CM March 2023

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
CM
MARCH 2023 £13.00
THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND
COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS
INSIDE
Winners of the
CICM British
Credit Awards
Pgs 35-55
CARROT
OR STICK
Tackling the late
payment challenge
David Scottow: winner
profile for outstanding
achievement. Page 18
New Zealand makes a tempting
target for international trade.
Page 24

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10
STAYING POWER
Giuseppe Parla
MARCH 2023
www.cicm.com
CONTENTS
10 – STAYING POWER
Are the new Corporate Insolvency
measures here to stay?
13 – MIND THE LANGUAGE
Is it time to change the late payment
conversation?
24
BEYOND THE HAKA
Adam Bernstein
14 – LATE CHARGE
Will late payment ever be resolved or is
it a fantasy?
18 – OUTSTANDING ACHIEVER
Profiling David Scottow FCICM, winner
of the CICM BCA for outstanding
achievement
20 – SOLID GROUND
Why include price escalation clauses in
construction contracts?
24 – BEYOND THE HAKA
New Zealand makes a tempting target
for international trade
29 – FAIR PLAY
The benefit of independent oversight
for enforcement
CICM GOVERNANCE
14
LATE CHARGE
Sean Feast FCICM
President Stephen Baister FCICM / Chief Executive Sue Chapple FCICM
Executive Board: Chair Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) / Vice Chair Phil Rice FCICM / Treasurer Glen Bullivant FCICM
Larry Coltman FCICM / Neil Jinks 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) / Andrew Hignett MCICM(Grad)
Laural Jefferies FCICM / Neil Jinks FCICM / Martin Kirby FCICM / Charles Mayhew FCICM / Hans Meijer FCICM / Debbie Nolan
FCICM(Grad) / Amanda Phelan MCICM(Grad) / Allan Poole MCICM / Phil Rice FCICM / 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
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.
60 – ROUTE TO SUCCESS
Guarantee a productive year ahead with
professional goals.
Publisher
Chartered Institute of Credit Management
1 Accent Park, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate,
Peterborough PE2 6XS
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, Roshika Perera,
Melanie York and Mona Yazdanparast
Advertising
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Email: paul@centuryone.uk
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International: £160 per annum
Single copies: £13.00
ISSN 0265-2099
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 3

EDITOR’S COLUMN
Sean Feast FCICM Managing Editor
In amongst the gloom there
are always glimmers of light
PERHAPS, given the dreadful
earthquake that has
devastated huge swathes of
Turkey and Syria leading
to colossal loss of life, it
may seem inappropriate to
talk about tsunamis in any other context.
And yet it is the language being used by
those in the insolvency profession as they
predict the next six months and expect
the floodgates to finally open on company
insolvencies.
The figures are alarming. There were
5,995 registered company insolvencies
between 1 October and 31 December
2022, according to figures released by
The Insolvency Service. They include
4,891 creditors’ voluntary liquidations
(CVLs), 720 compulsory liquidations, 359
administrations and 25 company voluntary
arrangements (CVAs).
According to accountancy firm RSM,
UK company insolvencies will continue
to climb for the next couple of quarters in
2023 as rising interest rates and the cost-ofliving
crisis put a tight squeeze on debtor’s
funds – at a time when many are still just
recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gareth Harris, Partner and Regional
Head of Restructuring Advisory at RSM
UK, believes insolvencies are now in free
flow (see news page 8). He believes that the
next six months may be the toughest for
UK business since the early 1990s. Even to
survive, he says, will be a victory for many.
Brendan Clarkson from Azzurro
Associates and Bob Pinder, Director,
Quality Assurance, Professional Standards
at the ICAEW agree. In their opinion,
many businesses survived the pandemic
due to Government support, which has
now largely come to an end, with many
directors deciding to close their businesses
while matters are still in their hands. Both
anticipate that this year we will also see
more involuntary closures, as firms are
driven to the brink.
Which made me think about which
companies would be the first to falter.
I seem to remember my grandfather, a
serial entrepreneur, saying that there
were only three jobs in life that were ever
guaranteed: bringing people into the
world; taking them out; and feeding them
while they were there! I’ve no idea if he
was right, but looking through the list of
recent insolvencies, he may well have been
close!
Those of us who have been here before,
and survived previous recessions and tales
of woe, know that in amongst the gloom
and doom there will be glimmers of light.
There are always companies that succeed
despite everything, either because they
have a product or service that people and
businesses need, or because they have
the foresight and agility to move with the
times and cut their cloth accordingly.
The challenge for our members is to
know which companies represent their
greatest risk, and which represent their
greatest opportunity.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 4

