“We wanted to take the existing 

online services we offer, and expand 

them to create a complete online 

debt collections process from start to 

finish,” said Andrew Dancy, IT Director 

for Lovetts. “Banked is one of the 

best new ideas to come out of Open 

Banking that we’ve seen so far, and 

of course especially as a law firm, the 

strong security measures that it allows 

us to build in are hugely important 

when considering any kind of online 

payment mechanism. By interfacing 

our existing technology with this API, 

we’ve been able to facilitate more 

seamless payments, and in addition to 

reducing costs that can be a weight off 

the mind of debtors and creditors alike.” 

The Banked solution provides a 90 

percent reduction in processing fees, 

and additionally as a Strong Customer 

Authentication (SCA) channel, a 96 

percent reduction in fraud. It’s part 

of the Online Banking initiative, a 

government-led directive set-up by the 

Competition and Markets Authority 

(CMA) in 2018 and regulated by the 

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and 

European equivalents, to grant users 

greater control over their financial 

interactions online. 

“We wanted to take the 

existing online services we 

offer, and expand them to 

create a complete online 

debt collections process 

from start to finish.” 

Andrew Dancy, 

IT Director 


MARKETING & EDUCATION 

CICM Redundancy 

help and advice 

CICM is here to help anyone at risk 

of redundancy or looking for work. 

We have all the guides and advice 

you need to help you back on your feet. 

HELP AND 

ADVICE 

TOOLS TO HELP 

YOU BACK TO WORK 

For further details contact: 01780 722900 | www.cicm.com | info@cicm.com 


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 

contact: cicmmembership@cicm.com 

MANAGING THE NEW 

CREDIT FUTURE 

Prepare and act now, for the 

Credit world of tomorrow. 

As the world continues to react to constant change, our 

credit profession needs to prepare for the new credit future. 

Debt management 

• Adjust collections and recovery strategies to fit the changing financial environment 

• Use KYC ‘know your customer’ to understand the customers in true financial difficulty 

• Focus skilled staff on long term management of aging debt with a propensity for resolution 

• Remove ‘uneconomical to collect’ debt from ledger via third party action, sale or write off 

Employees 

• Upskill staff for a new credit future through training and qualification programmes 

• Review and bolster support mechanisms that cater for the wellbeing of employees 

• Consult and trial agile working arrangements with touch points to check feasibility 

Cash resilience 

• Firm up honest and realistic cash forecasting projections and review them frequently 

• Tighten processes for quick & efficient cash collection, allocation and recovery referral 

• Calculate provision for bad and doubtful debt & review validity and value of securities 

• Agree new risk assessment protocols for ledger-wide vetting of new and existing customers 

• Review and strengthen supply chain, renegotiating contract terms in the new climate. 

Future proof strategies 

• Fine-tune the exit strategy, showing a roadmap of short, mid and long-term objectives 

• Align Credit Policy, processes, KPIs and contingencies to the organisation’s new risk strategy 

• Check processes are in place to allow for new and future flexible ways of operating 

• Secure debt and ledger management software to automate manual tasks 

Communication 

• Maintain Senior Management visibility with short, frequent reports linked to overall objectives 

• Reaffirm supply chain relationships with bespoke contact that builds plans for future trading 

• Hold staff e-meetings briefly and often to focus WFH and office-based staff in a common goal 

• Create cross functional work plans with re-emerging departments, to leverage help 

01780 722900 | info@cicm.com 

Access help from CICM 

Follow the CICM Managing the New Credit 

Future Forum on LinkedIn. 

Access our Member Advice Service 

for support, answers and advice. 

Visit our Managing the New Credit Future 

webpage for more resources 

We continue to develop resources, advice and tools to help you prepare for 

tomorrow’s Credit, today. Stay in touch with us and be part of our community. 

CICM is your professional body: use it. We are stronger in numbers. 


BE ONE CLICK AWAY 

FROM OUR WEBSITE 

How to set up a great one click link to the CICM website on 

your mobile phone. Follow these four simple steps... 

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 

Go to cicm.com > Click highlighted icon at bottom of screen > Click add to Home screen icon 

> Click add icon at top right of screen > CICM icon will appear on your screen 

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 

Open cicm.com in Google Chrome browser > Tap Menu button > Tap add shortcut to Home screen 

> Icon will appear on your screen. Menu button on other Android devices may be displayed differently. 

ADVANCING THE CREDIT PROFESSION IN CREDIT MANAGEMENT 

T: +44 (0)1780 722900 | WWW.CICM.COM 

Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / October 2020 / PAGE 52 



HR MATTERS 

STYLE COUNSEL 

Redundancy factsheets, employment trends, 

and the perils of hair styling. 

