Credit Management April 2024 issue

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
CM
APRIL ISSUE 2024
THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND
COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS
SWISS ROLL
There’s more to
Switzerland than
cheese and chocolate
What’s really going on
in the world of Invoice
Finance? PAGE 16
The challenge to credit
managers of the new
Procurement Act. PAGE 20

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SEAN FEAST FCICM
MANAGING EDITOR
Editor’s column
DEAD
RECKONING
I’M sure that all of you at some point have had
to deal with the death of a loved one. Many
of you may have had the privilege – if that
is the right word – of being an executor to
a Will – and all that this entails. It’s a tough
gig, often made tougher still by having to
call multiple creditor organisations – banks,
utilities, mobile phone providers etc – to set the wheels
in motion for closing various accounts or subscriptions.
I well recall a recent conversation I had a few years ago
with a well-known satellite TV company who kept
insisting that they could only speak to the account
holder who had to give me permission to talk to them.
No amount of telling them that said account holder -
my mother - was dead seemed to be getting through. A
farcical impasse had been reached, with seemingly no
way through. The computer said ‘no’.
And if you think that may have been an isolated incident,
I experienced the exact same scenario with the mobile
phone company. I consoled myself with the thought
that my mother would have actually found the whole
thing quite funny. She was good like that.
In short, there’s a great deal wrong with managing death
and especially around the issue of death notifications. It
also plays havoc in our world of credit. So I was pleased
to see that among the winners in the recent CICM British
Credit Awards was a technology provider focused on
this very issue. It has developed a death notification
platform that has the potential to transform the
process for good, and ultimately help individuals and
organisations to resolve any outstanding financial
issues early.
And it’s not just fanciful thinking. It has been working
with an energy provider in delivering a solution that
their customers use and seem to like. It has dramatically
cut the volumes of calls coming into the call centre and
enhanced their customer services offering. It has eased
the mental stress both on the caller and call recipient
alike, having to deal with such an emotional subject.
And – if it isn’t too vulgar to mention – it is saving the
energy company thousands of pounds every month in
time and resource, at a time when many such firms are
under severe pressure to deliver.
The judges were unanimous in their verdict. But while
the Government has ‘Tell us once’ as a tool to enable the
bereaved to inform most public sector organisations of
a death in one go, there is no such common platform in
the private sector, with everyone doing their own thing,
and mostly not doing it very well. Perhaps this is the
start of something even more significant, and a chance
for the computer, for once, to say ‘yes’!
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 3

contents
April 2024 issue
12 – QUALITY CONTROLLER
Sean Feast FCICM speaks to Alan Davis about
the importance of quality in collections and
how regulation can be a barrier to progress.
16 – PICTURE IMPERFECT
What’s really going on in the world of Invoice
Finance?
20 – BUYER BEWARE
The recently passed Procurement Act aims
to reduce complexity, increase flexibility, and
promote transparency over public spending.
24 – THE ART OF EQUILIBRIUM
Five ways to strike a positive work-life
balance.
28 – PASSING TIME
A new digital platform looks set to transform
the death notification process.
34 – COUNTRY FOCUS
Switzerland: the art of neutrality.
40 – RAISING A GLASS
Exam fears didn’t dampen one credit
manager’s rise to the top.
52 – FATAL HESITATION
Making reasonable adjustments in the
recruitment process for those with a speech
impediment.
54 – LIFE ACCORDING TO...
Can Lamb Moussaka ever be confused with
Toad in the Hole?
Swit
11
INSOLVENCY
Navigating landlord considerations
when tenants are insolvent.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 4

CICM GOVERNANCE
34
COUNTRY FOCUS
zerland
12
QUALITY
CONTROLLER
Sean Feast FCICM
talks to Alan Davis.
40
RAISING A GLASS
President: Stephen Baister FCICM
Chief Executive: Sue Chapple FCICM
Executive Board: Chair Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad)
Vice Chair: Neil Jinks FCICM
Treasurer: Glen Bullivant FCICM
Larry Coltman FCICM / Allan Poole MCICM
Advisory Council: Caroline Asquith-Turnbull FCICM
Laurie Beagle FCICM / Glen Bullivant FCICM
Brendan Clarkson FCICM / Larry Coltman FCICM
Peter Gent FCICM(Grad / Victoria Herd FCICM(Grad)
Laural Jefferies FCICM / Neil Jinks FCICM
Martin Kirby FCICM / Charles Mayhew FCICM
Hans Meijer FCICM / Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad)
Amanda Phelan FCICM / Allan Poole MCICM
Phil Roberts FCICM / Chris Sanders FCICM
Paula Swain FCICM / Jamie Thornton MCICM
Mark Taylor MCICM / Atul Vadher FCICM(Grad)
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
Publisher
Chartered Institute of Credit Management
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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
Joe Clarkson, Rob Howard and
Melanie York
Advertising
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Email: paul@centuryone.uk
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ISSN 0265-2099
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.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 5

THE NEWS
CMNEWS
A round-up of news stories from the
world of consumer and commercial credit.
WRITTEN BY: SEAN FEAST FCICM
Women struggle more
with finances than men
WOMEN are suffering
most in the
financial squeeze,
according to the
latest figures from
credit management group Intrum.
A survey of 20,000 consumers across
Europe shows that people are spending
more of their income on essentials than
they did in the past. Banks recommend
following the 50-30-20 rule, suggesting
an allocation of half income to essentials,
30 percent to discretionary items and 20
percent to savings.
The financial crisis has made these target
figures challenging for consumers to meet,
with many struggling to stay afloat. On
average, UK consumers are now using 59
percent of their income to pay for essentials
such as housing, groceries and energy bills,
allocating 24 percent to discretionary
spending and saving only 17 percent of
their income.
However, when these figures are broken
down, the situation is significantly worse
for women. Women spend an average of
64 percent of their income on essentials,
compared with 53 percent for men. They
spend 21 percent of their income on
discretionary items, while men allocate 28
percent of their income to this category.
Savings figures show that women are only
able to put aside 15 percent of their income
on average, compared with 18 percent that
men can save.
Intrum UK MD Jim Appleby says the
financial crisis has exacerbated gender
inequalities when it comes to money:
“Women are spending less of their income
on luxuries and ‘nice to have’ items than
their male counterparts. They are also
saving less – something that has long-term
implications for financial wellbeing.”
Unsurprisingly, women are said to be
feeling more ‘downbeat’ about their earning
power than men. They are also more likely
to report that financial concerns are
harming their mental or physical health.
Almost half of women (49 percent) said
lack of money has made them deprioritise
their physical health – for example buying
cheaper food or cutting gym memberships
– compared with 39 percent of men.
In the last 12 months, 45 percent of
women say their mental health has suffered
as a result of worrying about their finances
and bills (compared with 37 percent of
men). Despite these challenges, women are
less likely to skip bills. When questioned,
16 percent of men in the UK said they
expected to skip at least one bill this year.
Only 10 percent of women said the same.
Ultimately, more than eight in ten
women are planning changes to spending
to cover the cost of living. Almost half of
UK consumers (45 percent) are thinking
about adding an extra job or side hustle to
manage in 2024.
“People are willing to work their way free
of problem debt,” Jim continues. “But there
is a feeling that even this won’t lead to the
same standard of living their parents had.
More than half of the people we spoke to
feel they will be less well off when it comes
to savings, property and pensions than the
previous generations.”
“Women are spending less of their income on luxuries
and ‘nice to have’ items than their male counterparts.
They are also saving less – something that has longterm
implications for financial wellbeing.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 6

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
FSB fails in attempt to
secure PG super complaint
THE Federation of Small Businesses has had
its super complaint to the Financial Conduct
Authority (FCA) rejected, according to a
recent report in The Times. The FCA said it
would investigate the issue but could only
look at how it affected the smallest traders
as most business lending ‘was outside its
remit’.
The FSB, which called for an investigation
into what it described as ‘harsh lending
practices of banks that excessively demand
personal guarantees for business loans’ called
the decision ‘illogical’ and ‘not good enough’.
The federation said the use of PGs was
putting companies off from proceeding with
loan applications, causing ‘disproportionate’
distress when a loan was in default; and
giving lenders too much ‘influence over
A third of adults have less than
£500 in emergency savings
A third of UK adults have less than £500
saved for emergencies, leaving them heavily
exposed to income shocks, according to a
survey of 8,000 UK adults from Lowell.
Nearly half (46 percent) of UK adults
saw their financial situation worsen in
2023 and nearly 70 percent do not expect
their financial situation to improve in
2024.
Data from Lowell’s eight million UK
customers also reveals that adults are
relying more on credit to meet their daily
expenses. Average credit use is the highest
it has been since the start of the COVID-19
pandemic.
Commenting on the data, John Pears,
Lowell’s UK CEO, says the last 12 months
have been a challenging time for many
families: “High inflation and high interest
rates have forced families to make difficult
choices just to keep their heads above the
water, and our latest data shows just how
worrying an impact this is having.
“The erosion of financial health not
the decision-making processes of distressed
businesses’.
Martin McTague, national chairman
of the FSB, said: “Our super-complaint
outlined why there is a potentially a
systemic problem when it comes to personal
guarantees, and the chilling effect they have
on growth and investment.”
Lenders, however, say that the use of PGs
can be essential to secure funding to help
businesses grow. As one source told Credit
Management, ‘why should a bank lend to a
business owner who’s not prepared to back
his enterprise with their own money?’
Credit Management has also seen evidence
of some business owners using the same
PG to secure multiple loans without the
individual lenders being aware.
only impacts the immediate wellbeing of
families, but also jeopardises the UK’s longterm
financial resilience. While inflation
is coming down and rates are holding
steady, the benefits aren’t yet being felt
on the ground. The Government needs to
make sure that support for these families
continues, even if headline numbers are
coming down.”
Adults in the UK are using more
credit to meet their daily expenses, with
average credit use rising to 53 percent, the
highest since the start of the COVID-19
pandemic. Credit usage rose by almost
three percent over the last six months of
2023, underscoring the ongoing struggle
to make ends meet amidst macroeconomic
uncertainty.
Almost half (46 percent) of UK adults
surveyed said their financial situation
worsened in 2023. A third (33 percent) said
they expect their financial situation to get
worse in 2024, while 35 percent expect no
change.
New Chair for
StepChange Board
LESLEY Titcomb CBE has been appointed
the new Chair of the Board of Trustees of
StepChange Debt Charity, taking over from
John Griffith-Jones who leaves the charity
after more than five years in post.
Lesley has served on the StepChange
board since 2019, acting as Board Champion
for Consumer Duty and serving on the
Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee.
She is also the current Chair of the Market
Harborough Building Society and was
Chief Executive of The Pensions Regulator
between 2015 and 2019.
Lesley says it’s a huge honour: “I am
greatly looking forward to helping shape
and develop the charity’s direction in the
coming months and years. I would like to
thank John Griffith-Jones for his support
and excellent work as Chair over the past
five years, on which I now hope to build
with the support of a strong Trustee and
Executive team.”
Growing partnerships
PHILLIPS & Cohen Associates has
appointed Kacey Rask as SVP, Growth
and Partnerships. With over a decade in the
Accounts Receivable Management industry,
Rask is described as an experienced leader,
holding several senior positions, including
VP of Portfolio Servicing at Unifund CCR,
LLC, and VP of Sales and Marketing at
CenterPoint Legal Solutions. Commencing
her career at The National List of Attorneys,
Kacey's versatile expertise and client-focused
approach have supported her success. She
is consistently recognized for enhancing
processes, introducing innovative solutions,
and fostering significant revenue growth.
Life on the Veld
VELD Capital, a leading European specialist
private credit investor, together with the
EOS Group have purchased of a portfolio
of regulated French consumer loans from
BNP Paribas Personal Finance. The €364mn
(nominal value) portfolio is described as
being highly granular in nature, containing
over 125,000 small balance French consumer
loans with an average balance of under
€3,000.
Credit Blues
A survey of 1,000 UK SMEs by Bibby
Financial Services suggests an overall
dissatisfaction with all UK political parties,
with one in five (20 percent) unable to pin
their colours to any particular mast. They
do know, however, that they’d like to see
reduced corporation tax and business rates,
regardless of who gets into power next.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 7
continues on page 8 >

THE NEWS
Younger borrowers bring
access to loans into question
AS consumers continue to
navigate cost-of-living
pressures, new research
shows that younger age
groups face significant
barriers when it comes to accessing credit.
A survey of 1,000 UK borrowers by Tink,
the payment services and data enrichment
platform, found that over three quarters
(78 percent) of 18-34 year olds have had
a loan application rejected. When asked
why they’d been disqualified from a loan,
12 percent cited thin credit history (e.g. not
having enough credit history to qualify)
and 11 percent noted the inability to prove
their financial history.
Tink’s insights also show that younger age
groups abandoning arduous applications,
suggesting they have zero tolerance for
friction-filled processes and may not
be capitalising on the financial services
available to them.
The research shows that nearly a quarter
(22 percent) of 18-34 year olds have
abandoned a loan application and used a
different lender because the process was too
cumbersome. What’s more, when applying
for a loan, 20 percent of respondents said
they had the correct documents, but
abandoned the process because they needed
to submit them manually (i.e had to print
them off and post them).
A Tink survey of 200 UK lenders supports
these findings, with research showing that
36 percent of lenders cite manual income
verification as the point when they see
the most drop off in the loan application
process.
Similarly, the research suggests that
cumbersome manual processes can be
costly and time consuming for lenders.
Almost a third (32 percent) of lenders
surveyed cite manual income verification
as the most time consuming step in their
own risk decisioning process, and a quarter
(25 percent) say document validation
(capturing application information and
analysing its authenticity) is the highest
cost they face.
As a solution to overcome these barriers,
younger age groups cite a willingness to
give lenders permission to view transaction
data from their bank accounts in return
for smoother application processes and a
better chance of securing a loan.
For example, encouragingly 40 percent
of 18-34 year olds surveyed would enable
lenders to digitally view transaction
data from bank accounts to improve the
application process (e.g. remove the need
to manually submit documents on income
and expenditure), while over half (57
percent) would like the option of having
loans tailored to their financial situation.
What’s more, the research highlights
that lenders recognise that improving
the loan application process makes sound
business sense. More than three quarters
(78 percent) of lenders surveyed agree it’s
important to reduce friction in the lending
application to give them a competitive
advantage, while 77 percent say it’s crucial
to improve risk decisioning models to give
a more accurate view of people’s finances.
Jack Spiers, Banking & Lending Director
at Tink says the research highlights a clear
access issue amongst younger generations
trying to borrow: “Not only are a significant
amount wrestling with cumbersome
application processes, they’re also being
rejected for loans based on factors that
suggest blinkered financial assessments.
“It is important lenders are harnessing
data-driven risk decisioning solutions to
offer fair, accurate affordability checks,
while also removing the friction associated
with manual application submissions.
And it’s not just benefiting the end user.
Adopting these models can help lenders too
- boosting customer acquisition through
improved success rates, while reducing
operational costs.”
“Not only are a significant amount
wrestling with cumbersome
application processes, they’re
also being rejected for loans based
on factors that suggest blinkered
financial assessments.’’
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 8

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
Small enterprises face
£70,000 outstanding bill
OVER three million (73 percent) small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have some
form of outstanding late payment from
customers, leaving them almost £70,000
out of pocket on average, according to new
research from Aldermore’s SME Growth Index.
The total value of late payments has declined from
early 2023, falling by 55 percent from £152,606. However,
outstanding balances still present a huge challenge for SMEs
and nearly half (47 percent) felt that the amount they were
owed on average had actually increased. This is potentially
due to the cost-of-living crisis leaving many business leaders
concerned about their cashflow.
On average, SMEs are likely to wait 34 days for a late
payment to be paid and spend nine hours of company
time chasing outstanding amounts. This is a considerable
improvement from early last year, where SMEs were waiting
55 days for late payments, and spending 14 hours of company
time following up on each outstanding payment.
Despite the improvements in late payments, over a third
(36 percent) of businesses facing cashflow issues are having
difficulties paying essential business costs as a result. Nearly
a quarter (24 percent) face delays in making key investments,
while one in five (22 percent) are missing out on opportunities
for growth. Meanwhile, over a fifth (21 percent) feel they are
losing their competitive advantage as they’re unable to fund
strategic business decisions, such as hiring new talent.
Ross McFarlane, commercial director of invoice finance at
Aldermore says that while it’s positive to see late payments
declining, there still needs to be a culture shift within the
UK to reach a place where late payments are no longer the
norm: “It’s encouraging to see the Government announce
recent measures to tackle late payments through the Prompt
Payment and Cash Flow Review and we hope this will mean
late payments continue to decline, particularly at this critical
time for the UK economy. “Being paid promptly means
SMEs do not need to spend valuable time chasing payments
and instead can focus on investing in and growing their
businesses, which we know is especially important when
balance sheets are being tested. That’s why we offer SMEs
flexible finance solutions such as invoice finance which can
help them to quickly release cash into their business to give
them quick access to the money they need to run and grow
their company.”
“Being paid promptly means SMEs do not need to
spend valuable time chasing payments and instead can
focus on investing in and growing their businesses.’’
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 9
continues on page 10 >