CMNEWS
A round-up of news stories from the
world of consumer and commercial credit.
A third of households to
demonstrate financial resilience
SOME 10 million households will
demonstrate financial resilience
this year, with spending power
concentrated in London, the South-
East and city locations throughout
the UK.
New analysis from Experian suggests more
than a third (35 percent) of households are
equipped to recover from temporary financial
issues in 2023 despite the wider economic
landscape. This may be in the form of a job loss,
a relationship breakdown, or an unexpected
emergency cost.
Households within the ‘Prestige Positions’
and ‘City Prosperity’ groups were found to have
the most protection from rising costs. Typically,
these groups have high-paying, professional
jobs, own large properties, are based in the
South-East and working in London.
These wealthy households are not immune
to the challenges of the cost-of-living crisis
and are making changes but they can still,
largely, enjoy the lifestyle of previous years.
These groups spend more than £2,000 a month
on ‘non-essential’ costs such as eating out,
holidays and new cars.
However, the analysis also found UK
households’ discretionary income fell by 10
percent in 2022 and is expected to fall further
this year, with an estimated drop of 19 percent.
The least affluent households, typically lowincome
families and city residents in high
density rental housing, will see reductions
Written by – Sean Feast FCICM
in spending power in excess of 25 percent -
representing approximately nine million UK
households. Colin Grieves, Managing Director,
Marketing Services, Experian UK&I, says at
a time when most organisations are seeking
to understand the impact of the cost-ofliving
crisis on their customers, data-driven
insights are crucial: “Households across the
UK have experienced various challenges over
the last 12 months, with most forced to make
cuts to everyday expenditure. Businesses are
making similar decisions about how best they
allocate resources, not only for advertising and
marketing, but about how they can help their
customers too.
“It is important organisations really
understand how their customers are faring and
recognise the changes which are happening.
Understanding the evolving demographics
of the UK is essential for organisations of all
shapes and sizes, helping them to connect,
engage and support people.”
Elsewhere, a report from Resolution
Foundation warns that times will get worse
before they get better, with far-reaching
impacts on financial resilience and health. Its
research suggests real wages aren’t expected
to return to early 2022 levels until the end of
2027. Worse still is the finding that typical
incomes are set to remain below their realterms
pre-pandemic level for another five to six
years, according to The Resolution Foundation’s
report The Living Standards Outlook 2023.
Government reveals extent of COVID fraud financial
FIGURES from the Government have
revealed the true value of fraud believed
to have been committed by company
directors in relation to the huge sums of
Bounce Back Loans given to businesses
to see them through the COVID crisis.
Of the £4.1bn the Government has paid
to lenders for defaulted credit under the
Bounce Back Loan scheme, more than
£1bn has been identified as ‘suspected
fraud’.
Of the principal lenders, Lloyds tops
the list at £317m, followed by Barclays
(£250m), NatWest (£160m) and HSBC
❝
‘‘Understanding
the evolving
demographics of the
UK is essential for
organisations of all
shapes and sizes,
helping them to
connect, engage and
support people.”
❝
(£110m). Starling suspect £95m of its
loans may be fraudulent, and Santander
a further £83m – a total of £1.015bn.
While these figures are the totals
relating to fraud, the actual total of loans
that have defaulted are four times that
amount, and four times the potential
misery for the taxpayer who will be
ultimately responsible for footing the
bill. Plans are now being considered as
to how to recover the money, including
one that doesn’t use the insolvency route
at all, but rather uses the court system to
take action against fraudulent directors
personally when they are known to
have the means to pay. Andrew
Birkwood of Azzurro Associates, the
business behind the scheme, says
targeting those with the means to
pay would win the respect of the
Government, the lenders, and the public
at large: “It would garner even more
respect for the fact that such a process
could be managed on a contingent basis,
fully non-recourse and with no priority
on repayment. In simple terms, the cost
of litigation would be made entirely at
our own risk.,” he adds.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 5

NEWS ROUNDUP
UK manufacturing sector
production volumes returning to
pre-Pandemic levels
ALMOST three quarters
(70 percent) of engineers
working in UK
manufacturing report that
business has returned
or even exceeded pre-pandemic
production volumes as the darkest
days of COVID-19 appear to be fast
disappearing into the rear-view mirror.
Businesses in the aerospace,
electronics and energy sectors all
point to a substantial recovery with
72 percent, 59 percent and 71 percent
of respondents respectively flagging
a return to pre-COVID-19 levels of
production.
But not every sector is in such good
health: 60 percent of respondents in the
automotive industry say output in their
firms has been reduced, and access
to skills, supply chain issues and the
move to hybrid/remote working were
all cited as particular challenges across
all areas of manufacturing.
The State of Manufacturing 2023
Report, conducted for Essentra
Components by The Engineer
Magazine, sought to uncover the
biggest concerns facing engineers
working in UK manufacturing.
Described as one of the most
important studies of its kind ever to
be commissioned, the report focuses
on respondents’ attitudes to future
talent, technology, sustainability, and
a heavily impacted supply chain in a
post-COVID world.
Scott Fawcett, Chief Executive
Officer, Essentra PLC, says the
performance of the manufacturing
sector is often seen by Government
and the media as a barometer for the
UK’s wider economic wellbeing: “With
this report, we are demonstrating
our responsibility as a leader to dig
beneath the surface and find out what
is really going on behind the numbers,
to help inform future decision making.”
The issue of skills was a particular
concern, with almost three quarters (74
percent) saying new recruits frequently
lack the skills and qualifications
needed to succeed in a modern
manufacturing environment.
Perhaps of greatest concern,
however, is the supply chain: exactly
half (50 percent) say supply chain
pressures have had a significant
impact on their business, and 62
percent expect those issues to remain
FSB warns of collapse in small
business confidence
CONFIDENCE among small firms is at
a new low outside periods of lockdown,
with retail and hospitality businesses
especially hard-pressed, as FSB sets out
measures to help give small firms a boost
The Q4 2022 Small Business Index
from the Federation of Small Businesses
(FSB) has found that small firms’
confidence has fallen again, plunging to
a level almost on a par with the second
COVID lockdown, but small businesses
vow to fight on.
A poor economic climate should focus
minds on breaking down barriers to
growth – helping more people into work,
tackling late payment, driving energy
efficiency, powering R&D, and getting
more people to start up on their own
Sectors like retail and hospitality are
under particular pressure, and more
businesses are losing staff than gaining
– though future hiring intentions appear
more positive.
Small firms’ confidence in the final
quarter of 2022 plunged to a depth
almost on a par with that measured
during the second COVID lockdown two
years previously, new research from FSB
has found.
The Small Business Index (SBI)’s
headline confidence figure in Q4 2022 fell
to -46 points, down from -36 points in Q3
2022, and the lowest such finding since
Q4 2020, when it was -49 points.
In several individual industry sectors,
the confidence reading was particularly
low, with retail businesses registering
a finding of -83 points, and hospitality
firms coming in at -71 points. This
is described as being particularly
troubling during the ‘golden quarter’ for
consumer-facing businesses such as
shops, bars, and restaurants.
More positively, the construction (-19
points), IT and technology (-25 points)
and manufacturing (-39 points) sectors
were more upbeat than average, albeit
still in negative territory.
More small firms reported a drop
in revenues over the previous three
months (43 percent) than reported a
rise (33 percent), and their outlook for
the next three months reflected this as
well, with 44 percent expecting to see
a fall in revenues against three in ten
anticipating a rise (29 percent).
The proportion of small businesses
which saw employee numbers fall (16
percent) outweighed the share which
gained staff (10 percent) over the
previous three months, although the
employment outlook for the next three
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 6