AUTHOR – Gareth Edwards 

recent Employment 

Tribunal decision 

concerning employment 

status serves as a useful 

A. 

reminder of the criteria 

applied to these disputes. 

In Gorman v Terence Paul (Manchester) 

Ltd, a preliminary hearing was held to 

determine Gorman’s employment status 

following the closure of a Terence Paul 

hair salon. Gorman had brought claims 

for unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, 

notice pay, holiday pay and redundancy 

pay. The company argued that Gorman 

was self-employed, noting she had signed 

a consultancy agreement some five years 

prior. 

The Tribunal compared the consultancy 

agreement to the reality of the Gorman’s 

working arrangements. It found that 

Gorman was an employee because: 

The agreement stated that Gorman 

could choose what time she spent at 

the salon. However, her actual working 

arrangements were strictly controlled by 

the company, including working hours, 

whether she arrived late or finished early 

and when she could take holiday. 

There was mutuality of obligation – the 

company allocated clients to Gorman, 

she was obliged to perform, and the 

company was obliged to pay her for that 

work. The company controlled Gorman’s 

appointments, handled all bookings and 

she could only use certain products. 

Also, prices were set by the company 

and Gorman had 67 percent of her fees 

deducted for use of the facilities. She had 

no access to client information as this was 

all held in a database controlled by the 

company. 

Whilst the agreement theoretically 

allowed Gorman to send a substitute, in 

practice if she was unable to attend, the 

company arranged and paid for her clients 

to be covered by other salon stylists. 

The agreement subjected Gorman to a 

12-month non-compete clause following 

termination and also prevented her 

from working at a competing salon. The 

Tribunal found that if she was genuinely 

in business on her own account then the 

clients would arguably have been hers 

regardless. 

It’s notable that the Tribunal found that 

Gorman had no choice when she signed 

the agreement, a document that she did 

not fully understand when signing. 

The case is a useful reminder of the 

issues that will be taken into account in 

the event of a dispute about employment 

status. Employers should ensure the terms 

of any consultancy agreement reflect the 

reality of working arrangements, in order 

to minimise the risk of future dispute. 

AVOIDING DISCRIMINATION IN 

WORKPLACE PLANNING 

The Office for National Statistics has 

published research revealing that young 

people (18 to 24) and those over 50 are at 

a higher risk of losing their jobs in the 

current economic crisis. BAME workers 

were reported to be twice as likely to 

lose their job compared to peers in the 

above groups. Workforce planning is a 

challenging and unenviable task for many 

employers. These statistics reinforce 

the importance of designing a fair and 

robust procedure prior to embarking 

on any workplace planning exercise. In 

particular, employers should consider: 

Selection pools, avoiding the trap of 

considering previously furloughed staff 

first for redundancy. For example, if 

staff were furloughed due to health or 

childcare related reasons, this could lead 

to claims of discrimination and unfair 

dismissal. 

Selection criteria should be objective 

and be designed at the outset of any 

redundancy or restructure exercise. Draft 

criteria should be shared with affected 

staff during consultation and comments 

invited before the criteria are then 

finalised and used. 

Timing is key and consultation should 

be meaningful and not rushed. There is 

no minimum consultation timeframe, but 

there will be minimum periods of time 

between the start of consultation and 

any dismissals taking effect if more than 

20 redundancies are being considered at 

a single establishment within a 90-day 

period. 

Logistics means that care should 

be taken to ensure that any remote 

consultation meetings do not create 

fairness issues. And in terms of Personnel, 

are those applying the selection criteria 

doing so consistently? Are more senior 

managers on hand to deal with any future 

appeals? 

NEW GUIDANCE FOR EMPLOYERS 

MAKING REDUNDANCIES 

The Department for Work and Pensions 

has published guidance for employers 

who are making redundancies in 

response to the economic impact of the 

Coronavirus pandemic. 

The redundancy factsheet for employers, 

on gov.uk, outlines the Jobcentre Plus 

Rapid Response Service (RRS), which 

provides links to useful governmental 

and non-governmental services and 

information about voluntary redundancy 

and early retirement. There is also 

information on how employees struggling 

to cope with redundancy can access 

support. 

The RRS also offers support and advice 

to employers and employees who are 

affected by redundancy on preparing a 

CV, identifying training needs, providing 

training for vocational skills and 

providing benefits information. The RRS 

does not provide procedural advice on 

fair workforce planning exercises. 

Gareth Edwards is a partner in 

the employment team at 

VWV.gedwards@vwv.co.uk 


$ 

Advancing 

Careers 

Advancing 

Best Practice 

Advancing 

Connections 

Advancing 

Skills 

Advancing 

Thinking 

Advancing 

Business 

ADVANCING THE 

CREDIT PROFESSION 

01780 722900 | www.cicm.com 


CAREERS ADVICE 

DIVERSE OPINION 

How can you support and promote a positive equality 

agenda despite the ongoing challenges of COVID-19. 