THE NEWS
SFP completes successful
sale of A1 Comms
NATIONWIDE insolvency practitioner,
SFP, has successfully completed the sale
of certain of the business and assets of A1
Comms Limited to Affordable Mobile
Limited (AML) after the business went
into administration.
All employees have been retained in
the sale which was completed within two
weeks of SFP’s appointment, following
an intensive and competitive negotiation
period, conducted at an appropriate pace
to preserve goodwill.
As part of the sale AML has, amongst
other assets, acquired the Intellectual
Property rights in and to the A1 Comms
websites as the business seeks to expand
its mobile proposition. The firm says that
the acquisition of the Brands and Platforms
will provide AML ‘with expertise and
synergies that will accelerate this ambition’.
Derbyshire-based A1 Comms sold mobile
phones through its online consumer brands
Affordable Mobiles, Buymobiles and
Phones.co.uk. It was established in 1997 and
PKF appoints former CEO
of CICM as new Advisor
THE restructuring and insolvency arm
of PKF has appointed the former Chief
Executive of the Chartered Institute of
Credit Management (CICM), Philip King
FCICM, as an advisor as the business looks
to further expand its business operations.
Philip, who also served on the Joint
Insolvency Committee between 2011 – 2020
and was the JIC’s first ever Lay Chair, has
worked in the credit industry for more
than 40 years. This includes 26 years in
front-line credit management and 14 years
as the CICM CEO. Most recently he was
the interim Small Business Commissioner
has been a market leading brand, reaching
annual turnover of more than £140m at its
peak.
David Kemp and Richard Hunt,
Insolvency Practitioners and Directors at
SFP, were appointed joint administrators
on February 2nd with the aim of protecting
the company’s employees and creditors.
“The teams at both A1 and AML worked
tirelessly with us to achieve the purpose of
saving the business. We are pleased to have
completed a sale, which should enhance
the position for creditors and stakeholders,
critically also protecting jobs in the process
too,” David says.
“Ongoing economic pressures and
the continuing cost-of-living crisis have
caused many businesses to struggle in
recent times, and we urge any company
that finds itself in difficulty to seek
professional guidance at the earliest
opportunity to secure the best result for
the stakeholders/creditors, the company,
and their people.”
sharing his experience with all sizes of
business about the importance of managing
cashflow and getting paid.
Philip says he has been impressed with
the work PKF has been doing to support
businesses in need of restructuring: “I hope
to be able to bring my specialist knowledge
and expertise of the credit industry and
insolvency coupled with direct experience
of the challenges faces by businesses both
large and small to help PKF further extend
the capabilities and reach of the services it
offers.
“Insolvency can be a challenging time,
and I have learned that it is not just the
financial impact, but also the impact on
local communities, economies and an
individual’s health and wellbeing that need
to be clearly recognised and managed.”
Brendan Clarkson FCICM, a Director
with the Business Advisory Team of PKF, is
similarly delighted to have secured Philip’s
support: “Philip is one of the best-known
faces in the credit industry and his expertise
is hugely respected among his peers. His
advice in extending the services we offer
and the events we organise within local
business communities will help support
businesses throughout some challenging
times ahead.”
Return to sender
THE UK Regulators’ Network (UKRN),
the Financial Conduct Authority, Ofgem,
Ofwat, and Ofcom, have published a joint
letter setting out shared expectations in
relation to debt collection and customers
experiencing financial difficulty. The letter
sets out a series of ‘outcomes’ it expects
regulated DCAs to deliver including
appropriate frequency of communications,
the use of supportive tone and language,
and clear signposting to free debt advice.
The letter states: ‘Firms should be
prepared for regulators to use their
respective powers to ensure these
expectations are met and embedded in
firms’ processes in their sectors. Where we
find firms are falling short and delivering
poor outcomes leading to consumer harm,
we may take robust action. We want firms
to commit to delivering these outcomes and
will continue to monitor how firms in our
sectors are supporting customers in financial
difficulty in 2024.’
Flexible friends
UK Finance has published its end of
year figures relating to card transactions
by UK cardholders both in the UK and
overseas. There were 2.28 billion debit card
transactions in December, 2.3 percent more
than in December 2022. The total spend
of £68.4 billion was 1.4 percent lower than
December 2022. There were 371.4 million
credit card transactions in December, 3.8
percent more than in December 2022. The
total spend of £19.2 billion was 3.7 percent
higher than December 2022. Outstanding
balances on credit card accounts have
grown by 9.7 percent over the 12 months
to December and 50.1 percent of outstanding
balances incurred interest compared to 50.2
percent in December 2022. Contactless
payments accounted for 63 percent of all
credit card and 75 percent of all debit card
transactions.
Signs of delay
INTEREST rates and political uncertainty
are holding back many businesses from
investing in the long-term business growth
the economy needs. Data from Bibby
Financial Services’ Q1 2024 SME Confidence
Tracker, which surveyed 1,000 UK SMEs,
shows that over half (53 percent) of SMEs
are putting off making major investments
until interest rates fall, while four in ten
(43 percent) are delaying investment until
after the next general election. Despite
this, research findings reveal green shoots
of optimism for the second quarter of
the year. The data shows businesses are
more optimistic this spring, reflecting
wider economic indicators pointing to an
improved outlook for the UK.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 10

.
INSOLVENCY
RENTAL RIGHTS
Navigating landlord considerations when tenants are insolvent.
BY ALEXANDRA DAVIES
DEALING with insolvent tenants can
present significant challenges for
landlords, where insolvent corporate
tenants can disrupt rental income
streams and create uncertainties. As
a landlord, understanding your rights
and options is crucial to mitigate risks
and protect interests. In this article, we explore the rights
afforded to landlords in each insolvency process, along with
the advantages and disadvantages.
Administration
When a company is placed into Administration, an Insolvency
Practitioner is appointed to manage its affairs and realise
the company’s assets, with the aim of maximising the return
to creditors. Administration triggers a moratorium of the
company, which places a protection around the company.
Therefore, a landlord will be unable to take any enforcement
action without taking court action.
If the company continues to occupy the premises after the
date of the Administration, then the rent can be paid as an
expense of the Administration estate. However, to avoid
incurring additional liabilities, the landlord might consider
accepting a surrender of the lease in such circumstances. This
will allow the landlord to re-let the premises and find another
tenant.
Alternatively, the Administrator may seek to assign the lease if
the company is sold as part of a pre-pack Administration. The
landlord will need to seek legal advice in these circumstances
and consider negotiating any additional terms as part of the
assignment.
Whilst the Administration process allows for possible
restructure of the company’s operations and potentially
preserving the lease and rental income for landlords, landlords
do have limited control over the process and decisions are
made by the Administration in the best interests of creditors.
Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (“CVL”)
The CVL process is initiated by the shareholders, where
the company is voluntarily placed into Liquidation and a
Liquidator is appointed. Usually, the company ceases to trade
prior to Liquidation.
If the landlord is owed rent arrears when the company
is placed into a CVL, the landlord can terminate the
lease and issue court action against the insolvent
tenant. The Liquidator may look to make an
application to Court to stay any proceedings. It is
advisable for landlords to undertake a costs/benefits
analysis before undertaking legal proceedings,
as they can be costly and may not always result in a better
outcome for the landlord.
Similar to Administration, should the company remain in
occupation of the premises, the rent liability will continue to
accure and is payable as an expense of the Liquidation. The
advantage of a CVL process for Landlords is that the Liquidator
may look to disclaim the lease on their appointment which
will provide for a relatively swift resolution. The landlord may
issue a claim in the estate for any outstanding rent arrears and
future rent liabilities, however, they do have a duty to mitigate
the future rent arrears by marketing the property for re-let.
Creditors Voluntary Arrangement (“CVA”)
A CVA is an agreement between a company and its creditors,
which sets out a plan for repayment of the company’s debts
over a specified period. The company’s landlords may be
among these creditors, typically for rent arrears. Whilst
landlords will be given time to review the proposals and vote
on the proposed agreement, landlords generally have limited
powers in the CVA process.
A successful CVA may allow the company to maintain its
operations, safeguarding future rental income and enabling
the landlord to recoup a portion of their past debt through
the CVA's repayment scheme. However, the amount recovered
may not be the entire sum owed and could result in some debt
write-offs. Any continuation of trading will likely involve renegotiation
of lease terms which may not be as favourable as
the previous terms. It is advisable for landlords to enter early
engagement with the Insolvency Practitioner upon receipt of
a CVA proposal.
Compulsory Winding Up (“CWU”)
This is a Court-led process, where the Court will make an
order that places the company into Liquidation. Landlords
have similar rights and consideration as in a CVL. They
can claim for any outstanding rent arrears and future rent
liabilities within the Liquidation estate, any distributions
from the estate will depend on the realisation of assets in the
Liquidation and will be distributed based on the order of
priority under the Insolvency legalisation.
Ultimately, landlords’ rights vary depending on the insolvency
process undertaken, each offering advantages and
disadvantages. Early engagement with the insolvency
Practitioner is advisable in all circumstance for the
landlord to consider the implications on their rental
income and rights. Seeking professional advice can
protect their rights and mitigate any potential losses.
Alexandra Davies is a senior manager
at Menzies LLP.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 11

INTERVIEW
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 12

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
QUALITY
CONTROLLER
Sean Feast FCICM speaks to Alan Davis MCICM about
the importance of quality in collections and how regulation
can be a barrier to progress.
ALAN Davis always knew he wanted to
run his own business, and it wasn’t long
before his wish came true. And like
so many others in the world of debt
collection, it wasn’t ever something
he imagined doing at school; he just
found it he was good at it.
Brought up in Milton Keynes before moving to Surrey in his
teens, Alan’s father worked in a local factory while his mother was
a receptionist at Pergamon Press. Never particularly interested
in his schoolwork (“the best thing about school was not being
there,” he says) and having received nothing in the way of careers’
advice, Alan left at the age of 15 to start work on the production
line of a factory manufacturing, among other things, tiling grout.
Productive path
It was an opportunity to work in sales that set Alan on a more
productive path and led him to his first job in debt collection at
Allied in Teddington: “There were a few steps in-between,” Alan
admits, “but I joined Allied at 20 and never really looked back.”
Most of his clients were commercial businesses with B2B
debts which helped build his knowledge of commercial
recoveries. He also gained experience in the water industry,
working extensively for the Thames Water account not long
after the industry was privatised and the first debts were
outsourced. Ironically, when he left to join the CCI Group,
he again found himself working on Thames Water business.
Alan spent several happy years at CCI (it was ultimately sold
to Equifax in 1998 by which time it had revenues in excess of
$11m), having been enticed across by the founder with whom
he had worked previously. But it was not long before another
opportunity presented itself to join JB Debt Recovery led by Jim
Brown and another happy period until he became semi-retired
and moved with his family to Cornwall.
“I’d visited Cornwall in 1999 with the family and remember the
eclipse,” he laughs. “I then spent the next two years working out
a plan for how to get down here. The children were still very
young when we moved first to Perranporth and later Truro.”
Although taking on consultancy work, he decided in the summer
of 2007 to take the plunge and start his own business, MIL
Collections: “I suppose it was a case of sticking to what you
know,” he explains. “I’d stopped wanting to be a one-man band
and decided to start a proper company. I’d always kept in touch
with the industry and knew quite a few people and that helped
get me started. I guess what none of us knew was that there was
a financial crash coming!”
Challenging times
Alan admits, with the benefit of hindsight, that it was a terrible
time to start a business. The collections environment, which
until then had been relatively productive, changed virtually
overnight: ‘Regulation was fairly relaxed, and people were
effectively borrowing their way out of debt into more debt, so
collections was relatively easy,” he says. “Then it got hard, and
very quickly!”
Despite the challenges, Alan stuck with it and weathered
the storm, emerging in a good place: “In setting up the business,
the mission was to always provide a quality service,” he
explains. “Being in Cornwall, I could attract a higher
quality of talent because I was prepared to pay London
prices and focused on bringing in a smaller number of
higher paid people, rather than simply churning ‘call centre
fodder’.
“Having better people helps deliver a better service and paying
them well supports staff retention which in turn supports higher
performance and enables them to build their experience and
client contacts. This builds on our mission to excel in commercial
collections.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 13
continues on page 14 >

INTERVIEW
Commercial collections, Alan says, has often been considered the poor
relation of the collections industry: “Most agencies are only interested
in the big portfolios of consumer debt which means commercial debt
is often overlooked,” he continues. “It also means that agents don’t
have the skills or knowledge required, or an understanding of how
to access even basic information from Companies House, which is
essential if you are trying to collect from a business.”
Early success
One of the reasons for MIL’s early success was that its launch coincided
with a big shift by companies to move their credit teams offshore:
“There was an awful lot of outsourcing overseas going on at that
point,” he says, “and to an extent there still is, with call centres
being set up in India and South Africa, for example, to drive greater
efficiencies when managing high-volumes of cases. But this gave us
an opportunity to focus on quality.
“Much of our business in those early days was coming from the
debt purchasers, but we also began to target specific, commerciallyoriented
sectors in the non FCA-regulated space, such as collecting
rent arrears, for example, and working with utilities in collecting
their business-to-business debts.”
Alan says that after the crash and before the emergence of the FCA,
the market began to recover, and for a time was positively buoyant.
With tighter regulation, however, many of the debt purchasers became
less inclined to outsource work on a contingency basis to the point
that the flow of work virtually stopped and the landscaped changed
irrevocably: “We used to receive regular instructions from debt
purchasers as part of their respective panels, but this work steadily
drifted away,” he says.
“Today we still have some regulated work (and are FCA authorised)
but it’s not an area where we particularly focus. It tends to be legacy
accounts, but there are also debts relating to sole traders and that
kind of thing that’s treated as ‘regulated’ so being FCA authorised
is important.”
One way in which the landscape has changed over the years is the
way in which individual collectors can be remunerated: “We can’t
remunerate individuals based on the money they collect,” he explains,
“because you are opening yourself up to compliance issues. But you
end up with a ridiculous situation where the agent could be paid
more for not collecting a debt, rather than for doing the job for
which they are employed and which our clients have engaged us to
do. There is also no longer the scope for negotiation with the debtor
that there used to be.”
Customer outcomes
Alan is not convinced that FCA regulation has, on balance, helped
improve customer outcomes: “They have now made borrowing money
significantly more difficult than it ever used to be,” he explains. “Now
you could argue that this is a good thing as it stops more people
from getting into debt, but it has added huge amounts of cost to the
lender, and it is the honest consumer who ends up being penalised
for it,” he says.
“I am sure there are many industries that benefit from tighter
regulation, but I’m not convinced it has benefited our industry. It’s
a separate point, perhaps, but arguably the mistake that was made
after the crash was that all of the bad loans were socialised and they
“In setting up
the business, the
mission was to
always provide a
quality service”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 14

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
“The average experience of a small business – perhaps a
garage, a plumber or even a private school, for example – is
not especially good. They place a debt with an agency and
then never hear from them. We’ve all been guilty of that in
the past, and it’s something we’re looking to address, so we
give those customers an account manager who is in regular
contact so they know how their debt is progressing and the
actions we are taking on their behalf.”
Some of the difficulty in encouraging more businesses to use
a commercial agency are the same challenges experienced in
the consumer sector: “Obviously businesses are concerned
about their reputation, but we are working on their behalf,”
he says.
Alan is also surprised at how some businesses are put off
for fear of falling foul of regulation: “We have come across
a number of firms who want to work with us but say they
cannot because of GDPR. They’ve been told they are not
allowed to share information with anyone, under any
circumstances, and even though it’s nonsense, it’s another
example of how regulation can be a barrier and not an
enabler to business.”
In terms of success rates, Alan is understandably proud
of his team: “For some of the sectors we are working in
we're liquidating between 30 percent and 40 percent net of
settlements and that’s a pretty good collections performance,”
he says. “Sometimes, just a couple of phone calls from a
debt collector can be enough to get a case over the line.”
Alan is also keen to lead on innovation. He is already
something of a pioneer when it comes to Artificial Intelligence
(see Credit Management feature in our January/February issue):
“We were an early adopter and our use of AI is fairly routine
now,” he says.
“People always fear change and are suspicious of new things,”
he continues. “Like when they first developed the internal
combustion engine and someone had to walk in front of
the vehicle with a red flag.”
shouldn’t have been. If the banks who had made poor
lending decisions had gone bust, then the market would
have righted itself very swiftly. Instead, they were all bailed
out, and now we have regulation that makes lending and
borrowing less attractive.”
MIL is steadily carving out a niche for itself in certain core
sectors, including real estate where it is fast becoming an
established name. But it is also keen to work with smaller,
individual businesses that may only have a handful of debts
but don’t know where to turn: “We’ve established a dedicated
client services team specifically to serve what we believe is
an underserved sector of the commercial world,” he explains.
Making decisions
In much the same way, Alan says, some people are frightened
of AI: “They think it will take over and make decisions
for us, like some blind malevolent force. It will not and it
cannot, as that is not its remit and we are in control, like
a driver is in control of a car. We use it primarily to assist
with further improving communications and assisting with
specific tasks that could help make us more efficient, but
it’s not telling us what to do and when to do it.”
In the 17 years since Alan started the business, he has still
kept the team relatively small, at around 30, and he has no
particular ambition to expand: “My mission is a simple
one – to do a bit better tomorrow,” he laughs. “Perhaps if
we do have a mission, then it’s to become the ‘go to’ agency
in certain key sectors. That to me would constate success.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 15