for anything up to five years. Some 15
percent even believe they could go on
indefinitely.
To mitigate the effects of these
challenges, manufacturers are taking
a variety of actions from sourcing new
suppliers (64 percent of respondents)
to increasing prices (43 percent)
and exploring ways of reducing
overheads (just under 30 percent).
Around a quarter of respondents also
report using supply chain forecasting
models, and even reshoring aspects of
production, to anticipate and address
supply chain delays.
On a more positive note, most
(90 percent) say their firms have
an active technology investment
plan and almost two out of three (61
percent) view the drive for increased
NEWS ROUNDUP
❝
“Despite the challenges of COVID-19,
manufacturers appear to be bouncing back
with production volumes and financial revenues
recovering to pre-pandemic levels,”
– Scott Fawcett
sustainability as an opportunity, rather
than a threat.
Scott says it is reassuring to see
so many positives from the report:
“Despite the challenges of COVID-19,
manufacturers appear to be bouncing
back with production volumes and
financial revenues recovering to prepandemic
levels,” he says.
“It is encouraging to read of the
investment many are making in
technology and innovation, and
in addressing the challenges of a
disrupted supply chain. It is also
pleasing to see the continued focus on
sustainability, making our industry and
our planet fit for future generations.
It’s something we can be proud of, both
professionally and personally.”
>NEWS
IN BRIEF
Kennek funding
LONDON-based fintech firm Kennek
has raised a $4.5m pre-seed funding
round. The company has developed an
end-to-end operating system designed
to streamline the operations for
lenders, credit investors, corporates,
and servicers in the alternative credit
sector. In its first year of trading,
Kennek has already hired 20 fulltime
staff, and launched a plug-and-play
operating system that caters for a
broad variety of lenders and credit
products. The company’s UK operation
has already secured commercial wins
with clients operating in the areas of
SME loans, R&D credit and Commercial
Real Estate.
Air Supply
FIGURES compiled by Tipalti show
that UK Airbnb hosts have the
third highest average annual host
earnings, at c£18,000 per year. USA
hosts top the list (c£36,000) followed
by Australia (c£23,000). Owners in
France and Thailand can expect to
receive the least (c£9,000 and c£7,500
respectively). York and Bath are the
most popular destinations in the UK.
months was more positive, with one
in seven small businesses (14 percent)
expecting to increase their staff numbers
against around one in ten (11 percent)
expecting to see a fall.
Three in ten small businesses (30
percent) said their payment situation had
worsened over the previous three months.
FSB National Chair, Martin McTague,
says business owners are resilient and
where there is a will, they will find a
way through: “Clearly, falling consumer
spending, inflation, and high energy
bills are all taking a toll, and poor results
after the golden quarter are particularly
disappointing – but this should also be a
time to grasp the nettle and be decisive
in finding more ways for the economy
to grow, which is why we have drawn up
a plan of action for the Government to
implement.
“Small businesses are always the engine
room of any economic recovery. The more
rapidly small firms pull through, the more
rapidly we can all recover.
“Helping more people into work, tackling
late payment, driving energy efficiency,
powering R&D and getting more people
to start up on their own are all initiatives
that will make a real difference to the
economy – just as small business owners
individually will continue to demonstrate
the ingenuity they showed during the
pandemic to find new markets and new
ways of working.
“Small firms are a fantastic national
resource of innovation and creativity –
especially if given the right conditions
to flourish. These results are incredibly
worrying, yes, but they are not the final
word.”
❝
“Small businesses
are always the
engine room of any
economic recovery.
The more rapidly
small firms pull
through, the more
rapidly we can all
recover.’’
❝
Coface acquisition
COFACE has acquired the North
American data analytics boutique
Rel8ed. The acquisition is described
as bringing new, rich data sets and
analytics capabilities, which will
benefit Coface trade credit insurance
as well as the company’s business
information customers and teams.
Rel8ed was founded in 2015 with
the support of Innovate Niagara’s
incubator program in Ontario, and has
offices in the U.S. and Canada. Rel8ed
is specialised in the integration, crossreferencing,
analysis and inference
from big data extracted from multiple
sources. Rel8ed’s customers range
from multi-national companies and
Governments to business associations.
Meanwhile, Coface has also appointed
Jonathan Steenberg as Economist for
the United Kingdom and Ireland. He
reports to Bruno De Moura Fernandes,
Head of Macroeconomic Research at
Coface and is based in London.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 7