AUTHOR – Karen Young 

ORGANISATIONS of all 

sizes across all industry 

sectors have felt the 

impacts of COVID-19, 

and the world of credit 

management is no 

exception. ‘Business as usual’ took a 

back seat as organisations handled the 

immediate impacts of the pandemic 

and huge numbers of professionals 

switched to working remotely practically 

overnight. Priorities shifted and some 

areas which had previously been a focus 

for employers got pushed aside. 

Now, six months on from the first 

lockdown, we have started to gauge 

the impact of the crisis on things like 

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) 

and reassess which direction they are 

going. 

DO EMPLOYERS STILL NEED TO 

PRIORITISE ED&I? 

According to the Hays Equality, Diversity 

& Inclusion Report 2020, ED&I is still 

important to the accountancy and 

finance sector at large. Nearly three 

quarters (71 percent) of those in the 

industry said that when looking for a new 

role, an organisation’s ED&I policies were 

important and furthermore, 54 percent 

said that they would only apply for a job 

with an organisation which has a public 

commitment to ED&I. It’s clear that this 

is important to professionals and needs 

to be equally, if not more important 

for employers for the sake of attracting 

talent. 

Over two thirds (68 percent) also said 

that their organisation should have a 

position on topical D&I issues such as the 

Black Lives Matter movement, proving 

that even now, it is expected for employers 

to have a clear stance on key issues which 

reflect their company values. Not doing 

so risks losing out on key talent in credit 

management teams. 

FLEXIBLE WORKING HAS 

TAKEN ITS TOLL 

The report also puts a spotlight on 

flexible working, which has taken on a 

whole new meaning in today’s climate. 

Some 71 percent say they currently 

have a flexible working arrangement 

(including remote working) and the 

same proportion (71 percent) also 

said that this flexibility is important to 

them. 

However, the rapid uptake of flexible 

working this year has led to reported 

drawbacks such as feelings of isolation 

along with blurred boundaries between 

home and work life. Furthermore, 37 

percent are of the belief that working 

flexibly can limit career progression. 

Although flexible and remote working 

look like they’re here to stay for some 

time and potentially permanently, the 

perceived impacts of this need to be 

addressed by employers. 

WHAT STEPS CAN EMPLOYERS 

TAKE TO PUT THEIR ED&I AGENDA 

BACK ON THE MAP? 

Today’s challenges shouldn’t overshadow 

an organisation’s ED&I agenda and it 

is employers who primarily bear the 

challenge of keeping this on track. Here 

are three key recommendations: 

1 

Be bold about your commitment 

to ED&I: A diverse and inclusive 

workforce is no longer a unique selling 

point to prospective employees. Attracting 

and retaining the best individuals in 

credit means that comprehensive ED&I 

policies need to be in place and part of 

an organisation’s talent acquisition and 

retention strategy. 

2 

Promote ED&I initiatives throughout 

the recruitment process: In order to 

really speak to potential employees, 

ED&I policies including flexible working 

options need to be promoted at key 

points such as in job adverts and on your 

organisation’s website as well as during 

the interview process. Once a hire is made, 

ED&I should also be clearly promoted in 

the onboarding process. 

3 

Keep flexible working options 

flexible: Flexible working isn’t 

one-size-fits-all. While it can offer 

huge advantages for some, equally it 

bears drawbacks for others depending 

on their role, working style and personal 

circumstances. Try to be mindful of this 

by tailoring your flexible working offering 

across your workforce. 

HOW EMPLOYEES CAN ALSO 

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY 

Employees also have a key part to play in 

ensuring that their organisation presses 

forward with ED&I. Here are some 

actionable things they can do: 

54 

said that 

they would 

only apply for 

a job with an 

organisation 

which has 

a public 

commitment 

to ED&I. 

% 

1 

Identify and challenge an employer’s 

ED&I commitment: If you are 

job searching, make looking for 

ED&I policies a priority. Look on their 

website and social media and if it feels 

appropriate, ask about it in an interview 

setting. 

2 

Be clear on your working 

preferences: When do you work 

at your best? Decide on what your 

ideal working options are and discuss 

this with your manager. An organisation 

that truly fosters a diverse and inclusive 

environment will work with you to figure 

out a flexible working arrangement 

which best suits you as well as meets your 

organisation’s needs. 

3 

Brace yourself for change: Try to 

remain adaptable and practical in 

light of your employer’s situation 

and our current changing circumstances. 