INVOICE FINANCE
PICTURE
IMPERFECT
What’s really going on in the world of Invoice Finance?
BY SEAN FEAST FCICM
FOLLOWING on from the article in the
March issue (Wax and Wane) on the state
of Invoice Finance, Credit Management
sought the views of an Invoice Finance
provider and a commercial broker for a
view ‘from the other side’.
Ant Persse FCICM, CEO of Optimum Finance, says that
his first concern centres on the data: “The article questions
the data that comes from UK Finance, and I would agree.
Many funders, especially the smaller independents, do not
report to UK Finance, largely because of the perceived cost
versus benefit of joining. This means that the data being
reported cannot be wholly accurate and that is unhelpful.
“I also don’t think that the 50,000+ IF provider debentures
quoted in the article will include IF that is provided from
multi-product providers whose debentures/funder names
do not clearly differentiate Invoice Finance from their other
funding solutions. This suggests that the number could be
higher. However, I also agree that many debentures remain
unsatisfied despite facilities with funders expiring, then
reducing this number. Ultimately this implies that the data
is neither straightforward nor accurate.”
Ant says that if UK Finance captured all the data from
all funders, it would present a clearer and more accurate
picture: “It would also tell us which businesses benefit
from the product and more importantly who don’t so
that funders and introducers can seek to target enhanced
awareness in these areas.”
Unrepresentative view
Leanne Dawson, Founding Director of Pathfinder Invoice
Finance, agrees that taking the view of only 40 lenders is
not a true representation of the industry: “It would be more
useful to see the full sector reporting, whether part of the
UK Finance or not,” she says.
She wonders whether UK Finance could look at providing
an ‘entry’ level membership to allow more lenders to access
the panel and to provide the information required for a
full sector analysis: “Lenders should want to be part of UK
Finance and incorporate the training and awareness of
the body to new entrants to IF,” she adds. “As a consensus,
individuals (not organisations) working within Invoice
Finance are not even aware that UK Finance exists and that
has to be a concern.”
In terms of the popularity of IF, Leanne cites, for
comparison, data provided by the NACFB – the National
Association of Commercial Finance Brokers. Only three
percent of the £38bn of lending attributed to brokers
involved Invoice Finance: “On that basis, the picture looks
bleak, but again we’re not really seeing an accurate picture
of what’s happening.
“That said,” Leanne continues, “we cannot ignore that
the use of IF decreased during COVID, as did the average
utilisation from existing clients that remained in IF. This
was due to the ‘cheap’ money made available through
various Government loans. BBL had rates of 2.9 percent,
and while CBILS/ RLS rates varied the rates were so low
that businesses could save funds through paying off their
Invoice Finance.”
Leanne expects this scenario will soon reverse: “Businesses
are continuing to struggle with cashflow due to COVID,
Brexit, inflation and the cost of war,” she says. “Lenders
anticipate that when the CBILS funds are spent, clients
will revert to Invoice Finance.”
Ease of understanding
In the original article, the author highlighted the need to
make Invoice Finance easier to understand. This resonates
with both Ant and Leanne: “I regularly speak to businesses
who do not understand what Invoice Finance is,” Ant says.
“Yet in the simplest of terms, it is where an invoice financier
buys your unpaid invoices, giving you quick access to cash
for work you've already done, therefore, unlocking cash that
is trapped in your unpaid invoices. It would be interesting
to see if this simple description resonated with businesses
and made it easier to understand.”
Ant also says that the author is right that IF providers
don’t always help themselves: “They have complex ways of
describing things that the layman would not understand,
and to have multiple ways (often all equally as unclear) to
describe the same thing makes it even more complicated,”
he says.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 16

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 17 continues on page 18 >

INVOICE FINANCE
“Perhaps UK Finance should better support / work with the
entire industry with terminology standards and to test with
businesses to make sure that they are clear?”
Leanne agrees, and actually makes a point of adjusting the
language on the term sheet to make it easier to understand:
“At Pathfinder we alter the terminology on the term sheets
and make it consistent for the client to understand. We
also show the percentage in pound value for the true costs.
Speaking with business owners, the product is confusing,
it is impossible to compare like for like – as the fees differ
from each lender.”
As part of the training internally, Leanne’s team look at
the terms and produce a glossary so that new starters can
understand that an IP is the same as a PP, and a funding line
is the same as a review limit: “Then we get to the charges!”
she says. “Service charge, service charge minimums,
discount charge, trust account fees, refactoring fees, renewal
fee, credit note fee, TT charge, arrangement fee, bad debt
protection fee, RLS top up fee if incorporating into Invoice
Finance agreement. These can also be named differently for
each lender. How is a business owner supposed to navigate
this without assistance?
“Once the client is live, depending on how much detail
the Invoice Finance lender has gone into, clients are often
upset because they were unaware of the funding limits,
meaning that they have caps, concentration limits that
have not been set correctly, and debt turn targets that
are in place that make it easy for a client to get lost in the
detail and feel that there are more restrictions than benefits.
“The product does not need to be complicated,” she
continues, “if time is taken to understand the business and
the correct lender and parameters set. If not, the product
will feel complicated and at worst restrictive.”
Unlocking the potential
Some don’t hold with the idea that many hundreds of
thousands of businesses could benefit from IF. Ant feels,
however, that again, the true value would only be known if
there was greater awareness of the product: “Invoice Finance
can certainly unlock a vast amount of cash that is trapped
in unpaid invoices and have a significant impact on the
economy,” he says. “However, it continues to carry limited
awareness within the business community, with us often
having to describe what it is and how it works.
Leanne takes a similar view: “I would agree that many more
B2B businesses would benefit from utilising IF. There is an
education piece required around Invoice Finance to show
business owners how it can aid growth rather than solely
being used when cashflow is tight. An IF facility will always
work better in a growing business than a business in decline
due to the nature of advancing against invoices.”
Invoice Finance works for B2B businesses that deliver goods
or services to their customers on trade terms. The Business
intelligence Group suggests that 40 percent of businesses
trade is wholly B2B and a further 42 percent operate both
in the B2B and B2C space. The same research suggests that
over £1.7tr of the UK’s turnover is solely B2B. If we assume
that the average trade terms are 58 days as quoted in the
Department for Business and Trade’s Payment and cash
flow review report (Nov 2023), if all businesses that solely
traded in B2B used Invoice Finance this could unlock over
£200bn of cash to the economy: “This is around 10 times
what UK Finance are suggesting has been advanced by
Invoice Finance today,” Ant adds.
Innovation opportunity
In terms of technology, both agree that innovation is an
opportunity and not a threat: “The advances of technology
will be a benefit to the industry,” Leanne says, “especially in
accelerating the decision to fund which can now be in hours
rather than days. Artificial Intelligence is also paving the
way to assist in the sales process and aiding the sales team
to understand the company structure quickly, although
I would state that the ‘human touch’ is aways needed to
structure a facility appropriately.”
Leanne thinks that one of the biggest challenges facing the
IF industry is future talent: “The average age of Invoice
Finance employees in client management and sales roles is
increasing,” she says, “and we need new talent to assist with
new ideas.”
Ant agrees: “We don’t see a huge number of people/young
blood actively looking to join our sector and this means that
bringing in new ideas and fresh thinking can be challenging
and result in our space lacking in terms of innovation.
However, some funders including ourselves are trying to
break the mould by opening apprenticeship schemes in
the sector and while this is not the total answer, it is most
certainly a step in the right direction.”
“For many businesses, they will see the assets that sit on their
balance sheet as plant and machinery, vehicles, property
and fixtures and fittings, all of which can be leveraged to
access cash. However, they often don’t realise that one of
the biggest assets that sit on their balance sheets is their
receivables / trade debtors and they could access cash against
these too. UK Finance, British Business Bank and Trade
bodies such as the FSB and British Chambers of Commerce
should support invoice financiers with increasing awareness
of this product to the betterment of all.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 18

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Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 19

LEGISLATION
BUYER
BEWARE
In a bid to revolutionise public procurement, the recently
passed Procurement Act aims to reduce complexity, increase
flexibility, and promote transparency over public spending.
BY MASUMA AHMED AND PETE MAGUIRE
THE Act was introduced to
Parliament in May 2022 to reform
the UK’s existing procurement
regime. It received Royal Assent
in October 2023, with contracting
authorities and suppliers being
provided with a six-month notice
period ahead of the legislation coming into force in
October 2024.
It’s important to understand the reasons for reforming
the existing procurement regime, what the key
provisions under the Act are, and how the Act will
impact small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The need to reform
The Act is designed to streamline the existing
legislation governing the UK’s procurement regime by
introducing one single framework, which will replace
the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Concession
Contracts Regulations 2016, Utilities Contracts
Regulations 2016 and Defence and Security Public
Contracts Regulations 2011.
The Act is also intended to strengthen national
security; increase transparency surrounding
procurement data; and help SMEs to compete with
bigger, established businesses for future public
contracts.
Strengthening national security
The Act was written, according to former Minister
for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General Jeremy
Quin, to ‘protect our sensitive sectors from companies
which could threaten national security and are a firm
deterrence to hostile actors who wish to do Britain
harm.’ The measures the Government is seeking to
implement via the Act to protect national security
include the establishment of a National Security Unit
and the introduction of new powers to ban certain
suppliers from contracting within specific, sensitive
sectors such as defence and national security. The
National Security Unit will allow suppliers who may
pose a risk to national security to be investigated to
determine whether if they ought to be barred from
public procurements.
Increasing transparency
The Act creates a central digital platform in order to
enhance transparency of public procurement activity,
allowing suppliers to register contracts, and to ensure
that contracting authorities publish procurement
data throughout the contract lifecycle through the
introduction of several procurement notices. The
access to such data will enable suppliers to identify
new bidding and collaboration opportunities.
Helping SMEs to compete
In the view of Cabinet Office Minister Alex Burghart,
the Act ‘puts the Government in a stronger position
to get the best deal for taxpayers, while prioritising
growth by cutting red tape and removing barriers for
small businesses.’
As well as reducing red tape to drive growth within
the UK procurement market, the Act seeks to offer
further opportunities for SMEs by making the new
procurement regime ‘simpler, quicker and cheaper.’ It
will also impose a duty on contracting authorities to
consider the barriers faced by SMEs when participating
within the public procurement market. As such, there
is a clear emphasis on the Act supporting SMEs by
increasing the public procurement opportunities for
such businesses.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 20

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
The Act creates a central
digital platform in order to
enhance 'transparency' of public
procurement activity.
The provisions of the Act
The Act largely incorporates the provisions of the
previous regime, with the addition of some significant
changes. To start with, contracting authorities will be
expected to deliver value for money; maximise public
benefits; increase transparency; and act with integrity
when engaging in the procurement process.
Reducing the number of procedures
Under the previous regime, contracting authorities
had to complete five procedures in relation to the
procurement tendering process. The Act reduces
these procedures to two: an open procedures (a single
stage tendering procedure without a restriction on who
can submit tenders); and a new competitive flexible
procedure (other competitive tendering procedure as
the contracting authority considers appropriate).
The competitive flexible procedure is new and will give
contracting authorities the freedom to create their
own procurement procedure although contracting
authorities must comply with the general rules stated
within the Act.
Exclusion of suppliers
In a similar manner to the previous regime, the Act has
provisions relating to the exclusion of suppliers from
the procurement process, which include the mandatory
and discretionary grounds for exclusion.
Mandatory exclusion: Contracting authorities must
exclude bidders where they have established, or are
aware, that the bidder has been convicted of certain
offences under UK law including bribery, corruption,
conspiracy, and money laundering.
Discretionary exclusion: Contracting authorities can
exclude bidders under certain circumstances – and
therefore contrary to the mandatory ground which
includes specific offences.
The Act also builds upon the existing mandatory and
discretionary grounds of exclusion by amending key
terminology, incorporating further offences, and
including a provision relating to the likelihood of
certain circumstances reoccurring.
This means that, initially, contracting authorities
will need to determine whether a supplier is an ‘excluded
supplier’ and / or an ‘excludable supplier’.
The former term applies to a supplier that meets the
mandatory ground for exclusion and the contracting
authority deems that the circumstances giving rise to
the mandatory ground are likely to reoccur.
The latter term applies to a supplier that meets the
discretionary ground for exclusion and the contracting
authority deems that the circumstances giving rise to
the discretionary ground are likely to reoccur.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 21
continues on page 22 >

LEGISLATION
The Act also includes new offences to be applied under the
mandatory and discretionary grounds of exclusion. These
include theft, corporate manslaughter, competition law
infringement, and failure to co-operate with debarment
investigations.
The new offences for the discretionary ground include
acting improperly during any procurement process and
prior poor performance of public contracts.
Further, the Act also requires contracting authorities to
consider whether “the circumstances giving rise to the
application of the exclusion ground are likely to occur
again”. If a contracting authority seeks to rely on this
provision, they may consider matters such as evidence that
the supplier has taken the conduct or offence seriously;
any measures the supplier has taken to prevent any further
occurrences; and the time that has passed from the initial
circumstances occurring.
Debarment List
The Act introduces a central ‘debarment’ register which
includes a list of suppliers debarred from engaging in the
procurement process for a certain period. Suppliers will
be added to the debarment list where a relevant minister
having investigated a supplier determines that the
exclusion grounds apply and determines that the supplier
should be added to the list.
Suppliers will be notified of any such investigations and
also any debarment decisions that are made by ministers.
Where notice of a debarment decision is taken, the supplier
is granted an eight-day standstill period during which they
can initiate court proceedings to suspend their name from
being added to the debarment list.
A standstill is the period in which a contract award
process is suspended and therefore the contract must not
be entered into. The mandatory exclusion ground can
be applied where a supplier fails to meet such a request,
provided that a minister deems the failure to be ‘sufficiently
serious’ (Schedule 6, paragraph 42). It is unclear exactly
what ‘sufficiently serious’ means, and no doubt this will
need to be tested by the courts.
Key performance indicators (KPIs)
Where any contract value exceeds £2m, contracting
authorities must set and publish a minimum of three
KPIs before entering into such a contract. This obligation
will not apply under the framework contracts; utilities
contracts awarded by private utilities, concession
contracts, light touch contracts, and where the contracting
authority considers that the supplier’s performance could
not be appropriately assessed by KPIs.
Where KPIs are set by a contracting authority, the authority
must review the supplier’s performance annually against
such KPIs during the contract lifetime and publish specific
data regarding the supplier’s performance. Such data is
likely to be published on the central digital platform, but
this is yet to be confirmed by the Government.
“Protect our
sensitive sectors
from companies
which could threaten
national security
and are a firm
deterrence to hostile
actors who wish to
do Britain harm.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 22

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
Publishing contract performance information
Further, the Act requires contracting authorities to
publish information regarding contract performance
if certain circumstances – including a supplier’s breach
of a public contract which results in termination of
the contract, damages being awarded, or a settlement
agreement between the parties – arise. This also applies
if a contracting authority considers that a supplier’s
performance of the contract is not being carried out to
the authority’s satisfaction and the supplier has failed to
remedy a breach or rectify performance after having the
opportunity to do so.
This clearly has implications for confidentiality,
particularly as to settlement agreements, and careful
drafting will therefore be needed if these issues require
addressing.
Remedies under the Act
Many of the existing remedy provisions are retained
under the Act with the addition of some key changes
including the reduction of the standstill period, changes
to automatic suspension.
Reduction of the standstill period
Under the Act, a minor change has been made to the
‘standstill period’. This period will change from ten
calendar days to eight working days.
Automatic suspension
The Act has made various changes to the application
of an automatic suspension. This is where a contracting
authority is notified of a claim prior to entering into a
contract which consequently prevents the contracting
authority from entering into the contract. Changes
under the Act note that the automatic suspension will
not apply where a contracting authority is notified of a
claim after the expiry of an applicable standstill period.
Also, there is a new test for the court to determine
whether an automatic suspension should be lifted.
When deciding whether to lift the suspension in the
public interest, the contracting authority will need to
ensure that the contract is awarded in accordance with
the law; avoid any delay in the supply of the goods,
services or works provided for in the contract; and
consider the interests of suppliers, including whether
damages are an adequate remedy for a claimant (a
challenging bidder); and any other matters the court
considers appropriate.
New set aside remedy
A contract will be set aside if the court is satisfied that
the claimant (an unsuccessful supplier bidding for the
contract in question) was denied a proper opportunity
to seek pre-contractual remedies for any one of a
number of reasons.
The impact of the Act on SMEs
The Act includes various provisions intended to help
remove the barriers faced by SMEs.
Pipeline works: There will be a requirement for
contracting authorities to publish a pipeline notice
for planned works over an 18-month period for
opportunities over £2m. This will allow SMEs to
review pipeline works on the central register and
allow them to filter the pipeline works, for example,
by region. As such, SMEs can make strategic decisions
on the incoming opportunities they could bid for when
reviewing such data.
Centralised system: Under the current regime SMEs
face the challenge of registering with multiple
platforms which can often take time and resources. The
new registration platform will allow suppliers to ‘tell us
once’ which will streamline the registration process for
SMEs.
Contract bidding: This is a provision that prohibits
contracting authorities from requiring audited accounts
when considering the financial wealth of bidders unless
they are required to do so under the Companies Act
2006. This prohibition will help those SMEs who are not
legally required to file audited accounts to have access
to the public procurement market and to show their
financial capability through other means.
Reducing costs: Suppliers will no longer be required
to have insurance in place prior to a contract being
awarded. This means that prospective suppliers will save
on unnecessary insurance costs as insurance cover will
not be needed where there is no guarantee of achieving
a contract.
What next?
The Government announced that six months’ notice will
be given before the Act takes effect which is anticipated
to be October 2024. This should give procurement teams
time to get up to speed with the changes, especially as
further guidance has recently been issued on GOV.UK
under Procurement Act 2023: short guides.
Although consolidating the various regulations relating
to procurement and adopting a specifically UK rather
than EU tone signals a clear break from the ‘old’ regime,
this is essentially a rewrite of the legislation. It may take
time for contracting authorities to get used to the new
regime having spent years honing their approach to the
old processes.
Masuma Ahmed and Pete Maguire
Masuma Ahmed is a trainee solicitor, and Pete Maguire,
partner and head of Outsourcing, Technology and
Commercial at Wright Hassall.
Brave | Curious | | | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April / April 2024 2024 / PAGE / PAGE 23 23