NEWS ROUNDUP
UK company insolvencies rise to 13-year high
AFTER seasonal adjustment, the number of
individual insolvencies began to rise as Q4 2022
was six percent higher than Q3 2022, and seven
percent higher than in Q4 2021. But the worst is
yet to come.
The number of insolvencies in the last
quarter of 2022 has jumped 30 percent on the
same period the previous year, following the
end of Government support schemes – with
experts predicting high liquidation numbers to
continue for the next six months.
According to accountancy firm RSM, UK
company insolvencies will continue to climb
for the next a couple quarters in 2023 as rising
interest rates and the cost-of-living crisis put
a tight squeeze on debtor’s funds – at a time
when many are still just recovering from the
COVID-19 pandemic.
There were 5,995 registered company
insolvencies between 1 October and 31
December 2022, according to figures released
by The Insolvency Service. Quarterly statistics
are adjusted to account for seasonal variation
in insolvencies across the year and allow for
comparison to the most recent period within
years.
They include 4,891 creditors’ voluntary
liquidations (CVLs), 720 compulsory
liquidations, 359 administrations and 25
company voluntary arrangements (CVAs).
There were no receivership appointments.
After seasonal adjustment, the number of
company insolvencies in Q4 2022 was seven
percent higher than in Q3 2022 and 30 percent
higher than in Q4 2021. The number of CVLs
Credit Union borrowing hits fresh record
in search for affordable credit
CREDIT Unions are lending
record sums to borrowers
in the UK as the cost of
borrowing continues to rise.
Figures from the latest
Credit Monitor from Freedom Finance
show that average household quoted
rates on credit cards hit 22.46 percent,
their highest levels since 1998, while
personal loans posted their highest
quarterly increase of all time in Q4
2022.
Amid the cost-of-living squeeze and
this rate-rising environment, Credit
Unions have grown in popularity and
the latest data released by the Bank
of England reveals that they are now
lending record sums to members.
Total borrowing reached £1.92bn in
Q3 2022, which marks an increase of
£255m (15 percent increase) compared
to the same quarter in 2021, and an
uptick of £51m from Q2 2022. Despite
a dip in the total number of Credit
❝
“We expect
these high
liquidation numbers
to continue for
a couple more
quarters before
slowly tailing off
as the recession
softens.”
❝
Union members in Q3 2022, there
are currently 1.94m members which
remains more than 38,000 higher
compared to the same period the year
before.
Credit Unions are cooperative
societies owned by their members
joined by a common bond such as
living or working in the same area.
They offer a range of financial services
products including loans which are
often available at low rates and to
people on lower incomes and so can be
a vital financial lifeboat for those who
are under-served by the mainstream
lending sector.
Emma Steeley, CEO at Freedom
Finance, says access to affordable
credit products is crucial: “Credit
Unions play a critical role in plugging
this gap but they remain poorly known
and understood.,” she explains. “We
saw from last year’s CSJ report on
loan sharks that people who feel
remained close to the highest quarterly level
since the start of the series in 1960 (Q2 2022).
The number of compulsory liquidations also
increased to the highest quarterly number
since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,
partly as a result of an increase in windingup
petitions presented by HMRC and a high
number of petitions from a single bank.
Gareth Harris, partner and Regional Head of
Restructuring Advisory at RSM UK, believes
insolvencies are now in free flow: “We expect
these high liquidation numbers to continue for
a couple more quarters before slowly tailing off
as the recession softens,” he explains.
“But the next six months may be the toughest
for UK business since the early 1990s as almost
all economic indicators paint a gloomy picture
and survival will represent success for many.
This will, however, create opportunity for those
strong businesses that may be able to capitalise
if they can move quickly.”
ICAEW’s most recent Business Confidence
Monitor found that UK business confidence
had crashed to a 13-year low in Q4 2022 as a
weakened economy and depleting customer
demand caused business sentiment to plunge
to 2009 global financial crisis levels.
Bob Pinder, Director, Quality Assurance,
Professional Standards at ICAEW, says: “Many
businesses survived the pandemic due to
Government support, which has now largely
come to an end, I anticipate this year we will
see more involuntary closures – either way
we know ICAEW restructuring and insolvency
firms are now getting much busier.”
locked out of the regulated financial
services industry can fall into illegal
lending which can rapidly spiral out of
control with disastrous and dangerous
consequences.
“This is why it is so important that
the industry continues to beat the
drum for all providers – including
Credit Unions – who are able to
broaden access to the credit market
and help more people benefit from
more products which are suitable for
their circumstances.
“Across the lending market, we
all need to be working towards
offering consumers a wide variety of
products from reputable providers.
Technological developments like Open
Banking and soft searches can be
used to ensure that even people with
thin credit files can access the credit
market, avoid declined applications
and shop around to get the best
products that they are eligible for.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 8