When discussing ED&I initiatives or 

flexible working, bear in mind that these 

may change to better reflect our world of 

work. 

By approaching ED&I proactively, we 

are better placed to make progress and 

keep this front of mind through such a 

significant period of change. 

Karen Young is Director of 

Hays Credit Management 


TAKE CONTROL OF 

YOUR CREDIT CAREER 

PROPERTY CREDIT MANAGER 

London, £65,000 + bonus 

You will be working in an established property management 

business that focuses specifically on the commercial side of 

property. You will be working as a senior credit manager looking 

after a team of nine. You will demonstrate extensive experience in 

managing the entire AR function from beginning to end, working 

within the property industry. Therefore, you will have strong 

experience within property credit management to be considered 

for this position. Ref: 3853772 

Contact Akshay Caussy on 020 8465 0020 

or email akshay.caussy@hays.com 

SENIOR CREDIT CONTROLLER 

Belfast, £25,000–£30,000 

An exciting opportunity to join a thriving global business, 

as it works with Hays to expand its credit control function 

in Northern Ireland. This is a varied and complex credit role, 

allowing you to take true ownership of the position and build 

experience in a dynamic business with an agile, continuous 

improvement mindset. Ref: 3859293 

Contact Nicola McCallum on 028 9044 6911 

or email nicola.mcCallum@hays.com 

SENIOR CREDIT CONTROLLER 

Salford Quays, up to £28,000 

A rapidly growing organisation that guarantees growth is looking 

for a senior credit controller. Your main duties will include; 

proactively contacting customers to chase payment (B2C), 

understanding customers situations, reaching agreements 

with customers, operating on a dialler formation to maximise 

collections, providing an excellent level of customer service and 

liaising with DCA’s when required. This job is ideal for someone 

looking to grow their career and work within a fast-paced 

environment. Ref: 3863399 

Contact Adam Crossland on 0161 236 7272 

or email adam.crossland@hays.com 

CREDIT CONTROLLER 

Uxbridge, £27,000 + CICM study support 

A rare opportunity has arisen at a growing construction and 

engineering consultancy for an up and coming credit controller 

to join its professional team. This role will have a strong emphasis 

on building and maintaining key relationships and collecting 

to target. You will be a highly motivated credit controller with 

a serious ambition to progress and study towards the CICM 

qualification. This is a great opportunity from business in period 

of massive expansion. Ref: 3860980 

Contact Benjamin Timmins on 01865 727071 

or email benjamin.timmins@hays.com 

hays.co.uk/creditcontrol 


INSPIRE ME IN THE 

NEW ERA OF WORK 

Your resource hub for reaching 

your career goals 

Read our latest guides and articles 

Tips to help you prepare successfully 

To find out more visit 

hays.co.uk/embrace-the-new-era 


Wokingham, up to £27,000 

An established property management company based near 

Wokingham is looking for an experienced credit controller to 

join its team following a period of sustained growth. To be 

successful, you will have previous experience in credit control 

and be expected to hit the ground running. You will have good 

communication skills, both verbally and written, be organised 

and have good time management. It is also required that you 

have previous litigation experience and have escalated cases 

to solicitors. Ref: 3855580 

Contact Mark Ordoña on 07565 800574 

or email mark.ordona@hays.com 


Huddersfield, £23,000 

A new permanent opportunity for a stand-alone credit controller 

to join a thriving manufacturing business on the outskirts of 

Huddersfield. In this position, you will have full control of the 

accounts receivable process from start to finish using Sage50. 

Joining a family run business, you will be responsible for chasing 

from 1,000 live accounts that include SME’s and key major retailers. 

Ref: 3860452 

Contact Jasmine Chambers on 0148 442 8455 

or email jasmine.chambers@hays.com 

This is just a small selection of the many opportunities we 

have available for credit professionals. To find out more visit 

us online or contact Kabir Gulabkhan, Hays Credit Management 

UK Lead on 020 3465 0020 


WHAT'S ON 

We are asking all members to invite a colleague to a CICM membership event, 

free of charge. Book online on our website www.cicm.com/cicm-events 

ANNOUNCEMENT 

We are not able to bring our usual guide 

to the CICM and Industry events, as the 

calendar and what is on, is changing daily. 

Many of our events are now available 

online, along with a new series of live and 

recorded webinars for the credit profession. 

Visit our website for updates and 

instructions on how to register. 


More reasons to be a member 

Make connections and keep up-to-date 

with our exclusive events. 

Studying at a 

distance 

with CICM 

From interactive virtual classrooms to supporting texts, 

from mentor advice to peer support, we’ve got it all. 

Contact CICM for more information on any of these services, 

or check them out at cicm.com 

Giving you the tools to continue 

working through this crisis. 