CAREERS
THE ART OF
EQUILIBRIUM
Five ways to strike a positive work-life balance.
BY NATASCHA WHITEHEAD
THE question of how to achieve and maintain
a good work-life balance is a difficult one,
and the pressure to be successful in our
credit careers can often overshadow the
importance of switching off. In this month’s
article, I weigh in on why work-life balance
is so important and the ways you can strike a
healthy balance between your personal and professional life.
1. Shift your perspective
Some people have a preconception that prioritising worklife
balance means being less dedicated to your professional
responsibilities, and that neglecting a work-life balance facilitates
greater success in your job. However, I’d argue that the opposite
is true. If you work incredibly long hours and don’t get enough
rest or down time, you put yourself at greater risk of stress and
burnout which is bound to have a negative impact on your ability
to carry out your role efficiently.
It’s important to acknowledge that you can be passionate about
your job and still switch off in your own time without feeling guilty.
Alter your mindset so you see achieving a work-life balance as an
important way to improve productivity and engagement. Rather
than seeing ‘work-life balance’ as a buzzword for wellbeing, we
should take into account the vast benefits of dedicating time and
energy to both our professional and personal lives.
2. Master important skills
Brushing up on certain soft skills is a sure way to help achieve
a work-life balance. Firstly, time management is imperative for
credit professionals to juggle their workload, as well as the ability
to identify clear priorities and plan your day around this. Being
organised means you’re less likely to feel overwhelmed and let
work commitments take priority.
Communication is another crucial core skill which can lay the
foundation for a healthy work-life balance; understanding what
is urgent, managing expectations and being clear about your
capacity make it easier to differentiate between your professional
and personal time.
3. Strive for progress, not
perfection
Be mindful that having a positive work-life balance all the time
is arguably unattainable and will vary depending on how much
you have on your plate in your role and in your home life. To
set yourself up for a permanently perfect work-life balance can
result in unnecessary stress, as the demands of our careers and
personal lives inevitably fluctuate. For example, a tight deadline
could result in the scales tipping towards work, but that’s fine
as long as you have a pattern that allows you to manage your
responsibilities for the majority of the time. Plus, a healthy worklife
balance will look different for everyone so avoid comparing
your habits to anyone else’s.
4. Adjust your working habits
Bring attuned to factors such as what times of day you are most
productive is important for improving your work-life balance.
Knowing your working habits will help you plan what tasks to
do when and ultimately be able to achieve your goals for the day.
Depending on your organisation’s flexible working offering, you
could work the hours that suit you and that enable you to balance
your personal and professional commitments.
Another factor to take into consideration is where you work
most efficiently, whether that’s based in the office or remotely.
Hopefully your employer will accommodate your individual
preferences to support you to be as productive as possible and
to bring your best self to work. According to our 2024 Salary
and Recruiting Trends guide, the majority (60 percent) of credit
professions say they work most productively from home, whilst
less than a third (31 percent) say they work best in the office.
5. Implement boundaries
To bolster your work-life balance and protect your wellbeing, it’s
crucial to have healthy boundaries in place. Whilst boundaries
will look different for everyone, they could involve learning how
to say no to extra work in a diplomatic way. You might be worried
that if you turn down additional projects for example, you could
be perceived as lacking determination, but by focusing on the
work that is essential to you, you’re more likely to produce high
quality outcomes, be happier and healthier and keep your worklife
balance intact.
Another notable boundary, particularly in our digital age, is not
answering work related emails or calls outside of your set hours.
If you prioritise your personal time and keep it separate from
your professional responsibilities, you will be in a better position
to give your time and energy to your role when it’s most necessary
within your working hours.
Author: Natascha Whitehead is Senior Business Director at Hays
specialising in Credit Management.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 24

BRANCH NEWS
DEMYSTIFYING AI
East of England Branch
CICM East of England Branch Committee
member Daniel Gregory, Head of Partnerships
at Invevo, moderated an online CICM East of
England Branch ‘Lunch and Learn’ webinar, held
on 28 February. To demystifying the impact
of AI on credit and collections – the webinar
topic – Daniel introduced Jamie Wroe, Invevo’s
Chief Technical Officer,
Jamie talked through the impact of technology on credit and
collections, explaining how AI can be used. He defined AI as a
branch of computer science focused on building computer systems
that can perform tasks usually requiring human intelligence, saying
that a recent IBM survey had revealed that 77 percent of businesses
had either already implemented AI or were actively considering it.
AI had been around for a long time, used for example by Netflix
to decide which movies to offer customers, or by retailers to offer
targeted products. Most of us had already experienced smart phone
assistance, streaming recommendations, chatbots on websites and
smart home devices, but when people talked about AI they were
usually referring to Machine Learning (ML) which had become
one of the most impactful and rapid advances within AI. ML was a
subset of AI that enables computers to learn from data, improving
their performance over time without being explicitly programmed,
and make predictions or decisions based on that data.
Jamie debunked some common myths about AI for the attendees –
which included the myths that it can fully replace human decision
making, that it understands context as humans do, and that it is
always objective. The importance of quality data was stressed,
since this is the foundation of AI, and Jamie emphasised the need
to understand the accuracy, quality, relevance and timeliness of
the data being used to feed AI. Creating a culture that values and
effectively manages data lays the groundwork for AI initiatives to
thrive, unlocking innovative solutions and driving organisational
success. Such a culture allows informed decision making, gives
enhanced efficiency and productivity, producing innovations and
competitive advantage and empowers employees.
Online polling during the webinar asked delegates for their views on
which aspects of credit and collections they envisaged AI improving
– credit risk assessment, client engagement, and fraud detection. For
risk assessment AI utilises historical data to predict future payment
behaviour alongside predictive analytics, credit scoring models and
fraud detection. Customer experience can be improved by AI driven
chat bots and personalised communication to improve response
times and customer service. AI can also streamline tasks like data
entry and payment reminders, reducing errors and freeing resource
allocation.
Participants were asked how far away they thought their businesses
were from leveraging AI/process automation to its fullest extent.
Most thought 24 months or more but Jamie said that a considerable
amount was achievable much quicker than that. Tools were available
now that can increase efficiency with automated workflows, access
real time credit risk information, give increased visibility across
operations and provide a tailored user experience.
Author: Richard Brown, CICM East of England Branch Secretary.
CICM Elections 2024
THERE IS STILL TIME…
The Advisory Council influences the future direction of the Institute and has a wide-ranging remit. Its members
reflect the diverse range of skills and experience amongst the Institute’s membership, allowing them to:
• Act as a true advocate and ambassador for the CICM
• Ensure the CICM delivers the objectives stated in its Royal Charter
• Engage with CICM members and the wider business community to promote the CICM, the benefits of membership and the
Institute’s strategic direction
• Act on behalf of all CICM members - and on behalf of future generations of members
• Provide an objective environment for the CICM Executive Board to explore new ideas, opportunities and challenges
There are up to 23 Advisory Council positions now open for nomination
representing our 11 regions and the trade, consumer, international and credit services sectors.
Please visit www.mi-nomination.com/cicm to step up and stand for Nomination or email
elections@cicm.com to find out more.
Nominations close 12 April 2024
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 25

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Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 26

CICMQ
Power
TO SUCCEED
A credit team of distinction.
THE first-ever CICMQ accreditation with
Distinction has been awarded to Xoserve,
a company central to Great Britain’s
wholesale gas market.
This is an extraordinary achievement, not
only because it is the first Distinction ever
awarded but also because Xoserve started the re-accreditation
during 2021 and managed to do so whilst dealing with the
fallout of the energy crisis where many energy suppliers had
failed financially. Xoserve’s Credit Risk and Neutrality Team,
led by Brendan Gill, Credit Risk & Neutrality Manager, collect
in the region of £1.4bn of energy balancing charges per annum
with debt mutualised to the industry therefore, they need to be
vigilant and act swiftly to ensure the industry is protected as
much as possible from financial loss.
Reward and recognition
When the team heard they had achieved the highest level for
the CICMQ accreditation, they were shocked but immensely
proud: “We were ‘over the moon’ to hear that Xoserve were the
very first,” says Brendan.
Brendan says that the CEO, Steve Brittan, and Head of Finance
and Support Services, James Spicer, who attended the CICMQ
presentation and internally promoted the team’s achievement,
were also impressed: “Our CEO highlighted within our business
that we're an invisible team,” Brendan continues, “that is critical
to the business and a vital cog in the gas industry.”
He believes that CICMQ strengthens the reputation of the team
and the business as a whole: “The accreditation demonstrates to
customers that we have robust controls and processes in place
for credit management. It is formal recognition of Xoserve’s
commitment to quality and continuous improvement.”
When Brendan joined the Credit and Neutrality Team within
Xoserve five years ago, the team began automating many
labour-intensive processes by improving the use of systems such
as SAP. They also started the CICMQ accreditation process,
which proved to be immensely valuable in further improving
the credit function: “The feedback received about the team’s
performance from CICM professionals, and their input makes
a meaningful difference,” says Brendan.
The accreditation also helped them develop a credit road map
that considers what will happen over the next five years as the
industry transitions away from gas and towards hydrogen and
renewable fuels, along with the potential impact on Xoserve.
Under pressure
In 2021, as the pandemic was ending, wholesale gas prices started
rising; when Russia invaded Ukraine, they skyrocketed, and 29
energy suppliers in the UK failed financially, affecting nearly
four million households. The Xoserve credit team acted swiftly.
The CICMQ assessment showed how the team exceeded cash
collection rates of 98 percent by the payment due date and
100 percent by the payment due date, plus two days, despite
the additional workload and challenges created by the crisis.
Collection processes and services were improved, whilst new
market monitoring and credit controls were created in order to
limit the impact of the crisis, and these scored high during the
CICMQ assessment.
Working closely with the regulator Ofgem and other industry
parties, the team continuously monitored all gas shippers and
suppliers to quickly remove defaulting companies or those with
a revoked licence and worked with the appointed Suppliers of
Last Resort (SoLR) who replaced the failing Supplier. Xoserve
supported the newly appointed firms, calculating and ensuring
the placement of energy security within two working days. The
aim was to limit financial exposure and prevent the impact on
customers and end consumers. Strong relationships with its
credit committees and other stakeholders were instrumental in
Xoserve’s success and its CICMQ Distinction.
The debt of the failed energy suppliers was shared among the
remaining suppliers through a mutualisation process. Meter
reconciliation charges and invoices are issued for up to four
years after a company defaults. Today, Xoserve continues to
update insolvency practitioners with newly discovered debts,
pursue claims, mutualise debt and potential dividends, and
safeguard the UK gas industry.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 27

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 28

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
PASSING
TIME
A new digital platform could help transform
the death notification process.
BY LES CLISBY
THERE was some interesting research
recently that sought to define the true
cost of dying. An annual report from the
insurance provider SunLife suggested that
costs had reached a record high: funeral
costs have risen by 4.7 percent while the
overall ‘cost of dying’ has reached more
than £9,500.
Such surveys tend to focus on the comparatively narrow lens of
a funeral. But what of the costs before the funeral? The costs,
for example, of notifying creditors and service providers (the
utilities, telecoms companies, subscription providers etc)? The
cost of sourcing and sending multiple copies of death certificates
and other paperwork to notify that a death has occurred?
And what about the emotional cost that comes from the
frustration often felt while being interrogated by seemingly
unsympathetic call centre operators who are themselves
frustrated at having to spend time on calls for which they may
have received little training and can only devote limited time?
It was with this in mind that The Estate Registry developed
NotifyNow, delivered in collaboration with Phillips & Cohen
Associates, and winner of the 2024 British Credit Award for
Technology Development.
NotifyNOW is a digital, self-serve notification tool that
provides bereaved family members, executors, or personal
representatives with a free and easy way to notify utility
companies, banks, insurance companies, subscription service
providers and other similar organisations that a friend or
family member has died.
Most such organisations face the same challenge, but all
tackle the issue in different ways. E.ON Next, for example,
was specifically concerned that its process was far too manual
and offered little in the way of innovation. Implementing
NotifyNOW was the start of an exclusive partnership that fits
with the company’s customer-centric approach.
With E.ON.Next, the platform can be accessed through a link
embedded on its website, thus freeing up significant volumes
of call time into its customer service centre. Once the form is
completed, and the relevant information and documents (e.g
proof of death) are uploaded, the task is complete and no other
action is needed.
Tracey Smith, Third Party Commercial Manager at E.ON
Next, was a key driver behind the platform’s introduction:
“We’ve worked with PCA for more than 15 years and they have
supported us and our customers in many ways, not least the
training our staff to better manage customers at what is an
extremely emotional and difficult time,” she explains.
“NotifyNOW is another way in which we are trying to help
our customers by making the process of passing on essential
information to us as easy and convenient as possible.”
Nick Cherry, Chief Operating Officer at PCA, says that the
intricate administrative protocols that the bereaved must
navigate following the loss of a loved one is a burden on their
emotional state: “While we know just how important it is for
the people whose job it is to help them to be compassionate,
we also know that technology can play a significant part in
reducing this burden and reducing some of the unwelcome
stress that comes with a bereavement.
“For E.ON Next customers, representatives of the bereaved no
longer have to contact a call centre or speak to anyone in person
if they don't wish to. People can simply go online and fill out
the form at a time that is convenient to them outside of office
hours, 24/7, without requiring any personal interaction unless
they actively seek it.”
NotifyNOW and E.ON Next continue to work on the findings
reported by the UK Commission on Bereavement, which
highlighted the need for better solutions to support individuals
through bereavement. Almost two out of three (61 percent)
adult respondents have difficulties with at least one practical or
administrative task following a death.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 29

Introducing our
CORPORATE PARTNERS
For further information and to discuss the opportunities of entering into a
Corporate Partnership with the CICM, please contact luke.sculthorp@cicm.com
My DSO Manager is an intelligent SaaS AR and
credit management solution for SMEs to international
enterprises, helping AR analysts manage risk,
maximize cash collection and streamline the credit-tocash
cycle, by a real-time insight to KPIs.
Due to its inventive in-house IT teams and their tight
collaboration with support staff, many of whom were
credit managers at large firms, it can quickly integrate
any ERP data and customize as needed.
T: +33 (0)458003676
E: contact@mydsomanager.com
W: www.mydsomanager.com
Quadient AR by YayPay makes it easy for B2B
finance teams to stay ahead of accounts receivable
and get paid faster – from anywhere.
Integrating with your ERP, CRM, and billing
systems, YayPay presents your real-time data
through cloud-based dashboards. Automation
improves productivity by 3X and accelerates
collections by up to 34 percent. Predictive analytics
provide insight into payor behavior and an online
portal enables customers to access their accounts
and pay at any time.
T: +44 (0)7465 423 538
E: marketing@yaypay.com
W: www.quadient.com/en-gb/ar-automation
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
The UK’s No1 Insolvency Score, available as a
platform to help businesses manage risk and
achieve growth. The only independently owned
UK credit referencing agency for businesses. We
have modernised the way companies consume
data, to power businesses decisions with the most
important data taken in real-time feeds, ensuring
our customers are always the first to know. Enabling
them to deliver best in class sales, credit risk
management and compliance.
T: +44 (0)330 460 9877
E: sales@redflagalert.com
W: www.redflagalert.com
Our Creditor Services team can advise on the best
way for you to protect your position when one of
your debtors enters, or is approaching, insolvency
proceedings. Our services include assisting with
retention of title claims, providing representation at
creditor meetings, forensic investigations, raising
finance, financial restructuring and removing the
administrative burden – this includes completing
and lodging claim forms, monitoring dividend
prospects and analysing all Insolvency Reports and
correspondence.
T: +44 (0)2073 875 868 - London
T: +44 (0)2920 495 444 - Cardiff
W: menzies.co.uk/creditor-services
HighRadius provides a cloud-based Integrated
Receivable Platform, powered by machine learning
and AI. Our Technology empowers enterprise
organisations to reduce cycle time in the order-tocash
process and increase working capital availability
by automating receivables and payments processes
across credit, electronic billing and payment
processing, cash application, deductions, and
collections.
T: +44 (0) 203 997 9400
E: infoemea@highradius.com
W: www.highradius.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
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
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 30