NEWS ROUNDUP
The CICM teams up with BlackLine
to help members modernise
accounting processes
THE Chartered Institute of Credit
Management (CICM), the largest
professional credit management body
in the world, has entered into a new
agreement with accounting automation
software leader BlackLine.
Through joint events, awards and
content, the alliance will give CICM
members access to valuable insights
into best practice cash optimisation,
how to automate repetitive work, and
the benefits of switching from manual
finance practices to modern accounting
processes.
Founded in 2001, BlackLine is
the pioneer of the cloud financial
close market, providing solutions to
manage and automate financial close,
accounts receivable and intercompany
accounting processes. It works with
more than 4,100 large enterprises and
midsize companies across all industries
to help them do accounting work better,
faster and with more control.
Sue Chapple FCICM, Chief Executive
of the CICM says the alliance gives
members access to new ways of
addressing a familiar challenge:
“We are delighted to have
BlackLine as a new corporate
partner and hope this relationship
will empower members to
improve cash management
within their business and
help credit managers
improve decision-making
and perform their jobs
with even greater
efficiency.
❝
“We are delighted to have
BlackLine as a new corporate
partner and hope this relationship
will empower members to improve
cash management’’
– Sue Chapple FCICM
“With the economic downturn
already putting pressure on credit and
collections businesses, BlackLine’s
services will help our members
operate more efficiently by removing
the obstacles and inconveniences of
manual accounting.”
Andy Lilley, Managing Director of
Accounts Receivable at BlackLine
believes the alliance comes at a crucial
time for the credit management
professsion: “With cash management
more critical than ever, joining forces
with CICM to help curate valuable
content and events that will help their
members get ahead of the curve was a
key driver behind our decision.
"We are seeing more customers
looking to BlackLine for intelligent
insights, as businesses seek to
harness real-time data and
powerful analytics to improve
critical decision-making across
the enterprise. We look forward
to working closely with CICM
and its members in the
coming years."
>NEWS
IN BRIEF
UK executive pay
increasingly linked to
ESG targets
THE UK’s top companies are
increasingly including ESG corporate
goals in executive pay plans,
suggesting investor pressure for
greater ESG disclosure is taking effect,
new research shows.
The use of environmental, social
and governance (ESG) metrics in UK
executive pay plans has grown to 89
percent, up from 81 percent according
to research by WTW, a US advisory and
broking company.
The occurrence of ESG-linked
goals appears in both short-term and
long-term payment plans in the UK.
According to the study, 85 percent
of UK plc tied their short-term pay
packages to at least one ESG measure,
up from 79 percent the previous year.
The proportion of companies that used
at least one ESG measure in their longterm
pay plan rose from 24 percent to
37 percent in the past year. This trend
is set to continue, if not accelerate
in the next few years, the research
suggests.
Sarah Reay, Climate Change
Executive, ICAEW, says there is some
way to go in matching the addition
of measures in long-term plans with
those in the short-term plans: “We
hope that by including social and
environmental measures as part of
executive remuneration, this will
accelerate action on emissions
reduction, close the gap on social
inequalities and improve the health
and wellbeing of people and the
planet.”
Arvato ‘deeply regrets’ misconduct by employee
ARVATO Financial Solutions is
understood to have suspended with
immediate effect an employee involved
in a Times newspaper undercover
‘sting’ operation and says that it
‘deeply regrets’ any misconduct by an
individual employee.
In a statement given to Credit
Management, a spokesperson for
Arvato Financial Solutions said
the business continues to act in
compliance with the regulatory
requirements which govern its
operations. ‘We respect and adhere to
industry standards set by Ofgem as
well as other regulatory bodies,’ the
statement reads.
‘We also work in accordance with our
contractual obligations to our clients,
and the standards they expect us to
meet. Above all, we treat customers
with whom we come into contact with
respect and assess their individual
needs at the time of our visit.’
In terms of the individual, the
spokesperson added: ‘None of the
inappropriate statements attributed
to our employees in press reports
represent the views of the company,
and are not in accordance with how
we train our people to interact with
consumers.’
The comments follow a Times
reporter who claims to have witnessed
examples of ‘debt collectors’
working for British Gas admitting to
disconnecting heating or electricity on
families when they have been unable
to fit a prepayment meter.
The Credit Services Association
(CSA) to which Arvato Financial
Solutions belongs, told Credit
Management that while it was
monitoring the situation, it had not
as yet received any complaints from
customers of any member firm in
respect of collections issues related to
the installation of pre-payment meters
subsequent to the Times story being
published.
Chris Leslie the CSA’s Chief
Executive, said that allegations must
be taken seriously and that where
incidences of unfair treatment are
identified “it is essential that firms take
steps to respond appropriately and as
soon as possible.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 9