MANAGING THE NEW 

CREDIT FUTURE 

As the world continues to react 

to constant change, our credit 

profession needs to prepare for the 

new credit future. 

For more information contact: 

info@cicm.com or 01780 722900 


Cr£ditWho? 

CICM Directory of Services 

COLLECTIONS 

INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIONS 

COLLECTIONS LEGAL 

Controlaccount Plc 

Address: Compass House, Waterside, Hanbury Road, 

Bromsgrove, Worcestershire B60 4FD 

T: 01527 549 522 

E: sales@controlaccount.com 

W: www.controlaccount.com 

Controlaccount Plc provides an efficient, effective and ethical 

commercial debt recovery service focused on improving business 

cash flow whilst preserving customer relationships and established 

reputations. Working with leading brand names in the UK and 

internationally, we deliver a bespoke service to our clients. We 

offer a no collect, no fee service without any contractual ties in. 

Where applicable, we can utilise the Late Payment of Commercial 

Debts Act (2013) to help you redress the cost of collection. Our 

clients also benefit from our in-house international trace and 

legal counsel departments and have complete transparency and 

up to the minute information on any accounts placed with us for 

recovery through our online debt management system, ClientWeb. 

INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIONS 

Atradius Collections Ltd 

3 Harbour Drive, 

Capital Waterside, Cardiff, CF10 4WZ 

Phone: +44 (0)29 20824397 

Mobile: +44 (0)7767 865821 

E-mail:yvette.gray@atradius.com 

Website: atradiuscollections.com 

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 Yvette Gray Country Director, UK 

and Ireland. 

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 

Baker Ing International Limited 

Office 7, 35-37 Ludgate Hill, London. EC4M 7JN 

Contact: Lisa Baker-Reynolds 

Email: lisa@bakering.global 

Website: https://www.bakering.global/contact/ 

Tel: 07717 020659 

Baker Ing International is a dedicated team of Credit industry 

experience that, combined, covers time served in most industries. 

The team is wholly comprised of working Credit Manager’s 

across the Globe with a minimum threshold of ten years working 

experience within Credit Management. The team offers a 

comprehensive service to clients - International Debt Recovery, 

Credit Control, Legal Services & more 

Our mission is to help companies improve the cost and efficiency 

of their Credit Management processes in order to limit the risks 

associated with extending credit and trading around the globe. 

How can we help you - call Lisa Baker Reynolds on 

+44(0)7717 020659 or email lisa@bakering.global 

Sterling Debt Recovery 

E: info@sterlingdebtrecovery.com 

T: 0207 1005978 

W: www.sterlingdebtrecovery.com 

Sterling specialises in international business debt collection 

to get outstanding invoices paid quickly and cost effectively. 

Our experienced, enthusiastic collectors achieve results whilst 

maintaining a professional image. 

We work on a commission only basis with no up-front fees and 

no hidden costs. Each client is allocated a named collector for 

personal service and regular updates. We collect the majority 

of debt without litigation, with our on-site lawyer supporting us 

where appropriate. 

Where local expertise is required our global network are available 

to assist. 

COLLECTIONS LEGAL 

Keebles 

Capitol House, Russell Street, Leeds LS1 5SP 

T: 0113 399 3482 

E: charise.marsden@keebles.com 

W: www.keebles.com 

Keebles debt recovery team was named “Legal Team of the Year” 

at the 2019 CICM British Credit Awards. 

According to our clients “Keebles stand head and shoulders 

above others in the industry. A team that understands their client’s 

business and know exactly how to speedily maximise recovery. 

Professional, can do attitude runs through the team which is not 

seen in many other practices.” 

We offer a service with no hidden costs, giving you certainty and 

peace of mind. 

• ‘No recovery, no fee’ for pre-legal work. 

• Fixed fees for issuing court proceedings and pursuing claims to 

judgment and enforcement. 

• Success rate in excess of 80%. 

• 24 hour turnaround on instructions. 

• Real-time online access to your cases to review progress. 

Lovetts Solicitors 

Lovetts, Bramley House, The Guildway, 

Old Portsmouth Road, 

Guildford, Surrey, GU3 1LR 

T: 01483 347001 

E: info@lovetts.co.uk 

W: www.lovetts.co.uk 

With more than 25yrs experience in UK & international business 

debt collection and recovery, Lovetts Solicitors collects £40m+ 

every year on behalf of our clients. Services include: 

• Letters Before Action (LBA) from £1.50 + VAT (successful in 86% 

of cases) 

• Advice and dispute resolution 

• Legal proceedings and enforcement 

• 24/7 access to your cases via our in-house software solution, 

CaseManager 

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

feedback: “All our service expectations have been exceeded. 