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
Court Enforcement Services is the market
leading and fastest growing High Court Enforcement
company. Since forming in 2014, we have managed
over 100,000 High Court Writs and recovered more
than £187 million for our clients, all debt fairly
collected. We help lawyers and creditors across all
sectors to recover unpaid CCJ’s sooner rather than
later. We achieve 39 percent early engagement
resulting in market-leading recovery rates. Our
multi-award-winning technology provides real-time
reporting 24/7.
T: 07759 122503
E: s.evans@courtenforcementservices.co.uk
W: www.courtenforcementservices.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 • 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
With over 45 years of experience in supporting
organisations in the successful delivery of multichannel
communications, CFH are the innovative
and trusted partner for driving engagement and
achieving measurable results. Combining proven
expertise, the right accreditations and industry
driven communication solutions including Docmail
the leading hybrid mail solution, CFH have the
perfect blend of solutions to help you engage offline,
online or the perfect blend of the two.
Top Service Ltd. The only credit information and
debt recovery service provider specifically for the
UK construction industry. Our payment experiences
are the most up to date credit information available
and enable construction businesses to confidently
assess credit risk and make the best, most informed
credit decisions. Coupled with our range of effective
debt recovery solutions, quite simply our members
stay one step ahead and experience less debt and
more cash.
Invevo is a cloud-based platform specialising
in credit management and accounts receivable
process automation. It streamlines operational
tasks, offers in-depth analytics via dashboards,
and allows quick workflow adjustments at zero
cost. Integrated with existing systems like ERP
and CRM, Invevo serves as a single source for key
insights, helping you make data-driven decisions
to improve cash and operational performance.
T: 01761 416311
E: info@cfh.com
W: www.cfh.com
T: +44 1527 503990
E: membership@top-service.co.uk
W: www.top-service.co.uk
T: +44 7817 613 825
E: info@invevo.com
W: www.invevo.com
Key IVR provide a suite of products to assist companies
across Europe with credit management. The
service gives the end-user the means to make a
payment when and how they choose. Key IVR also
provides a state-of-the-art outbound platform
delivering automated messages by voice and SMS.
In a credit management environment, these services
are used to cost-effectively contact debtors and
connect them back into a contact centre or
automated payment line.
TCN is an industry leader in call centre technology
with offices around the world including, the United
Kingdom, the United States, Romania, Canada,
India and Australia. TCN has met the global
communication needs of its diverse customers.
Utilising best-practice solutions and 24/7 technical
support, TCN empowers clients to drive consumer
interactions through omni-channel, inbound and
outbound communications. TCN’s call centre
platform is entirely web-based and available
on-demand with unlimited capacity.
T: +44 (0) 1302 513 000
E: sales@keyivr.com
W: www.keyivr.com
T: +44 (0) 800-088-5089
E: spencer.taylor@tcn.com
W: www.tcn.com
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 31

ENFORCEMENT
SETTING A
NEW PATH
The Enforcement Conduct Board is playing a pivotal
role in shaping the future of the enforcement profession.
BY ALAN J. SMITH FCICM
THE Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) has
been making significant strides in providing
independent oversight to the enforcement
profession in England and Wales. The
collaboration between the enforcement
profession and debt advice sector on a joint
stakeholder advisory group has been integral
to the ECB’s work so far.
The ECB is seeking some targeted statutory powers that could
help them to make swifter progress in achieving their mission
and they will be asking the Government to provide them
with these targeted powers when it carries out its review later
this year.
As the association representing High Court Enforcement
Officers, the HCEOA has been working with the ECB for
some time, providing insight into the mechanics of High
Court enforcement and the impacts the current system has on
creditors and debtors alike.
Funding the Conduct Board
The work of the ECB is funded by a voluntary industry levy
from enforcement businesses. So far, two rounds of completed
levy funding have generated over £1.5 million to fund the
ECB’s work Encouragingly, the large majority of High Court
enforcement businesses have recognised the ECB’s importance
in maintaining integrity within the profession and have
committed to supporting it through the voluntary levy.
Accreditation scheme
In September 2023, the ECB launched its accreditation scheme.
Since the launch of the scheme the response from High Court
enforcement businesses has been overwhelmingly positive, with
the firms accredited making up 97.5 percent of the market share
of High Court Writs of Control.
In order to become accredited, firms must comply with the
ECB’s accreditation framework and meet the year one criteria
which includes:
• Complying with the requirements of the current Ministry of
Justice National Standards
• Providing the ECB with Data Returns
• Providing information to the ECB on request
• Payment of the ECB levy in a timely fashion.
When accreditation renews in Autumn, the criteria will
evolve. We welcome the transparency accreditation offers in
providing the ECB with enhanced copies of the Data Returns
that High Court enforcement businesses have already been
submitting to the Ministry of Justice, alongside any other
information deemed necessary to ensure accountability is
maintained.
Setting Standards
These collaborative efforts are now starting to extend to the
development of new standards for enforcement agents, building
on the current National Standards. Working closely with the
ECB and the debt advice sector, the Association and its members
are actively involved in this work. The proposed standards aim
to foster consistency and accountability across the profession
with sanctions for non-compliance. As a matter of course, our
members already follow the National Standards and our own
Code of Best Practice when they become authorised.
Independent oversight
The profession’s complaint handling processes are also
undergoing reform. The ECB plans to review the current
complaints process. At present, complaints about enforcement
agents are handled by the enforcement business they work for
through their own internal process. Complaints against a High
Court Enforcement Officer can be escalated to the HCEOA if
there is not a satisfactory conclusion.
Looking ahead, the Association is anticipating playing a full
part in forthcoming consultations on the application of new
standards and complaints processes. It is imperative that all
stakeholders actively engage in these discussions. The strides
made by the ECB and the proactive engagement of enforcement
professionals, and the debt advice sector, underscore a collective
commitment to fairness, transparency, and professionalism in
the pursuit of justice.
Author: Alan J. Smith FCICM is Chair of the High Court
Enforcement Officers Association (HCEOA)
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 33

COUNTRY FOCUS
The art
of neutrality
MOST think of Switzerland
as possessing a strong
tradition of neutrality and
lacking the desire to enter
into conflict. However, the
truth may surprise.
As far back as 1500 Swiss mercenaries were the most
sought after and feared troops in Europe. 1815 was
the last time Switzerland had invaded another state
– France – a fortnight after Waterloo, and the Swiss
army last fought in 1847, during the Sonderbund, a
short civil war. Since then, Swiss troops had only twice
been mobilised against possible invasion – once when
threatened by Prussia in 1856-57, and again during the
1870-71 Franco-Prussian War.
It's stance on neutrality dates back, some say to the
1500s, but it was the 1815 Treaty of Paris where Austria,
France, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Prussia, Russia,
Spain and Sweden formally agreed that Switzerland
should be neutral. But as is the case with these country
profiles, we need to outline what else Switzerland is
known for – and the list isn’t short.
We could start with cheese fondues, the national dish
– a mix of gruyere cheese, wine and corn starch. Then
there’s melt-in-the-mouth chocolate from brands such as
Lindt, Nestle and Toblerone, superb scenery including
mountains such as the Matterhorn, Eiger and Jungfrau
as well as lakes such as Lucerne, Constance and Geneva,
Heidi – a character that is to the Swiss as Oliver Twist
is to the British, and importantly, watchmaking with
brands that include Omega, Breitling and Chopard.
History
In terms of its ‘modern’ history – the oldest traces of
humans are about 150,000 years old. The area came
under the rule of the Romans, then, for a short time,
under Charlemagne. In 962 German king Otto I became
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire with control over
what is now known as Switzerland.
1291 is considered the founding year of the Confederation
– when three rural valley communities banded together
in order to be better prepared for attacks from the
outside. A loose federation developed in the 14th and
15th centuries. By the end of the 15th century it was
strong enough to affect the balance of power in Europe.
The 17th century saw further development. Much
of Europe was involved in the 30 Years War, but the
Confederation remained neutral. This led to Swiss
independence from the Holy Roman Empire, which was
formally recognised by the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia.
In 1798, France invaded Switzerland and proclaimed a
centralised state. Switzerland was forced to abandon its
neutrality and to provide troops for France. After the
Sonderbund War, the Constitution of 1848 followed.
It led to a more centralised form of Government and
a single economic area. However, the 19th century was
hard economically, and emigration increased.
Come the 20th century an agrarian Switzerland
industrialised, and the standard of living rose
significantly. Switzerland remained neutral and did not
actively participate in either of the two World Wars.
Politically, Switzerland is now direct democracy,
governed by the Federal Council, a seven-member
collegial body. Federal councillors are elected by the
United Federal Assembly, which consists of an upper
and a lower chamber. The National Council is the
lower house, and represents the people. The Council
of States is the upper and represents the 26 cantonal
Governments.
Geography
The Swiss Government’s own website outlines that not
only is the country one of the smallest in Europe but
that 70 percent of it is mountainous and home to 25
percent of the population. It’s landmass measures 41,291
sq.km, which places it in 132nd position, below the
Netherlands but above Bhutan and Taiwan. Compared
to the UK’s 243,610 sq.km, Switzerland is just under one
sixth the size.
Switzerland shares a 1935 km-long border with Italy,
France, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein and is
known as Europe’s ‘Water Tower’ since it hosts the
sources of the Rhine, Rhone, Po and Danube. There are,
according to the Swiss Government, some 1500 lakes
and overall the country holds six percent of Europe’s
fresh water.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 34

on Switzerland
xZurich, the largest city in Switzerland.
The country comprises three distinct geographical regions
– the Alps which covers roughly 58 percent of the country,
the Central Plateau which occupies around 31 percent, and
the Jura which makes up 11 percent of the area. Around 23
percent of Switzerland is above 2000m.
Population centres
As for population distribution, Investment Monitor cites
January 2020 data from the Switzerland Federal Statistical
Office. The largest urban centre is Zurich with 435,000
residents which is followed by Geneva with 202,000,
Basel with 180,000, Bern – the capital – with 144,000, and
Lausanne with just 140,000 inhabitants.
Other data from the Federal Statistical Office notes that
there are six more cities with between 40,000 and 90,000
inhabitants, 36 towns with between 20,000 and 40,000
residents, 103 with 10,000 to 20,000 people.
Language
Not unsurprisingly, considering where Switzerland lies,
there are four national languages – German, French, Italian,
and Romansh. That said, German, French, and Italian are
given equal status as official languages and Romansh is used
in dealings with people who speak it.
x St Pierre Cathedral, Cour de Saint-Pierre, Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich).
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com /April 2024 / PAGE 35
continues on page 36 >

COUNTRY FOCUS
The Federal Statistical Office details that
as of 2021, 62 percent spoke German, 22.8
percent French, 7.9 percent Italian, 0.5 percent
Romansh. However, when ‘other’ is considered,
we get 116.30 percent since many can speak more
than one language. Swiss German or standard
German tends to be around the north, east and
centre; French in the west; Italian in the south;
and Romansh in the east.
Demographics
In terms of Swiss population structure, the
population pyramid using data from the
Federal Statistical Office for December 2019,
is particularly even. Between 0-18 the ages and
sexes are very columnar. It bulges out between
18-30, shrinks in a fraction from 30-44, and
then expands from 44-46, before tailing off in a
triangle to a peak of close to 100.
Males only outnumber females, just, between 0
and 32 years of age, while from 36 years females
outnumber males, growing ever larger in excess
from around 54 years of age. The image is very
similar when foreign residents are taken into
account albeit with a greater bias towards
women from around 64 years of age.
In summary, 15.23 percent are aged 0-14 years,
66.43 percent 15-64 years, and 18.34 percent are
65 or over.
Economy
In terms of Switzerland’s wealth, it’s placed
3rd by the IMF (2024 data) with a per capita
GDP of $110.250, behind Ireland ($117.980), and
Luxembourg ($140.310). The UK is 23rd with just
$52,430. World Bank data differs.
GDP has grown steadily, in current prices –
according to the IMF – from $114.06bn in 1980,
to $295.76bn in 2000, $623.11bn in 2020, and
is expected to hit $977.95bn in 2024. Again,
in comparison, the UK’s data from the same
periods recorded $539.59bn, $1.61tn, $2.97tn and
$3.59tn.
Unemployment is generally low compared to
other developed nations. There are highs and
lows but the peak over the last thirty years was
5.7 percent in 1997 and with a corresponding
low of 1.5 percent in 2001. The average, according
to FX Empire is 3.12 percent. As of January 2024,
the rate was 2.5 percent compared to 1.9 percent
May to July 2023.
Infrastructure
Switzerland may not be huge, but it has a good
infrastructure network, with, according 2023
Bundesamt für Statistik data, a road network
that is 84,868 km long, with motorways
Half of this revenue
is generated from
livestock farming,
primarily dairy and
beef production.
Switzerland
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 36

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
accounting for 1549 km of that number. And as
of 2020, the railway network covered 5317 km
with 1672 stations and stops. There are three
national airports in Zurich, Geneva and Basel
along with 11 regional airports.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the main primary sector activity,
generating revenues of CHF 12bn in 2022
($10.95bn Statista). Half of this revenue is
generated from livestock farming, primarily
dairy and beef production, while crop
farming (arable farming, fodder production,
fruit growing, viticulture and horticulture)
accounts for just over a third. The vast majority
of agricultural produce is destined for the
domestic market, although the food industry
exports certain products such as milk, cereals,
and sugar indirectly in the form of cheese,
baked goods or beverages.
At the time of writing £1 bought CHF 1.12.
With a heritage based on developing machines
to avoid relying on others, Switzerland now
has some 1,900 companies operating in the
machinery sector such as ABB, Liebherr and
Schindler, followed by Georg Fischer, Bucher,
Sulzer and Bühler.
Tourism
Considering its many lakes, forests, mountains
and abundant clean air, it’s not very
surprising that Switzerland’s tourism sector
is important. The Government reckons that
around 25m tourists on average make 55m
overnight stays per year. In 2023, tourism
generated almost CHF 18.6bn in revenue
(Trading Economics).
The sector employs more than 170,000, albeit
a good number are part-time or seasonal.
Like other nations, the sector was battered
during the pandemic but has recovered to prepandemic
levels.
The most visited parts of the country are the
Zurich area, Bernese Oberland, Lake Lucerne
and Geneva. However, Swiss tourists mainly
visit the canton of Graubünden, Ticino, the
Zurich area and Valais.
Commodities trading
According to Publiceye.ch, Switzerland is the
world’s biggest commodities trading hub with
a global market share that is estimated at 35
percent for oil, 60 percent for metals, 50 percent
for cereals and 40 percent for sugar. Key firms
are commodities traders such as Vitol, Trafigura,
Gunvor, Mercuria or Glencore.
Overall, there are around 48,000 farms with
an average 22 hectares of land each. Organic
farming is large and involves one in six farms.
The sector employs some 160,000 workers.
However, the sector has shrunk from 80,000
farms and 200,000 workers seen in 1996. The
Government has incentivised the move from
intensive farming to extensive.
Heavy industry
The machinery, electrical engineering and
metals industry is the country’s largest
industrial employer, employing over 300,000.
Many of the 10,000 businesses in this sector
are SMEs and employ fewer than 250 workers.
The sector is Switzerland's second largest
exporter and is worth around CHF 70bn (Swiss
Government) – Statista reckons it’ll be worth
$118.7bn in 2028.
It should be said that most commodities
never reach Switzerland, but are bought and
sold beforehand by Swiss-based companies of
which there are 900 that employ 10,000 people.
Most are located in the regions of Geneva, Zug
and Lugano.
It appears that Switzerland's appeal as a
commodities trading hub is a result of its
political and economic stability, skilled
workforce and well-integrated financial system.
The sector has grown from CHF 2bn in 2002 to
over CHF 80bn in 2022 (Swiss Government),
or CHF 58.5 according to Publiceye.ch.
Chemicals and
pharmaceuticals
This sector generates approximately 7 percent
of Switzerland's GDP with over CHF 100bn
in chemical and pharmaceutical products
exported annually (Swiss Government). The
industry employs over 75,000 and invests over
CHF 23bn in research and development.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 37 continues on page 38 >