INSOLVENCY
STAYING
POWER
Are the new Corporate Insolvency
measures here to stay?
AUTHOR – Giuseppe Parla
Giuseppe Parla is the Menzies Business Recovery
Director and a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 10

INSOLVENCY
AUTHOR – Giuseppe Parla
AN official review of permanent
measures that were introduced
during the pandemic to protect
businesses that might be at
risk of insolvency, has been
completed. The good news for
ailing businesses is that the measures are here
to stay – but how useful will they be and what do
credit managers need to know?
The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act
2020 – Final Evaluation Report was published by
the Insolvency Service on 19 December 2022,
based on independent research carried out by
the University of Wolverhampton. The report
includes an assessment of three permanent
measures, which, when they took effect on 26
June 2020, represented the most significant
changes in insolvency law since 2003.
With many businesses facing challenging
headwinds, credit managers need to be alert
to the new measurers and how they may be
impacted. So how useful have the measures
proved in practice?
• Restructuring Plans (Part 26A of the
Companies Act 2006)
A restructuring plan proposal is put to the
creditors when the court orders the convening
of meetings of different classes of the company’s
creditors. Three quarters (75 percent) of
creditors in each class need to agree to the plan,
however the court may nevertheless sanction
or approve the restructuring plan if one of the
creditor classes rejects the proposals, provided
that those creditors will be no worse off in
the event of the relevant alternative, usually a
liquidation.
It was originally thought that uptake of
restructuring plans would be low as they could
be costly and slow to implement, primarily
due to the need for court involvement.
However, they have proved more popular than
expected (12 have been approved to 31 December
2022), and this is evidenced by the fact that they
have also been used by the SME market.
Overall, restructuring plans give businesses
that are struggling a chance to remain viable,
alongside the more typical – administration,
Company Voluntary Arrangement or Scheme
of Arrangement. If a business finds itself as a
creditor in a restructuring plan, it is important
to review the proposal and assimilate what the
outcome will be for them early, to vote and have
their say.
• Company moratorium
The measure known as ‘standalone moratorium’
is designed to protect businesses on a shortterm
basis, initially 20 days, from any legal
action by creditors. The measure is helpful
in that it gives the business and its directors
breathing space to consider their options.
While the moratorium shouldn’t delay a
decision to enter into an insolvency process
where it is clear that creditors’ interests can’t
be met, it could be useful if the business is
expecting the completion of a major contract,
for example.
There have been 40 company moratoriums
obtained to 31 December 2022, meaning that
they are seen as a useful tool and we may
see more of them. For credit managers, it is
important to be aware that if a moratorium is in
place, legal action cannot be started, but to be
mindful that if supply is continued, a ‘super
priority creditor’ status will apply.
• Restrictions on contractual termination
The restrictions are designed to prevent
suppliers from stopping or threatening to stop
providing goods or services to the business after
it has entered an insolvency process.
Before the pandemic, such clauses were used
by insolvency practitioners to stop providers
terminating contracts relating to certain
supplies that were deemed necessary for the
ailing business. This has now been extended to
other services, however for smaller suppliers,
there is the protection of the ‘hardship provision’,
which means they can still issue a demand for
monies owed.
It is too early to say how useful this change
has been as the insolvency numbers have been
low, but credit managers should tread carefully
if continued supply has been requested in an
insolvency. However, it can be made a condition
of the continued supply that the insolvency
practitioner personally guarantees the payment
of any charges in respect of it.
For more information about how these
permanent measures could affect your business,
please contact the business recovery team at
Menzies.
www.menzies.co.uk/helping-you/businessrecovery
❝
The measure is
helpful in that it
gives the business
and its directors
breathing space
to consider their
options. While
the moratorium
shouldn’t delay a
decision to enter
into an insolvency
process where it is
clear that creditors’
interests can’t be
met.
❝
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 11

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Data: 2022.08.08 18:47:58
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Moneyknows no borders—neither do we
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 12