The online system is particularly useful and extremely easy to 

use. Lovetts has a recognisable brand that generates successful 

results.” 

CONSULTANCY 

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-tobusiness 

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 

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 

EXPERTLY RESOLVED. 

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

enforce CCJs by transferring them up to the High Court. With our 

fast, fair and personable approach to service, we work harder to 

bring you the sector’s best results without risking client reputation. 

• Free Transfer Up process of CCJs to High Court 

• Market-leading recovery rates 

• Over 100,000 writs, recovering >£187 million since 2014 

• Real-time access to cases via our own Award-Winning App 

• Our highly trained and certificated agents cover every postcode 

in England & Wales. 

FAST. FAIR. FOR YOU. 


FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION OPTIONS AND PRICING CONTACT 

russell@cabbells.uk 0203 603 7937 

CREDIT INFORMATION 


CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 

2 0 0 2 

— 

2 0 2 0 

CoCredo 

Missenden Abbey, Great Missenden, Bucks, HP16 0BD 

T: 01494 790600 

E: customerservice@cocredo.com 

W: www.cocredo.co.uk 

CoCredo has 18 years experience in developing credit reports for 

businesses and is the current CICM Credit Information Provider 

of the Year. Our company data is continually updated throughout 

the day and ensures customers have the most current information 

available. We aggregate data from a range of leading providers 

across over 235 territories and offer a range of services including 

the industry first Dual Report, Monitoring, XML Integration and 

DNA Portfolio Management. 

We pride ourselves in offering award-winning customer service 

and support to protect your business. 


THE ONLY AML RESOURCE YOU NEED 

SmartSearch 

SmartSearch, Harman House, 

Station Road,Guiseley, Leeds, LS20 8BX 

T: +44 (0)113 238 7660 

E: info@smartsearchuk.com W: www.smartsearchuk.com 

KYC, AML and CDD all rely on a combination of deep data with 

broad coverage, highly automated flexible technology with an 

innovative and intuitive customer interface. Key features include 

automatic Worldwide Sanction & PEP checking, Daily Monitoring, 

Automated Enhanced Due Diligence and pro-active customer 

management. Choose SmartSearch as your benchmark. 

CEDAR 

ROSE 

R 

Cedar Rose 

3, Georgiou Katsonotou Street,3036, Limassol, Cyprus 

E: info@cedar-rose.com T: +357 25346630 

W: www.cedar-rose.com 

Cedar Rose has been globally recognised as the expert for credit 

reports, due diligence and data for the Middle East and North 

African countries since 1997. We now cover over 170 countries 

with the same high quality, expert analysis and attention to detail 

we are well-known and trusted for. 

Making best use of artificial intelligence and technology, Cedar 

Rose has won several awards including Credit Excellence & 

European Business Awards. Our website is a one-stop-shop for 

your business intelligence solutions. We are the ultimate source; 

with competitive prices and friendly customer service - whether 

you need one or one thousand reports. 

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 

With 130+ years of experience, Graydon is a leading provider of 

business information, analytics, insights and solutions. Graydon 

helps its customers to make fast, accurate decisions, enabling 

them to minimise risk and identify fraud as well as optimise 

opportunities with their commercial relationships. Graydon uses 

130+ international databases and the information of 90+ million 

companies. Graydon has offices in London, Cardiff, Amsterdam 

and Antwerp. Since 2016, Graydon has been part of Atradius, one 

of the world’s largest credit insurance companies. 

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 

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. 

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. 


ONGUARD 

T: 020 3868 0947 

E: lisa.bruno@onguard.com 

W: www.onguard.com 

Onguard is specialist in credit management software and market 

leader in innovative solutions for order to cash. Our integrated 

platform ensures an optimal connection of all processes in the 

order to cash chain and allows sharing of critical data. 

Intelligent tools that can seamlessly be interconnected and 

offer overview and control of the payment process, as well as 

contribute to a sustainable customer relationship. 

In more than 50 countries the Onguard platform is successfully 

used for successful credit management. 

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 

Founded in 2000, Tinubu Square is a software vendor, enabler 

of the Credit Insurance, Surety and Trade Finance digital 

transformation. 

Tinubu Square enables organizations across the world to 

significantly reduce their exposure to risk and their financial, 

operational and technical costs with best-in-class technology 

solutions and services. Tinubu Square provides SaaS solutions 

and services to different businesses including credit insurers, 

receivables financing organizations and multinational corporations. 

Tinubu Square has built an ecosystem of customers in over 20 

countries worldwide and has a global presence with offices in 

Paris, London, New York, Montreal and Singapore. 

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. 