COUNTRY FOCUS
circulation of 4.8m – 213 were in German, 29 in French,
9 in Italian and 2 in Romansh. Despite the federal
Government supporting the press, through for example,
subsidising Swiss Post costs, total print circulation has
practically halved since 2010.
Apart from state-run radio and television, Switzerland
has 38 local and regional radio and TV broadcasters
which are subsidised by the federal Government. Tenyear
licenses for operating subsidised radio and TV
channels are awarded as part of a competitive procedure
based on certain criteria. The Swiss Broadcasting
Corporation SRG SSR runs 17 public radio and 7 TV
channels in all 4 national languages.
What started as manufacturing dyes for the textile
industry, has morphed to high-value-added products,
such as serums, vaccines and drugs.
The sector is run by a few major firms such as
Roche, Novartis, Debiopharm and Lonza in
the pharmaceuticals sector and Syngenta, Ineos,
Eurochem, Givaudan and Clariant in chemicals. Nearly
half of all workers are employed by small and mediumsized
enterprises. There are roughly 1,000 industry
operators, mainly based in the Basel, Zurich, Zug and
Lake Geneva areas. Switzerland is also home to 20
percent of Europe's life science companies.
Watchmaking
Watchmaking, in 2022, was worth CHF 24.8bn
(Deloitte) and Switzerland’s third largest exporter. The
sector makes around 16m watches annually, each has
an average cost of over $1,500, however, pieces priced
at over $3,000 make up the largest share of exports. It
industry employs 60,000 people and generates around
CHF 25bn in sales.
Despite the emergence of battery-operated wristwatches
in the 1970s and 1980s, exports increased from just over
CHF 4bn in 1986 to more than CHF 20bn by 2015.
There are around 700 watchmaking firms in Switzerland,
most of which are based in Geneva and the Jura region.
Brands have been acquired by the likes of LVMH
Swiss Manufactures SA (TAG Heuer, Hublot, Zenith,
Bulgari), Swatch Group (including Omega, Longines,
Tissot, Blancpain, Swatch), and Richemont (including
Cartier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget).
Media
There are some 1,400 media companies in Switzerland
which collectively employ over 28,000. As of 2022,
Switzerland had 251 print publications with a total
Local and regional channels are key players in radio,
but non-Swiss channels are in demand when it comes
to TV. There are more than 240 privately owned local
and regional radio channels and 190 TV channels; none
receive Government funding. 2022 revenue in the sector
was CHF 17.5bn according to pwc.
Banking and insurance
Swiss banking secrecy is well-known and insurance
and banking is now key. In 2022, the financial sector
generated approximately CHF 70.9bn (Swissinfo.ch)
and employed around 218,000 people. It accounted for
23 percent of total services exports in 2021.
In terms of cross-border wealth management services,
Switzerland has a market share of 25 percent and as of
2022, Swiss banks held CHF 7.84tn in total assets under
management (Swiss Government). But CHF 3.9tn
reckons Swissbanking.ch – quite a variance.
There are, according to the Government, 243 banks in
Switzerland. In 2022, UBS and Credit Suisse generated
40 percent of Swiss banking total annual net turnover,
prior to the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS. The
remaining 60 percent came mainly from the 24 cantonal
banks, international banks, Raiffeisen banks, stock
exchange banks, regional banks, savings banks, and
private banks.
In 2022, Swiss insurance companies generated CHF
128.9bn in insurance premiums (FINMA). Of the 190
insurance companies in Switzerland, Zurich Insurance
Group is the largest, followed by Chubb, Swiss Re and
Swiss Life.
Summary
Switzerland is intriguing. A small nation with air of
individuality, it’s rather wealthy and should make a
perfect target for export. However, there’s an inbuilt
sense of complexity by design. Good advice will be
essential.
Author: Adam Bernstein is a freelance finance writer for
CM magazine.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 38

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Moneyknows no borders—neither do we

RISING STAR
RAISING
A GLASS
How exam fears didn’t dampen one
credit manager’s rise to the top
BY MELANIE YORK
DARREN Whitmarsh MCICM left
school in the 1990s when he was
16 and, unsure of what he wanted
to do, fell into a Youth Training
Scheme as an assistant accountant
at a photocopying company. He
was on just £17.50 a week – and
looking back today, he laughs at how he survived on
such meagre pickings.
He’s come a long way. When he started in credit control,
he immediately discovered he really enjoyed talking to
customers and collecting payments – even if it meant
using a typewriter to write letters.
That was a long time ago, and the world was very
different but, it was already changing. By the early
2000’s he began hearing about the Institute of Credit
Management (as it was then) and how completing
qualifications could accelerate your career. He also
noticed more employers asking about qualifications and
becoming more selective. He realised it gave employers
insight into a candidate's background in credit control
and their understanding of the technical areas, and it
was going to change his future employment prospects.
This was when Darren’s career-long association with the
Chartered Institute began.
Vocational Training
Today, Darren strongly advocates for his team to take
the CICM qualifications. Back then, however, he wasn’t
a fan of exams, so he took the vocational training route.
After five years of management experience in credit, he
applied for the CICM qualification. He used examples
of managerial leadership from his career, its impact and
how his experience met the criteria they were looking
for. When Darren joined Rentokil in around 2008,
he managed a large, shared service centre and began
running training sessions every week, working with
Peter Cartwright FCICM the accredited CICM trainer
“Peter and I worked closely together with the 40-strong
credit team at Rentokil to develop the CICM Level 3
training package. As we created the training sessions,
the team also learnt a great deal, which was really great.”
Now, the training is standard practice for every credit
team, with the training tailored for different businesses.
By 2010, Darren had become a credit manager at
Eaton Electrical, which manufactures the components
typically found inside a fuse box. The team was split
across four sites. As he travelled extensively from the
UK, to the global head office in Cleveland, Atlanta, and
Dubai, he learnt how things worked in different parts
of the business. He and his team set about building new
collection tools and systems and became more involved
in collection cycles and maximising returns. It helped
them grow in knowledge and experience and ultimately
win Credit Team of the Year at the 2013 British Credit
Awards.
After five years, he was looking for new opportunities to
learn and develop. He decided to move to a completely
different industry and found a new challenge as a
collections manager for Yellow Pages. If anyone needs an
introduction, he says, he knows JR Hartley! He gained
more global experience when he joined McDonald's
to lead the order to cash teams before moving on to
Stonegate Pubs.
Inhospitable times
Formed in 2010, Stonegate Pubs is the largest pub
company in the UK. Through 12 major acquisitions, it
has grown to over 4,500 sites. Here, going for CICMQ
accreditation would prove to be the biggest challenge
of Darren’s career. It was a first for the company,
and after two years of trying to instigate the CICMQ
process internally, COVID threatened to bring it all
to a halt.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 40

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 41
continues on page 42 >

RISING STAR
DARREN WHITMARSH MCICM
STONEGATE PUBS
“For many
publicans, it wasn’t
just their livelihoods
or their businesses;
their life savings
were in the pubs.”
Stonegate was impacted immediately. Some 4000
pubs were shut within 24 hours. The credit team was
furloughed for three months. The business couldn’t
collect any money from the publicans, so debt rose
rapidly from £5m to around £35m. Astonishingly, though,
that wasn’t the biggest challenge for the team: “For three
to six months, the team became councillors rather than
credit controllers, listening to 20 people a day saying, ‘it’s
really difficult, I’m struggling, I can’t trade.’
“For many publicans,’’ he explains, “it wasn’t just their
livelihoods or their businesses; their life savings were in
the pubs.”
But Darren refused to be thwarted by the pandemic in his
CICMQ ambition. With Karen Tuffs’ guidance, he started
working with the team, translating the benchmarks for
Stonegate’s business model and introducing best practices
in everything they did. Working through and recording
all the steps, they discovered so much information was
already available; it just hadn’t been documented. They
did find gaps which had to be filled, such as creating
a brand new credit policy and developing other new
systems and processes that were needed to qualify. It was
quite the two-year journey, but the team pulled together,
supporting one another, learning a huge amount as
they went, and their outstanding debt fell below pre-
COVID levels. Darren is proud of his team: “It was
amazing to get that accreditation for the team and for
the business.”
Lesson from Life
During his long career, Darren says he has had the
privilege of learning from some amazing people. Some
have taught him on the job, but he has never had a
mentor or sponsor. He has seen the value mentorship or
sponsorship has brought to others but is also keen for
people to know that not having them doesn’t have to
hold you back. It certainly didn’t stop him. He remains
a staunch believer in the university of life. Listening and
watching people in action, he suggests, is a great way to
learn: “You see how amazing people deal with situations;
when somebody does something you don't agree with,
or don’t understand, that shapes the type of leader you
become and how you move forward.”
The people he admires most he respects for more than
just their technical skills or what they bring to the
business: “It’s the fact that they take an interest in you”,
he explains.
About two years ago, Stonegate ran an engagement survey
of the credit team to understand how the team were
feeling and what support they needed. Management then
provided more of the support they wanted. That kind of
approach makes a difference: “People look up to good
leaders”, he says, “and follow them on a transformative
journey like the CICMQ accreditation.”
Darren thinks the accreditation process, the experience
and opportunities are invaluable in enabling everyone
to see the bigger picture: “It actually helps teams
understand the benefit of what they do every day, rather
than just being stuck, looking down and thinking they
don't know what's going on.”
He thinks the CICMQ accreditation helped the Stonegate
credit team go on and win the British Credit Awards
in 2022 for the Employer of the Year. “It really helps to
get people on board, ensures the team understand that
anything's possible and that they need to keep pushing
themselves. CICM accreditation makes the team more
invested in making a difference.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 42

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Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 43

International Trade
Monthly round-up of the latest stories
in global trade by Andrea Kirkby.
Carbon levy deadline
THE European Union’s new Carbon Border
Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a tariff
on carbon-intensive imports into the EU
that is designed to tackle ‘carbon leakage’ -
the shifting of carbon-intensive production
abroad to countries where less stringent
climate policies are in place.
UK businesses which export iron, steel,
aluminium, fertiliser, concrete, hydrogen
and electricity to the EU, where the UK
business also acts as the importer in the
EU via a local office or local representative,
had until 31 January to register and make
a declaration under CBAM. It appears that
a number may have missed the deadline.
For other UK exporters who sell relevant
products to EU customers it will be the EU
customer who is treated as the importer
and who has the obligation to register
and submit CBAM declarations. However,
UK firms will still need to supply relevant
information about these products to the
EU importer so they can calculate the
CBAM declaration.
A failure to submit accurate CBAM
declarations may result in penalties
ranging from €10 to €50 per tonne
of unreported emissions during this
transition period.
According to the Chartered Institute
of Taxation, 'Governments around the
world will be watching it closely to see how
successful it is at achieving its aims, as
well as assessing how fairly it treats their
exporters.'
The UK Government recently announced
plans to introduce a similar regime by
2027. It’s likely that the UK’s system will
mirror that of the EU.
Summary of European Commission
guidance on the EU CBAM for UK exporters
is on GOV.UK
Singapore ratifies UK CPTPP membership
THE UK has moved a step closer to joining
the Comprehensive and Progressive
Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
(CPTPP) trade group after Singapore
became the second country to ratify the
UK’s membership after Japan agreed late
last year.
The UK initially signed up to the
Indo-Pacific trade group in July 2023, a
bloc that covers trade worth a combined
£12tn, or 15 percent of global GDP. When
fully a member over 99 percent of UK
goods exported to CPTPP countries will
see zero tariffs. The UK Government has
said that 'accession will also upgrade the
BREXIT 4TH
ANNIVERSARY UPDATE
THE Department for Business and
Trade has published a document,
Brexit 4th Anniversary, which provides
its view of Britain’s Brexit successes
over the last four years.
Naturally, readers will have their
own view of the subject, but the
document claims a number of
successes. It notes that 'last year, our
automotive sector secured £23.7bn
of private and public investment
commitments – more than the past
seven years combined 'since the
UK’s departure from the EU, this
Government has cut burdensome red
tape for business. We’ve built dozens
of trading relationships with new
friends and old allies. And we’ve taken
back control of our laws, borders
and tariffs,' and the department has
'removed roughly 500 barriers since
2020, including in the US – our single
largest trade partner.'
UK-Singapore bilateral relationship,
providing opportunities to deepen
participation in each other’s supply
chains, diversify trade, grow investment
into our economies, and collaborate on
shared priorities, all while supporting
greater access and opportunities for
business.'
To bring the deal into force for the UK,
the government recently introduced the
Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive
Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership)
Bill into parliament. It is expected that
membership should complete in the
second half of 2024.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 44

Time to take
a look at Israel?
CONSIDERING what is going on in Israel it’s
hardly surprising that some think that the
country is in a pickle.
The Bank of Israel has cut its forecasts
for growth; government spending is
markedly up to pay for the military
operation; tourism and business travel has
fallen through the floor; and workers are in
short supply as army reservists have been
called up and work permits for Palestinians
have been withdrawn.
However, MoneyWeek thinks that Israel
has plenty of potential. It has a strong
technology sector spurred on by venture
capitalists and entrepreneurs. Tech
accounts for 18 percent of Israel’s GDP
compared to just 10 percent for the US
- less for most European countries; tech
products and services account for almost
50 percent of exports.
Further, Israel has a culture of
entrepreneurship and more than 100
privately-owned companies worth more
than $1bn. And while defence spending
is high much of that finds its way into
commercial ventures. Not bad for a
country with only 9.3m people.
With all of its travails, Israel might find
that the opprobrium it faces will dissipate
and Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and
Egypt will normalise relations; there could
even be a settlement with the Palestinians.
And if peace were to follow defence
spending may fall leaving money free for
elsewhere.
With a well-managed economy, a GDP
per capita greater than that in the UK and
much of Europe, Israel could become a
destination of choice.
GOVERNMENT
GUIDANCE ON CPTPP
THE Government has a page for
exporters on GOV.UK that offers
business guidance, treaty information
and other documents to help them
understand what the UK’s accession
to the Comprehensive and Progressive
Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
(CPTPP) means.
The page features guidance on how
to get advice; how to export; the rules
of origin; how to find the relevant duty
rates and commodity codes for goods;
and how to get help via the export
support team.
The Government believes that the
“page will be a tool for businesses to
access resources that helps maximise
their utilisation of the agreement” once
the UK has fully joined the CPTPP.
Look for The UK and the
Comprehensive and Progressive
Agreement for Trans-Pacific
Partnership (CPTPP).
High LOW TREND
GBP-EUR 1.17733 1.16585 Flat
GBP-USD 1.28815 1.25815 Up
GBP-CHF 1.12869 1.10862 Up
GBP-AUD 1.95607 1.92012 Up
GBP-CAD 1.73913 1.69789 Up
GBP-JPY 191.292 187.995 Up
North Carolina group meeting
UK and the US state of North Carolina
recently held a working group meeting in
Charlotte, the third since the signature of
the UK and North Carolina Memorandum
of Understanding.
Charlotte is one of the fastest growing
cities in the US and is the country’s second
largest banking centre after New York City.
The first meeting was held in the US, in
Raleigh in January 2023, and the second in
the UK, in Manchester in June 2023.
As the UK government report outlined,
“attendees discussed the progress made
since the last meeting in June 2023
pointing to the measurable achievements
in key focus areas.” These include
Cambridge-based Marshall Aerospace
opening a new aircraft maintenance facility
and engineering hub at the Piedmont
Triad International Airport in Greensboro,
North Carolina; and better access to
procurement opportunities with North
Carolina officials sharing insights into
For the latest
exchange rates visit
www.currenciesdirect.com
or call 020 7874 9400
Currency Exchange Rates
This data was taken on 18th March
and refers to the month previous
to/leading up to17th March 2024.
how UK companies could take part in the
state’s procurement process.
Going forward, UK firms and officials
will participate in the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill Clean Tech Summit
in March 2024; a trade mission of UK
Motorsport companies to North Carolina
in late Spring 2024; and the next working
group meeting that will coincide with a
delegation of North Carolina officials’ visit
to the Farnborough Air Show in July 2024.
“Attendees discussed
the progress made since
the last meeting in June
2023 pointing to the
measurable achievements
in key focus areas.”
COFACE COUNTRY AND
SECTOR HANDBOOK
TRADE financier and debt collector,
Coface, recently published the 2024
edition of its Country and Sector
Risk Handbook which examines the
prospects for 160 countries and 13
sectors.
The booklet notes that 2023 was
not as bad as predicted and that some
of the risks, most notably in terms of
energy supply, did not materialise and
the global economy looks like it grew
by around 2.5 percent. It records that
equity markets were unperturbed by
rising interest rates and inflation fell
faster than expected due to lower
commodity prices.
As for 2024, Coface reckons that
“the only certainty we can have is that
of being surprised.” And that’s likely
given that there are legislative and/or
presidential elections scheduled in 70
countries that account for over half the
world’s population and GDP. On top of
that is Ukraine and the conflict in the
middle east.
On a positive note, there’s the
potential for the weakening of the
dollar and lower interest rates that
should help emerging economies.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 45

BRANCH NEWS
HITTING THE MARK
The Sheffield and District Branch.
xCarl Goodman MCICM.
x'Game On' Sheffield & District Branch.
THE Sheffield and District Branch held its
Annual General Meeting at Clubhouse in
Sheffield’s Meadowhall on 20 February.
Members and guests were greeted by
committee members with a coffee on arrival,
and the opportunity to network and share
experiences with like-minded professionals
prior to taking their seats for the AGM.
Vice Chair, Paula Uttley MCICM(Grad) opened the meeting
giving apologies from Jamie Thornton MCICM(Grad), Branch
Chair, who had been due to attend and present. Paula opened
the AGM and dealt with the formalities of apologies, approval
of the 2023 AGM Minutes, approval of the 2023 Branch Financial
Report, nominations and elections of Committee members for
2024 and then a review of the 2023 branch events. The final item
of the AGM was any other business and Paula took great pleasure
in presenting the second CICM Sheffield and District Branch
Student Prize to Sophie Ward. Many congratulations to Sophie
for coming top in her CICM Level 3 Diploma Mandatory Unit
in 2023, receiving a certificate of achievement and cheque for her
prize award of £150.
Following the completion of all formal business, members and
guests enjoyed a delicious supper of tasty treats with time for
further networking prior to stepping up to the Oche for some
light-hearted fun at the interactive dart boards. With a good
variety of games on offer, it was ‘Game On’ for both the experienced
and first-time players at each board. Not all of the darts thrown
landed in the board, but no injuries were sustained, other than
to the wall. Did anyone get a Bullseye, a Double Top or even One
Hundred and Eighty, well that would be telling! Congratulations
to Richard House of BTG Advisory and Tom Davage of Sharp
Consultancy – the victors at each board. A good evening was had
by all, as evidenced by the positive feedback received.
Author: Paula Uttley MCICM(Grad), Vice Chair and Treasurer of
Sheffield and District Branch.
Diploma achievements
AWARDING BODY
Congratulations to the following, who successfully achieved Diplomas
Level 3 Diploma in Credit & Collections ACICM(Dip)
Laura Dalton
Thomas Brunt
Peter J Barker
Alana Hare
Svetlana Harris
Level 3 Diploma in Credit & Collections
Kirsty Fenwick
Level 5 Diploma in Credit & Collections Management
Olivia Fantham
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 46