LATE PAYMENT
Mind the
Language
Is it time to change the late payment
conversation?
AUTHOR – Ant Persse
THE announcement of yet another
Government-led review into late
payment, which really means
a review of the treatment of
smaller suppliers by their larger
customers, is both encouraging
and depressing. It’s encouraging, because
it means that the issue has not gone away,
that its importance is recognised, and is still
considered something that needs to be tackled.
It’s depressing for many of the same reasons,
that it’s a problem to which it seems nearly
impossible to find a lasting solution.
I do believe, however, that the language
needs to change. Threatening to punish
transgressors has not worked. Late payment
interest is rarely if ever applied. Positioning
all larger businesses as ‘bad’, and all smaller
companies as angels is similarly not helpful.
There are many examples of large customers
who recognise the value of their supply
chain and have stood by them when times
are tough. There are similarly examples of
small businesses who have treated their own
supplier base appallingly, so if there is a debate
to be had, it should start with more honesty.
While some are fixated with changing
cultures, perhaps our first focus should be
on professionalising the credit management
process. If we were to do more to improve how
businesses transact with one another – and
formulating terms and conditions to which
both parties are agreed from the outset – we
would go some way to addressing many of the
subsequent problems that arise. If we similarly
did more to improve the invoicing, payment
and collection skills of small businesses, we
would no doubt remove another potential area
of conflict and misunderstanding. Increasing
the certainty that a business will be paid is
arguably more important than whether that
payment is forthcoming in 30 or 60 days.
Errors in the system
The conversation is always steered towards
big companies treating their smaller suppliers
badly, but I wonder how many invoices are
not paid simply because they don’t include a
purchase order number, are made out for the
wrong amount, or are simply sent to the wrong
person or company name. If we were to reduce
the number of errors in the system, of which
I expect there are many thousands, perhaps
we could get to the heart of who really is/isn’t
playing fair by their suppliers.
The conversation is similarly steered
towards the negative, about the impact late
payment has on a company’s survival. It’s a
fair conversation to have, but it’s not the only
one out there, and it doesn’t seem to be cutting
through. Perhaps those who advocate turning
the conversation on its head are right? Rather
than focusing on the gloom and doom, why
not promote the benefits of paying on time
or even early? Why not talk about the ability
this gives for businesses to invest in people,
technology and growth? Why not discuss the
wider societal benefit in terms of supporting
local employment, and making the economic
ecosystem more sustainable?
Positive dialogue
I believe that a more positive dialogue needs
to be accompanied by giving small businesses
greater access to (and better promotion of)
funding solutions, that help unlock the cash
tied up in unpaid invoices that they can then
use to invest. Perhaps there is now a real
opportunity for Invoice Finance to play its
part in taking away the payment headache
and improving a small company’s cashflow
position. Perhaps Government, pressure
groups, and our own industry champions
should similarly recognise that there is no
silver bullet to the late payment issue, and that
the stick hasn’t worked.
Culture is a learned behaviour, and only by
doing things differently, and taking a different
approach, can we start learning and adopting
more positive habits.
Ant Persse is Chief Executive of Optimum Finance.
Perhaps Government, pressure groups, and our own industry champions
should similarly recognise that there is no silver bullet to the late payment
issue, and that the stick hasn’t worked.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 13 continues on page 14 >

LATE PAYMENT
LATE CHARGE
Will late payment ever be resolved,
or is it a fantasy?
AUTHOR – Sean Feast FCICM
THE editor’s column in the last
issue of Credit Management
sparked a flurry of activity and
responses from different parts of
the credit industry, largely (but
not wholly) in support of a need to
change the late payment conversation.
New measures to be discussed by Government
include the traditional menu of reviewing
or beefing up existing measures (the Prompt
Payment Code, the role of the Small Business
Commissioner etc) and a combination of ‘carrot
and stick’.
So what works better? Paul Struthers, UKIA
Managing Director at Sage, believes that many of
the issues around late payment are down to poor
communication and a lack of understanding
between the buyer and the seller.
“Much of the cause of late payments comes
from businesses not understanding the issues
and complexities of their partners and therefore
the impact of paying late,” he explains. “So,
encouraging awareness of that, the role
technology plays and making it as easy as
possible to pay are key points.”
Encouraging results
Recent Sage research suggests encouraging
results. It found digital advances have delivered
a steady and significant improvement in
payment times; the average time for an invoice
to be paid falling from 81 days in 2010 to around
36 days between 2020 and 2021, indicating the
impact technology can have in solving the issue.
“Disputes are one of the leading causes of late
payments,” Paul continues. “Almost 70 percent
of small businesses have at least one commercial
dispute and 72 percent of disagreements are
about payment.”
Government-backed LawtechUK recently
oversaw proof of concept design for an online
dispute resolution platform for SMBs. Once
built, the platform can be integrated into
invoicing and accounting tools, enabling push
button dispute resolution.
Todd Davison, Managing Director of Purbeck
Personal Guarantee Insurance, appears firmly
in the ‘stick’ camp. Recent research by the
personal guarantee insurance provider to
small business owners found that rather than
planning for growth, 52 percent of small firms
are just focused on ‘keeping on an even keel’ in
the year ahead.
“After a resurgence in Covid infections and
Brexit, late payment was a top concern for small
businesses last year,” Todd explains. “We’re
now in very different waters and it’s vital big
❝
“While the
debate should
highlight both
aspects, it usually
makes sense to
begin with the
carrot, and then
fall back on the
stick.”
– Anthony Venus
❝
businesses are properly penalised for the harm
they cause when they pay their small suppliers
late.
“Cashflow problems not only stymie growth,
they also force some small firms into taking on
finance just to keep their heads above water.
This isn’t right or fair. We are all in the same
boat right now and big firms need to find more
ethical ways of managing their own cashflows
rather than taking the easy route of delaying
payment to the time it suits them, rather than
the time stipulated by their supplier.”
Power dynamics
Anthony Venus, Chief Strategy and Product
Officer at Quadient, believes that whether a
business is incentivised to pay, or penalised
for not doing so, everything really depends on
the power dynamic: “If the customer or buyer
is large and the supplier is small, the advantage
will be with the buyer – and vice versa. When
both sides are equal, the question becomes who
is the most mission-critical?”
Anthony believes the best way to address
this power dynamic and encourage ontime
payments is focusing on the customer
relationship: “Making all administrative
aspects of the payment process as smooth as
possible and ensuring that the customer feels
well treated can make a world of difference for
payment times,” he continues.
“Customers who are satisfied and delighted
are far more likely to pay on time. In turn,
customers who do pay on time can be rewarded
with discounts for early payment, or better
payment terms. Businesses often forget that
the finance team is the front line of customer
services, and so can have a huge impact on
satisfaction and payment.”
When it comes to whether we should be
talking up the benefits of paying on time, as
opposed to the negative impact of paying late,
Anthony is perhaps sitting on the fence: “While
the debate should highlight both aspects, it
usually makes sense to begin with the carrot,
and then fall back on the stick,” he adds.
“We should focus on the benefits of potential
discounts, improved payment terms, or simply
better supplier-customer relations before
discussing the possibilities of fines, additional
fees for late payments, or reputational damage.”
In terms of the three things he would do to
solve the late payment crisis, Anthony is on surer
ground: “First, I’d make overdue fees a standard
part of all contracts. Under UK law, if a private
sector invoice is more than 30 days overdue then
the business can claim Bank of England interest
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 14