Data Interconnect Ltd 

Units 45-50 

Shrivenham Hundred Business Park, Majors Road, 

Watchfield. Swindon, SN6 8TZ 

T: +44 (0)1367 245777 

E: sales@datainterconnect.co.uk 

W: www.datainterconnect.com 

Data Interconnect is dedicated to solving complex Accounts 

Receivable problems through reliable, easy-to-use cloud 

software. We empower billing managers and collections experts 

with the tools and data they need in a user-friendly interface, for 

timely, tax-compliant invoicing, collections and reconciliation in 

the most cost effective, secure, auditable and trackable manner. 

The powerful, flexible, Corrivo platform is the only system your 

AR team needs to manage your company’s cashflow better. 

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. 


Cr£ditWho? 

CICM Directory of Services 

FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION 

OPTIONS AND PRICING CONTACT 

russell@cabbells.uk 0203 603 7937 


DATA AND ANALYTICS 

FORUMS 

ESKER 

Sam Townsend Head of Marketing 

Northern Europe Esker Ltd. 

T: +44 (0)1332 548176 M: +44 (0)791 2772 302 

W: www.esker.co.uk LinkedIn: Esker – Northern Europe 

Twitter: @EskerNEurope blog.esker.co.uk 

Esker’s Accounts Receivable (AR) solution removes the all-toocommon 

obstacles preventing today’s businesses from collecting 

receivables in a timely manner. From credit management to cash 

allocation, Esker automates each step of the order-to-cash cycle. 

Esker’s automated AR system helps companies modernise 

without replacing their core billing and collections processes. By 

simply automating what should be automated, customers get the 

post-sale experience they deserve and your team gets the tools 

they need. 

Dun & Bradstreet 

Marlow International, Parkway Marlow 

Buckinghamshire SL7 1AJ 

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

Dun & Bradstreet Finance Solutions enable modern finance 

leaders and credit professionals to improve business performance 

through more effective risk management, identification of growth 

opportunities, and better integration of data and insights across 

the business. Powered by our Data Cloud, our solutions provide 

access to the world’s most comprehensive commercial data 

and insights - supplying a continually updated view of business 

relationships that helps finance and credit teams stay ahead of 

market shifts and customer changes. Learn more here: 

www.dnb.co.uk/modernfinance 

FORUMS INTERNATIONAL 

T: +44 (0)1246 555055 

E: info@forumsinternational.co.uk 

W: www.forumsinternational.co.uk 

Forums International Ltd have been running Credit and Industry 

Forums since 1991. We cover a range of industry sectors and 

International trading, attendance is for Credit Professionals of all 

levels. Our forums are not just meetings but communities which 

aim to prepare our members for the challenges ahead. Attending 

for the first time is free for you to gauge the benefits and meet the 

members and we only have pre-approved Partners, so you will 

never intentionally be sold to. 

INSOLVENCY 

SERRALA 

Serrala UK Ltd, 125 Wharfdale Road 

Winnersh Triangle, Wokingham 

Berkshire RG41 5RB 

E: r.hammons@serrala.com W: www.serrala.com 

T +44 118 207 0450 M +44 7788 564722 

Serrala optimizes the Universe of Payments for organisations 

seeking efficient cash visibility and secure financial processes. 

As an SAP Partner, Serrala supports over 3,500 companies 

worldwide. With more than 30 years of experience and 

thousands of successful customer projects, including solutions 

for the entire order-to-cash process, Serrala provides credit 

managers and receivables professionals with the solutions they 

need to successfully protect their business against credit risk 

exposure and bad debt loss. 

C2FO 

C2FO Ltd 

105 Victoria Steet 

SW1E 6QT 

T: 07799 692193 

E: anna.donadelli@c2fo.com 

W: www.c2fo.com 

C2FO turns receivables into cashflow and payables into income, 

uniquely connecting buyers and suppliers to allow discounts 

in exchange for early payment of approved invoices. Suppliers 

access additional liquidity sources by accelerating payments 

from buyers when required in just two clicks, at a rate that works 

for them. Buyers, often corporates with global supply chains, 

benefit from the C2FO solution by improving gross margin while 

strengthening the financial health of supply chains through 

ethical business practices. 