EXCLUSIVE PAYMENT TRENDS
GREEN TICKET
The latest late payment data shows
Irish regions and sectors leading the way.
BY ROB HOWARD
AFTER a tricky month that saw
increases across the board, the
latest late payment statistics appear,
at least, to offer some signs of
encouragement, particularly over in
Ireland, with a number of regions
and sectors reducing late payments.
The average Days Beyond Terms (DBT) across UK regions
increased by 1.3 days, while the average sector figure saw no
change. In Ireland, average DBT reduced by 2.1 and 0.7 days
respectively. Average DBT across the four provinces of Ireland
increased by 0.2 days.
Sector Spotlight
With the average DBT figure staying still, the UK sector
standings are also pretty stable, but encouragingly are swayed
slightly in favour of good news, with 12 of the 22 sectors
making improvements to DBT. The International Bodies
sector saw the biggest leap forward, and moves off the bottom
of the standings, after reducing its DBT by 9.6 days to take its
overall total to 13.4 days. The Energy Supply sector also made
strides forward, cutting its DBT by 4.5 days, taking its overall
DBT to 7.0 days, making it the new best performing sector in
the UK. Of the 10 sectors going in the wrong direction, the
Education sector saw the biggest rise, with an increase of 8.1
days taking its overall DBT to 18.2 days.
Over in Ireland, more than half (11) of the 20 sectors made
improvements to DBT, while two saw no change, and the
remaining seven went in the wrong direction. Of those on the
up, the Financial and Insurance (-13.5 days), Water & Waste
(-11.8 days) and Entertainment (-11.4 days) sectors all made
significant reductions to their DBT.
Elsewhere, thanks to a cut of 6.5 days to its DBT, the Public
Administration sector joins the International Bodies and
Mining and Quarrying sectors – which both saw no change to
their DBT – at the top of the standings with an overall DBT of
zero days. At the opposite end of the scale, the Energy Supply
(+15.5 days) and Manufacturing (+14.7 days) sectors have slid
down to the bottom of the standings, with hefty increases
taking overall DBT to 33.0 and 31.3 days respectively.
Regional Spotlight
The UK regional figures are disappointing, with eight of the
11 regions seeing rises to DBT. East Anglia (-2.2 days), the East
Midlands (-1.2 days) and Wales (-0.7 days) were the only three
regions to make progress. The Yorkshire and Humberside
region is now the worst performing in the UK, with an
increase of 3.9 days taking its overall DBT to 17.0, although
Scotland is not far behind with an overall DBT of 16.8 days
following an rise of 1.3 days to its total.
The picture is more positive over in Ireland, with half (13) of
the 26 counties reducing DBT. Even better, a number of these
counties made sizeable improvements. Wexford made the
biggest jump in the right direction, reducing its DBT by 19.1
days and taking its overall total to 8.2. Elsewhere, Clare (-17.9
days), Longford (-15.4 days), Kildare (-13.2 days) and Laois
(-12.3 days) all made significant improvements to DBT.
Of the 10 counties going backwards (the remaining three
counties saw no change) counties Wicklow (+15.1 days),
Tipperary (+10.6 days) and Waterford (+10.5 days) saw the
biggest increases to DBT.
Despite a rise in the average overall DBT figure, three
(Connacht -2.0 days, Munster -8.1 days and Ulster -2.9 days)
of the four Irish provinces made improvements. Leinster is
letting the side down, with a steep increase of 13.7 days taking
its overall DBT to 32.2 days, making it the worst performing
province by some distance.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 47

*
STATISTICS
Data supplied by the Creditsafe Group
Top Five Prompter Payers
Region (UK) February 24 Changes from Jan 24
East Midlands 13.3 -1.2
North West 13.7 1.1
South West 13.7 2.8
Wales 13.7 -0.7
Northern Ireland 14.2 1.4
Bottom Five Poorest Payers
Region (UK) February 24 Changes from Jan 24
Yorkshire and Humberside 1 7 3.9
Scotland 16.8 1.3
West Midlands 16.1 2.2
London 16 2.6
East Anglia 15.1 -2.2
Top Five Prompter Payers
Sector (UK) February 24 Changes from Jan 24
Energy Supply 7 -4.5
Water & Waste 8.7 -0.9
Health & Social 9.6 -2.2
Mining and Quarrying 10.3 -2.3
Hospitality 10.5 2.6
Bottom Five Poorest Payers
Sector (UK) February 24 Changes from Jan 24
Other Service 20.2 5.1
Business Admin & Support 19.8 4.7
Public Administration 18.3 2
Education 18.2 8.1
Manufacturing 16.4 -0.8
Getting worse
Education 8.1
Entertainment 6.8
Other Service 5.1
Business Admin & Support 4.7
Hospitality 2.6
Public Administration 2
Professional and Scientific 1.8
Real Estate 1.3
Construction 0.8
Transportation and Storage 0.3
Getting better
International Bodies -9.6
Energy Supply -4.5
Dormant -4.3
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of
motor vehicles and motorcycles -2.5
Business from Home -2.4
Mining and Quarrying -2.3
Health & Social -2.2
IT and Comms -1.8
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing -1.1
SCOTLAND
1.3 DBT
Water & Waste -0.9
Manufacturing -0.8
NORTHERN
IRELAND
1.4 DBT
SOUTH
WEST
2.8 DBT
WALES
-0.7 DBT
NORTH
WEST
1.1 DBT
WEST
MIDLANDS
2.2 DBT
YORKSHIRE &
HUMBERSIDE
3.9 DBT
EAST
MIDLANDS
-1.2 DBT
LONDON
2.6 DBT
SOUTH
EAST
3 DBT
EAST
ANGLIA
-2.2 DBT
Financial and Insurance -0.4
Region
Getting Better – Getting Worse
-2.2
-1.2
-0.7
3.9
3
2.8
2.6
2.2
1.4
1.3
1.1
East Anglia
East Midlands
Wales
Yorkshire and Humberside
South East
South West
London
West Midlands
Northern Ireland
Scotland
North West
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 48

EXCLUSIVE PAYMENT TRENDS
Getting worse
CONNACHT
-2 DBT
DONEGAL
-8 DBT
ROSCOMMON
-2.3 DBT
SLIGO
-1.3 DBT
LEITRIM
1 DBT
LAOIS
-12.3 DBT
ULSTER
-2.9 DBT
MONAGHAN
0 DBT
WESTMEATH
0 DBT
WICKLOW
15.1 DBT
Energy Supply 15.5
Manufacturing 14.7
Education 11.7
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of
motor vehicles and motorcycles 5.3
Business Admin & Support 4.5
MUNSTER
-8.1 DBT
TIPPERARY
10.6 DBT
WEXFORD
-19.1 DBT
DUBLIN
9.6 DBT
Other Service 1.5
Real Estate 0.7
CORK
-8.8 DBT
WATERFORD
10.5 DBT
Top Five Prompter Payers – Ireland
Region February 24 Changes from Jan 24
Laois 0 -12.3
Monaghan 0 0
Sligo 0 -1.3
Offaly 1.2 -9.1
Leitrim 3 1
Bottom Five Poorest Payers – Ireland
Region February 24 Changes from Jan 24
Westmeath 120 0
Dublin 36.7 9.6
Tipperary 35.2 10.6
Wicklow 26 15.1
Louth 21.8 1
Top Four Prompter Payers – Irish Provinces
Region February 24 Changes from Jan 24
Connacht 6.5 -2
Munster 10.2 -8.1
Ulster 16.3 -2.9
Leinster 32.2 13.7
Getting better
Financial and Insurance -13.5
Water & Waste -11.8
Entertainment -11.4
Public Administration -6.5
Construction -5.7
Transportation and Storage -5.5
Health & Social -4.7
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing -4
IT and Comms -2.9
Hospitality -2.5
Professional and Scientific -0.1
Top Five Prompter Payers – Ireland
Sector February 24 Changes from Jan 24
International Bodies 0 0
Mining and Quarrying 0 0
Public Administration 0 -6.5
Transportation and Storage 3.8 -5.5
Health & Social 3.9 -4.7
Nothing changed
International Bodies 0
Mining and Quarrying 0
Bottom Five Poorest Payers – Ireland
Sector February 24 Changes from Jan 24
Energy Supply 33 15.5
Manufacturing 31.3 14.7
Business Admin & Support 24.5 4.5
IT and Comms 17.9 -2.9
Construction 12.2 -5.7
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 49

LOOKING FOR
YOUR NEXT
CAREER MOVE?
REINSURANCE CREDIT CONTROLLER
Central London (Hybrid), £60k-£70k
You’ll be joining a Global Speciality Insurance Group with
over 3,000 employees. You’ll mainly focus on credit control
and collections for the company brokers and reinsurers.
Other duties will include:
• Evaluating contract terms to dictate due dates
and timely recoveries
• Evaluation of estimated and actual premiums
throughout the length of a contract
• Liaising with Reinsurance Account Handlers
and clients to resolve queries
• Reduce > 90-day debt
With a hybrid working policy, you’ll work from their
Central London office three days a week and spend two
days working from home.
The company offer a wide range of benefits, including:
• 10% pension contributions
• a well-being allowance
• plus private medical dental plans
Ref: 4529776
Contact james.godden@hays.com or 020 3465 0020
SALES LEDGER CLERK
Oldbury, £26k-£28k
A manufacturing business based in Oldbury is recruiting a
Sales Ledger Clerk within their finance team. You’ll resolve
queries related to invoicing across the customer base,
ensuring the timely raising and distribution of invoices
and daily cash postings.
Ref: 4484731
Contact henry.brook@hays.com
or 0333 010 7517
BUREAU BILLINGS ANALYST
Southampton, up to £30k + benefits
You’ll work within a growing finance function for a large
telecoms business in the UK, offering hybrid working (three
days home, two days office) alongside a comprehensive
benefits package and a salary. You’ll ensure the completion
of bureau billing on behalf of your clients and effectively act
as an extension to the clients in the house teams. This role
requires experience within a billing function and ideally
previous experience within the telecoms/technology industry.
Ref: 4519419
Contact jack.bailey1@hays.com
or 02382 020 104
hays.co.uk/credit-control-jobs
© Copyright Hays plc 2024. The HAYS word, the H devices, HAYS WORKING Brave | Curious FOR YOUR | Resilient TOMORROW / www.cicm.com and Powering the / world April of 2024 work / PAGE and associated 50 logos and artwork are trademarks of Hays plc.
The H devices are original designs protected by registration in many countries. All rights are reserved. CM-1416135329

SALES LEDGER ASSISTANT
Trafford, up to £27k
A successful services-based company in Trafford is expanding
and needs a Sales Ledger Assistant to join their team.
Reporting to the Financial Controller and working as part of
a small team, you’ll be responsible for manually raising sales
invoices, collating POs, working on finance portals and monthly
credit control. Proficiency in Excel is required (Pivot Tables/
V-Lookups). This company has free on-site parking and
excellent benefits. Ref: H452755
Contact joanna.taylor-coburn@hays.com
or 0161 926 8605
INTERIM CREDIT MANAGER
Bristol (hybrid, one day a week in the office)
approx. £23 an hour (premium rate)
A Bristol-based business is searching for a skilled credit
manager with a proven track record of reducing aged debt
levels via effective leadership and improving organisational
processes. The aged debt is both B2C and B2B, so an individual
experienced in both would be well suited to this position.
Ref: 4534607
Contact connor.tucker@hays.com
or 0117 374 6277
This is just a small selection of the many opportunities
we have available for credit professionals. To find out
more, visit our website or contact Natascha Whitehead,
Credit Management UK Lead at Hays on 07770 786 433.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 51

HR MATTERS ROUNDUP
FATAL
HESITATION
Making reasonable adjustments in the recruitment process.
BY GARETH EDWARDS
IN Glasson v Insolvency Service, the
claimant had been employed by the
Insolvency Service since 2005. He
applied for a promotion in August 2020,
seeking one of two available vacancies.
Due to COVID-19, the interviews were
conducted over video. The claimant, who has a
stammer, anticipated that he might need more
time to answer questions and explained this on the
adjustment form as part of his application.
The claimant performed well in the interview but
missed out on the promotion because he scored one
point less than the second most successful candidate
in the process. He brought claims alleging a failure
to make reasonable adjustments and discrimination
arising from disability. The claimant argued that the
disadvantage arose not because he needed more time
to answer questions, but because his stammer caused
him to go into ‘restrictive mode’, which meant he
gave shorter and therefore lower scoring answers. He
had not raised this particular effect of his disability.
The tribunal rejected the claimant’s claims, but he
still appealed to the Employment Appeals Tribunal
(EAT) which subsequently dismissed the appeal.
On the alleged failure to make reasonable
adjustments, the way the interview was conducted
did cause the claimant some disadvantage. However,
the Insolvency Service did not have any knowledge
of the disadvantage. Whilst the claimant was
affected by going into restrictive mode, his overall
performance remained sufficiently strong so as not
to cause the panel to consider whether he required
further adjustments as a result of his disability.
In respect of the claim of discrimination arising
from disability, the tribunal had been correct in
its assessment of whether the recruitment process
was appropriate. Good oral communication skills
were required for the job and as the recruitment
exercise took place during the pandemic, the video
conferencing was justified.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 52

£1.6m whistleblowing claim
IN SPI Spirits (UK) Ltd and anor v Zabelin, a dispute
arose between Mr Zabelin and his employer following
the employers decision to make pay cuts during the
pandemic. After initially agreeing to a temporary pay cut,
Zabelin raised concerns when the pay cut was extended.
He believed that the pay cut created a stressful and toxic
environment amongst colleagues, and suggested the
company was using the pandemic as an excuse to cut pay.
Having raised this, Zabelin’s entitlement for a
discretionary bonus was reviewed. When he objected,
the company terminated Zabelin’s employment.
Zabelin brought claims including for unlawful
detriment and automatically unfair dismissal for making
protected disclosures. The tribunal upheld Zabelin’s
claims. It awarded him over £1.6m in compensation,
having assessed the loss flowing from the detrimental
conduct and his dismissal, and having applied a 20 percent
uplift for the company's failure to follow the ACAS Code.
The company argued that Zabelin's compensation
should be capped at £270,000. It referred to a clause in
Zabelin's contract of employment which said that this
was the amount Zabelin would be paid in the event of the
termination of his employment, subject to a confidentiality
and non-competition agreement. The company appealed
to the EAT.
The EAT dismissed the appeal. It found that the effect of
the contractual clause was to effectively contract out of a
statutory entitlement in circumstances where parliament
has not permitted any such disapplication. This could not
be just and equitable and the tribunal was right to find the
contractual clause to be void.
CREDIT MANAGEMENT
Employee awarded £470,000
IN Borg-Neal v Lloyds Banking Group, Mr Borg-
Neal was fired for using offensive wording
during race awareness training. Following his
dismissal, he brought claims for unfair dismissal,
discrimination arising from disability and direct
race discrimination. The tribunal upheld the unfair
dismissal and discrimination arising from disability
claims.
The Tribunal also recommended Lloyds circulate
the tribunal's liability judgment to board members
and request they read it; place a note on Borg-Neal's
records to confirm that he was found to have been
unfairly and discriminated against; inform the FCA
that the tribunal found the dismissal to be unfair
and discriminatory; and provide Borg-Neal with a
neutral reference.
A remedies hearing awarded Borg-Neal over £470,000
plus interest and tax. The award included £310,000
for future loss of earnings, including a five percent
uplift for the failure to follow the ACAS Code. The
award takes into account Borg-Neal’s mental ill
health, his projected recovery time and his age (61)
and likelihood of securing comparable employment
before retirement; £15,000 injury to feelings; £3,000
for aggravated damages; and £23,000 personal injury
in recognition of the severe depression and anxiety
triggered by the circumstances of his dismissal.
However, before the remedies hearing took place,
Lloyds submitted an appeal which is awaiting 'the
sift' where the judge will consider whether there
are reasonable grounds for bringing the appeal and
decide on whether the appeal should proceed.
Author: Gareth Edwards is a partner in the
employment team at VWV.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 53

LIFE STORIES
LIFE
ACCORDING
TO…
How can Lamb Moussaka ever be
confused with Toad in the Hole?
I
feel compelled to return to the less than physically
exhausting world of on-line shopping. I was never
a fan in the first place – one could never be sure if
the colour of the M&S socks would turn out to be
what it appeared to be on the website, nor would
the comfort factor feel quite as good as the blurb
enthusiastically proclaimed.
On-line meant that the first look and feel would only be
confirmed accurately after it had been delivered to my address,
the packet was opened, and the feet engulfed. Perhaps I was a
late convert to shopping on the ether, even as a comparative
youth, but like many others the onset of COVID-19, the social
distancing and the lockdowns precipitated a fundamental
shift in shopping habits.
It was convenient in many ways, of course it was, and
pushing an independently minded shopping trolley across the
supermarket car park in the teeth of a gale whilst dodging
little people in monstrous 4x4s hardly ranked as one of the
most favourite activities of the weekend.
The problem was that the convenience factor was all too
often negated by the substitution factor. Lamb Moussaka is
basically what it says on the packaging, and it stretches the
imagination a tad too far to believe that the picker’s choice
of Toad in the Hole was a reasonable, let alone an acceptable
substitution.
The clues to the choice of the customer lay in the words
‘Lamb’ and ‘Moussaka’, and try as one may, aforesaid words
were not in any way reflected in, or alluded to, in the words
‘Toad’ and ‘Hole’. If the picker progresses to management in due
course, I predict trouble ahead. This process of replacing out of
stock items with what they deem to be suitable replacements
did take its toll, sending me back to the supermarket car park
and the High Street just as circumstances allowed.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 54

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
I thought that I had missed the High Street, the warm shops,
bright lights and colours and the rummaging through sweaters
and shirts and socks for the right size and fabric; trying on
jackets and preening in front of the mirrors with an excitable
assistant only a few years older then me, telling me that it ‘is
definitely you’ and ‘suits you to a tee’ as though I was some
dithering octogenarian. Even more so in the run up to Christmas,
when the lights are brighter, everyone is wearing silly hats, and
the air is pungent with the aroma of roasting chestnuts and
mulled wine.
I guess I had missed the High Street in a manner of speaking, but
the pandemic and lockdown had erased from my memory bank
the real curse of the High Street – the mobile phone. To be more
precise, the selfish insanity of the mobile phone user. Not only do
you have to concentrate on dodging users as they plough towards
you, utterly unaware of your existence as they concentrate on
their screens, but you have to navigate your way around them as
they block the aisle or the doorway as they argue with whoever is
on the other end of the call about beans with sausages or salmon
pink not being right for their complexion.
Perhaps the greatest obstacle to encounter on the pavement
is the young mother (or father, grandmother or grandfather)
pushing a buggy built like a Challenger tank and engrossed in
the phone screen display without a passing thought for the rest
of humanity. It may be that some users are utilising the phone
mapping app to find their way, but map reading also involves
looking up from time to time to see where you are.
I recognise that many are following the latest doings of their
favourite ‘Influencers’. For our older readers, this is a term
applied to contemporaries who record snippets of their daily
lives, recommend make-up and lifestyles, encourage people to
follow and copy and generally talk drivel with financial backing.
From what I can see, they fall into two main camps – young
women with lips like radial tyres and young men who sport
tattoos which resemble badly completed or indeed incomplete
jigsaw puzzles. For me a real influencer is someone who leads by
example along a road of common sense and honesty. I read that
after the King went to hospital for prostate surgery, enquiries
to the NHS from men about prostate issues went up by 1,000
percent. That seems to me to be what it should be about, and His
Majesty has neither Michelin lips nor incomplete jigsaws.
It is obviously possible to be an influencer without having the
label of ‘Influencer’ and clogging up cyberspace with inept and
inane blogs. If these are the activities which are causing mere
mortals such as me to walk down Oxford Street in the manner
of a slowed down England rugby forward, ducking and diving,
weaving and avoiding, then I am back to on-line shopping,
whether I like it or not.
Advice therefore to the supermarket order takers and pickers.
If it is not on the shelf, text or phone the customer with your
suggested alternative. Your suggestion should bear some
connection with the item being replaced and/or give the customer
the opportunity to agree to the alternative or indeed, cancel that
order line altogether. In today’s world, it appears that when it
comes to supermarkets and mobile phone users, common sense
and courtesy is as prevalent as hen’s teeth.
Author: Ella. V. Blunting, Credit Industry insider and freelance
commentator.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 55

Cr£ditWho?
CICM Directory of Services
COLLECTIONS
COLLECTIONS LEGAL
CREDIT DATA AND ANALYTICS
Controlaccount
Compass House, Waterside, Hanbury Road, Bromsgrove,
Worcestershire B60 4FD
T: 01527 386 610
E: sales@controlaccount.com
W: www.controlaccount.com
Controlaccount has been providing efficient, effective, and
ethical pre-legal debt recovery for over forty years. We help
our clients to improve internal processes and increase cash
flow, whilst protecting customer relationships and established
reputations. We have long-standing partnerships with leading,
global brand names, SMEs and not for profits. We recover
over 40,000 overdue invoices each month, domestically
and internationally, on a no collect, no fee arrangement.
Other services include credit control and dunning services,
international and domestic trace and legal recoveries. All our
clients have full transparency on any accounts placed with us
through our market leading cloud-based management portal,
ClientWeb.
Guildways
T: +44 3333 409000
E: info@guildways.com
W: www.guildways.com
Guildways is a UK & International debt collection specialist with over
25 years experience. Guildways prides itself on operating to the
highest ethical standards and professional service levels. We are
experienced in collecting B2B and B2C debts. Our service includes:
• A complete No collection, No Fee commission based service
• 10% plus VAT commission for UK debts
• Commission from 22% plus VAT for International debts
• 24/7 online access to your cases through our CaseManager portal
• Direct online account-to-account payments, to speed up
collections and minimise costs
If you are unable to locate your customer, we also offer a no trace, no
fee, trace and collect service.
For more information, visit: www.guildways.com
MIL Collections Ltd.
Palace Building, Quay Street, Truro,TR1 2HE
M: 07961578739 E: GaryL@milcollections.co.uk
W: www.milai.co.uk
From our dedicated office in Truro, Cornwall, our team of over 50
staff work tirelessly to ensure our clients expectations are not just
met but exceeded.
We offer clients an experienced, dedicated and regulated
collection service. From small sundry invoices through to complex
property cases and overseas jurisdictions we can help our clients
recover what is due to them in a fair and timely manner.
Added to the ISO certification, MIL is a pioneer bringing AI to the
collections world with a platform dedicated to ensure customers
are treated fairly and clients work is managed effectively.
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.”
CREDIT DATA AND ANALYTICS
CoCredo
Missenden Abbey, Great Missenden, Bucks, HP16 0BD
T: 01494 790600
E: customerservice@cocredo.com
W: www.cocredo.co.uk
For over 20 years, CoCredo, one of the UK's leading Credit Report
companies, has helped thousands of business customers minimise
their bad debt. Our data is compiled and constantly updated from
various prominent UK and international suppliers, encompassing
235 countries, so our clients can access the latest information in an
easy-to-read report. Our product and service solutions are tailored
to meet our clients' needs, including market-leading Dual Reports
and integrated XML solutions, monitoring, and our D.N.A. Credit
Risk Management tool that reduce costs and boost cashflow.
Since 2014, we have been finalists and winners of Small Business
and Credit Awards. Our clients appreciate our involvement in their
customer journey, resulting in a 99% client retention rate.
DataTrace UK
Compass House, Waterside, Hanbury Road, Bromsgrove,
Worcestershire B60 4FD
T: 01527 386 626
E: info@datatraceuk.com
W: www.datatraceuk.com
DataTrace is recognised as one of the leading trace agencies in
the UK. Our client portfolio includes leading debt collection and
enforcement firms, utilities companies, housing associations,
law practices and universities. Providers of volume electronic
trace services, enhanced desktop tracing, employment and
international tracing, propensity to pay reporting, address and
telephone appending, and pre-litigation reports. We can build
a bespoke workflow to meet your data needs. All our data is
validated and priced competitively.
Top Service Ltd
Top Service Ltd, 2&3 Regents Court, Far Moor Lane
Redditch, Worcestershire. B98 0SD
T: 01527 503990
E: membership@top-service.co.uk
W: www.top-service.co.uk
The only credit information and debt recovery service provider
specifically for the UK construction industry. Our payment
experiences are the most up to date credit information available
and enable construction businesses to confidently assess credit
risk & make the best, most informed credit decisions. Coupled
with our range of effective debt recovery solutions, quite simply
our members stay one step ahead & experience less debt & more
cash.
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
HighRadius
T: +44 (0) 203 997 9400
E: infoemea@highradius.com
W: www.highradius.com
HighRadius provides a cloud-based Integrated Receivable
Platform, powered by machine learning and AI. Our Technology
empowers enterprise organisations to reduce cycle time in the
order-to-cash process and increase working capital availability by
automating receivables and payments processes across credit,
electronic billing and payment processing, cash application,
deductions, and collections.
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.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 56

FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION OPTIONS
AND PRICING CONTACT
paul@centuryone.uk 01727 739 196
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
ENFORCEMENT
Data Interconnect Ltd
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
We are dedicated to helping finance teams take the cost,
complexity and compliance issues out of Accounts Receivable
processes. Corrivo is our reliable, easy-to-use SaaS platform
for the continuous improvement of AR metrics and KPIs in a
user-friendly interface. Credit Controllers can manage more
accounts with better results and customers can self-serve on
mobile-responsive portals where they can query, pay, download
and view invoices and related documentation e.g. Proofs of
Delivery Corrivo is the only AR platform with integrated invoice
finance options for both buyer and supplier that flexes credit
terms without degrading DSO. Call for a demo.
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.
CLOUD-BASED SOFTWARE
Court Enforcement Services
Samuel Evans – Director of Business Development
T: 07759 122503
E : s.evans@courtenforcementservices.co.uk
W: www.courtenforcementservices.co.uk
Court Enforcement Services is the market leading and fastest
growing High Court Enforcement company. Since forming in 2014,
we have managed over 100,000 High Court Writs and recovered
more than £187 million for our clients, all debt fairly collected. We
help lawyers and creditors across all sectors to recover unpaid
CCJ’s sooner rather than later. We achieve 39% early engagement
resulting in market-leading recovery rates. Our multi-awardwinning
technology provides real-time reporting 24/7. We work in
close partnership to expertly resolve matters with a fast, fair and
personable approach. We work hard to achieve the best results
and protect your reputation.
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.
My DSO Manager
22, Chemin du Vieux Chêne,
Bâtiment D, Meylan, FRANCE
T: +33 (0)458003676
E: contact@mydsomanager.com
W: www.mydsomanager.com
My DSO Manager is an all-in-one intelligent SaaS accounts
receivable and credit management system that provides realtime
insight and scalability from SMEs to international multientity
companies. It helps AR analysts, accounting or finance
managers, and any client-facing employee, manage risk and
maximize cash collection.
It can swiftly integrate any kind of data from any ERP and
implement any customization due to its creative, competent IT
teams that are headquartered inside the firm and collaborate
closely with support employees, many of whom were formerly
credit managers at big corporations.
The feature-rich functions, automated reminders, alerts, and
numerous services connected to the solution, such as EDM/
CRMs/insurance/e-payment/BI platforms etc., along with a
reasonable pricing system, have simplified the credit-to-cash
cycle by monitoring daily KPIs like DSO, aging balance, overdues/
past-dues, customer behavior, and cash forecast.
My DSO Manager's worldwide clientele are its real ambassadors,
who assist the company in expanding on an ongoing basis.
TCN
T: +44 (0) 800-088-5089
E : spencer.taylor@tcn.com
W: www.tcn.com
TCN is a leading provider of cloud-based call centre technology
for enterprises, contact centres, BPOs, and collection
agencies worldwide. Founded in 1999, TCN combines a deep
understanding of the needs of call centre users with a highly
affordable delivery model, ensuring immediate access to robust
call centre technology, such as SMS, email, predictive dialler,
IVR, call recording, and business analytics required to optimise
operations while adhering to callers’ requests.
Its “always-on” cloud-based delivery model provides customers
with immediate access to the latest version of the TCN solution, as
well as the ability to quickly and easily scale and adjust to evolving
business needs. TCN serves various Fortune 500 companies and
enterprises in multiple industries, including newspaper, collection,
education, healthcare, automotive, political, customer service, and
marketing. For more information, visit www.tcn.com or follow on
Twitter @tcn.
Invevo
Daniel Gregory
T: 07843591646
E : daniel@invevo.com
W: www.invevo.com
Invevo is a fully integrated, cloud-based provider of credit
management and accounts receivable automation solutions,
offering dynamic features to optimise operational efficiency and
improve cash performance.
Our flexible platform empowers organisations to:
- Automate the manual and repetitive work allowing your team to
focus on the value-added activities
- Discover financial and operational insights through beautiful,
data-rich dashboards
- Test and adjust workflow strategies immediately through zero-cost
configuration
- Mitigate customer global risk through integrated credit reporting via
credit agencies or open banking
Invevo integrates with your existing systems (ERP, CRM, accounting,
billing) to present the insights you need to make strategic decisions
through one system that acts as a single source of truth. Access
the undiscovered analytics and improve performance across your
portfolio through data-driven actions.
High Court Enforcement Group Limited
Client Services, Helix, 1st Floor, Edmund St, Liverpool, L3 9NY
T: 08450 999 666
E: clientservices@hcegroup.co.uk
W: hcegroup.co.uk
Putting creditors first
We are the largest independent High Court enforcement company,
with more authorised officers than anyone else. We are privately
owned, which allows us to manage our business in a way that
puts our clients first. Clients trust us to deliver and service is
paramount. We cover all aspects of enforcement – writs of control,
possessions, process serving and landlord issues – and are
committed to meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations.
ENGAGEMENT
CFH Docmail
T: 01761 416311
E: info@cfh.com
W: www.cfh.com
With over 45 years of experience in supporting organisations in
the successful delivery of multi-channel communications, CFH
are the innovative and trusted partner for driving engagement
and achieving measurable results.
Combining proven expertise, the right accreditations and industry
driven communication solutions including Docmail the leading
hybrid mail solution, CFH have the perfect blend of solutions to
help you engage offline, online or the perfect blend of the two.
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.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 57
continues on page 76 >

Cr£ditWho?
CICM Directory of Services
FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION
OPTIONS AND PRICING CONTACT
paul@centuryone.uk 01727 739 196
INSOLVENCY
Menzies
T: +44 (0)2073 875 868 - London
T: +44 (0)2920 495 444 - Cardiff
W: menzies.co.uk/creditor-services
Our Creditor Services team can advise on the best way for you
to protect your position when one of your debtors enters, or
is approaching, insolvency proceedings. Our services include
assisting with retention of title claims, providing representation
at creditor meetings, forensic investigations, raising finance,
financial restructuring and removing the administrative burden
– this includes completing and lodging claim forms, monitoring
dividend prospects and analysing all Insolvency Reports and
correspondence.
For more information on how the Menzies Creditor Services
team can assist, please contact Bethan Evans, Licensed
Insolvency Practitioner, at bevans@menzies.co.uk or call
+44 (0)2920 447 512.
INSOLVENCY
Red Flag Alert Technology Group Limited
49 Peter Street, Manchester, M2 3NG
T: 0330 460 9877
E: sales@redflagalert.com
W: www.redflagalert.com
The UK’s No1 Insolvency Score is available as platform
designed to help businesses manage risk and achieve growth
using real-time data. The only independently owned UK credit
referencing agency for businesses. We have modernised the
way companies consume data, via Graph QL API and apps for
many CRM / ERP systems to power businesses decisions with
the most important data taken in real-time feeds, ensuring our
customers are always the first to know.
Red Flag Alert has a powerful portfolio management tool
enabling you to monitor all your customers and suppliers so
you and your teams can receive email alerts on data events
i.e. CCJ, Petitions, Accounts, Directors, amongst 84 alerts
produced and tailored to your business.
Red Flag Alert works towards growing and protecting
businesses using advanced machine learning and AI technology
data to provide businesses with information to deliver best in
class sales, credit risk management and compliance.
LEGAL
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 •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.
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.
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.
Quadient AR by YayPay
T: +44 20 8502 8476
E: r.harash@quadient.com
W: www.quadient.com/en-gb/ar-automation
Quadient AR by YayPay makes it easy for B2B finance teams
to stay ahead of accounts receivable and get paid faster – from
anywhere. Integrating with your existing ERP, CRM, accounting
and billing systems, YayPay organizes and presents real-time data
through meaningful, cloud-based dashboards. These increase
visibility across your AR portfolio and provide your team with a
single source of truth, so they can access the information they
need to work productively, no matter where they are based.
Automated capabilities improve team efficiency by 3X and
accelerate the collections process by making communications
customizable and consistent. This enables you to collect cash
up to 34 percent faster and removes the need to add additional
resources as your business grows.
Predictive analytics provide insight into future payer behavior to
improve cash flow management and a secure, online payment
portal enables customers to access their accounts and pay at any
time, from anywhere.
Cr£ditWho?
CICM Directory of Services
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
Portfolio Credit Control, a 5* Trustpilot rated agency, solely
specialises in the recruitment of Permanent, Temporary & Contract
Credit Control, Accounts Receivable and Collections staff
including remote workers. Part of The Portfolio Group, an awardwinning
Recruiter, we speak to Credit Controllers every day and
understand their skills meaning we are perfectly placed to provide
your business with talented Credit Control professionals. Offering
a highly tailored approach to recruitment, we use a hybrid of faceto-face
and remote briefings, interviews and feedback options.
We provide both candidates & clients with a commitment to deliver
that will exceed your expectations every single time.
FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION
OPTIONS AND PRICING CONTACT
paul@centuryone.uk – 01727 739 196
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 58

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Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 59

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / April 2024 / PAGE 60