Menzies 

T: +44 (0)2073 875 868 - London 

T: +44 (0)2920 495 444 - Cardiff 

W: menzies.co.uk/creditor-services 

Operating across seven UK offices, Menzies LLP is an 

accountancy firm delivering traditional services combined 

with strategic commercial thinking. Our services include: 

advisory, audit, corporate and personal tax, corporate 

finance, forensic accounting, outsourcing, wealth 

management and business recovery – the latter of which 

includes our specialist offering developed specifically for 

creditors. For more information on this, or to see how the 

Menzies Creditor Services team can assist you, please 

visit: www.menzies.co.uk/creditor-services. Bethan Evans, 

Partner and Head of Menzies Creditor Services, email: 

bevans@menzies.co.uk and phone: +44 (0)2920 447512 

LEGAL 

Redwood Collections Ltd 

0208 288 3555 

enquiry@redwoodcollections.com 

Airport House, Purley Way, Croydon, CR0 0XZ 

“Redwood Collections offers a complete portfolio of debt 

collection services ranging from sensitive client-debtor mediation 

through to legal and insolvency action. 

Incorporated in 2009, we are pleased to represent in excess of 

11,000 clients. Whatever your debt collection needs, we have 

the expertise and resources to deliver a fast, efficient and costeffective 

solution.” 

Satago 

48 Warwick Street, London, W1B 5AW 

T: +44(0)020 8050 3015 

E: hello@satago.com 

W: www.satago.com 

Satago helps business owners and their accountants avoid credit 

risks, manage debtors and access finance when they need it – all 

in one platform. Satago integrates with 300+ cloud accounting 

apps with just a few clicks, helping businesses: 

• Understand their customers - with RISK INSIGHTS 

• Get paid on time - with automated CREDIT CONTROL 

• Access funding - with flexible SINGLE INVOICE FINANCE 

Visit satago.com and start your free trial today. 

identeco – Business Support Toolkit 

Compass House, Waterside, Hanbury Road, Bromsgrove, 

Worcestershire B60 4FD 

Telephone: 01527 549 531 Email: info@identeco.co.uk 

Web: www.identeco.co.uk 

identeco’s Business Support Toolkit is an online portal connecting 

its subscribers to a range of business services that help them 

to engage with new prospects, understand their customers and 

mitigate risk. Annual subscription is £79.95 per year for unlimited 

access. Providing company information and financial reports, 

director and shareholder structures as well as a unique financial 

health rating, balance sheets, ratio analysis, and any detrimental 

data that might be associated with a company. Other services 

also included in the subscription include a business names 

database, acquisition targets, a data audit service as well as 

unlimited, bespoke marketing and telesales listings for any sector. 

FINANCIAL PR 

Gravity Global 

Floor 6/7, Gravity Global, 69 Wilson St, London, EC2A 2BB 

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

W: www.gravityglobal.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 bestknown 

brands working on often challenging briefs. As the partner 

agency for the Credit Services Association (CSA) for the past 22 

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. 

Shoosmiths 

Email: paula.swain@shoosmiths.co.uk 

Tel: 03700 86 3000 W: www.shoosmiths.co.uk 

Shoosmiths’ highly experienced team will work closely with credit 

teams to recover commercial debts as quickly and cost effectively 

as possible. We have an in depth knowledge of all areas of debt 

recovery, including: 

•Pre-litigation services to effect early recovery and keep costs down 

•Litigation service 

•Post-litigation services including enforcement 

•Insolvency 

As a client of Shoosmiths, you will find us quick to relate to your goals, 

and adept at advising you on the most effective way of achieving 

them. 

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. 


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. 

ARE YOU A LEADER 

OR FOLLOWER? 

Key IVR 

T: +44 (0) 1302 513 000 

E: sales@keyivr.com 

W: www.keyivr.com 

Key IVR are proud to have joined the Chartered Institute of 

Credit Management’s Corporate partnership scheme. The 

CICM is a recognised and trusted professional entity within 

credit management and a perfect partner for Key IVR. We are 

delighted to be providing our services to the CICM to assist with 

their membership collection activities. Key IVR provides a suite 

of products to assist companies across the globe with credit 

management. Our service is based around giving the end-user 

the means to make a payment when and how they choose. Using 

automated collection methods, such as a secure telephone 

payment line (IVR), web and SMS allows companies to free up 

valuable staff time away from typical debt collection. 

RECRUITMENT 

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. 

PORTFOLIO 

CREDIT CONTROL 

Portfolio Credit Control 

1 Finsbury Square, London. EC2A 1AE 

T: 0207 650 3199 

E: recruitment@portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

W: www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com 

CICMQ accreditation is a proven model 

that has consistently delivered dramatic 

improvements in cashflow and efficiency 

CICMQ is the hallmark of industry 

leading organisations 

The CICM Best Practice Network is where 

CICMQ accredited organisations come 

together to develop, share and celebrate 

best practice in credit and collections 

BE A LEADER – JOIN THE CICM BEST 

PRACTICE NETWORK TODAY 

To find out more about flexible options 

to gain CICMQ accreditation 

E: cicmq@cicm.com T: 01780 722900 

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.

Credit Management November 2020

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template ?