LATE PAYMENT
AUTHOR – Sean Feast FCICM
❝
“According to the 2022 late payments
report, SMEs that follow up with 90 percent
or more of their invoices are the most likely
to get paid within a week of their invoice due
date. Additionally, it’s not enough to simply
email your client once and expect payment.”
– Sonia Dorais
❝
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 15
continues on page 16 >

LATE PAYMENT
AUTHOR – Sean Feast FCICM
base rates plus eight percent and debt recovery
costs. However, too often these late fees
aren’t claimed, let alone paid. Standardising
contracts, with overdue fees automatically
added to invoices and making clear what’s due
at each month past the payment date, will make
it easier to lay out organisations’ obligations.
“Second, I’d strengthen the Prompt Payment
Code. While a step in the right direction, a
voluntary code is still too easy to ignore. Instead,
it should be part of a larger Government code
on professional and ethical business practices
that in turn directly relates to government
business or tenders. For example, if only
companies that meet the Prompt Payment Code
can bid for Government contracts, there will be
a huge incentive to put best of class practices in
place – which will then apply to all supplier and
customer relations.
“Third, encourage automation. We all
know automating the invoicing process
helps ensure payments are made on time, as
well as improving customer relations and
reducing manual data entry. But many
businesses are missing out on these benefits
because of the upfront costs of adopting
automation. Tax incentives to invest in software
for automating invoices will make these tools a
necessity.”
The digital economy
Paul is similarly sure footed. He says that
insights from Sage suggest that a strong policy
framework and investment in the digital
economy could make a real difference. He
would seek to incentivise investment in
technology; reduce risk, and adopt the wider use
of smart contracts: “We know that technology
helps businesses get paid on time, so it is critical
that small businesses are encouraged to invest
in technology to help them manage their
cashflow by digitising the invoice payment
process,” he says.
“Fintech innovation and a strong digital policy
framework means small businesses can access
finance and protect themselves from late
payers more conveniently and easily, while
Smart contracts can help automate processes;
a contract could automatically generate an
invoice once a service is provided and extract
payment when the invoice becomes due.”
Sonia Dorais from Chaser, a previous CICM
British Credit Awards winner, believes that best
practice credit management is key.
“Confronting late payers can be
uncomfortable, but I’ve seen that when it
comes to reducing bad debts, proactiveness
really does pay,” she explains. “According to the
2022 late payments report, SMEs that follow up
with 90 percent or more of their invoices are the
most likely to get paid within a week of their
invoice due date. Additionally, it’s not enough
to simply email your client once and expect
payment. Research at Chaser has found that it
takes 2.6 payment reminders on average before
an invoice gets paid.”
Flexibility, she says, is also key: “One
size certainly doesn’t fit all when it comes
to payments. From your suppliers to your
customers, all businesses have a preferred way
of paying. If SMEs can offer their customers
greater choices and varied options for payment,
they are more likely to meet their customers’
needs and receive payment faster. By adding
multiple payment options such as bank transfer,
direct debit, and open banking options to their
receivables process, small businesses can help
reduce late payments from customers.
“Furthermore, with the current cost of
living crisis and challenging macroeconomic
conditions, customers are likely struggling with
cash flow too. By offering greater flexibility
through alternative payment arrangements
such as instalment plans or early payment
discounts, you can help foster stronger
customer relationships by supporting them
through a financially challenging period.”
Process and systems
Getting paid on time is not just about process or
behaviours. It is also about systems: “In order
to reduce late payments, businesses need to
be confident about who owes them what, and
when. Without up-to-date data and the right
systems in place, many businesses face a lack
of confidence in chasing up what they are
wed. In fact, 25 percent of businesses admit
to being unable to stay on top of their late
payments every month due to disconnected
systems.
“By having effective bookkeeping and bank
reconciliation processes in place, supported
by technology and automation," says Sonia,
“businesses can ensure they are always working
with the right data and can reduce their time
spent on manual work. Research shows that
businesses using software to support their
credit management process are three times
more likely to get an invoice paid before the due
date than those not using software - so putting
the right systems in place can truly help you
tackle late payment problems at your business.”
Paul agrees that technology has a huge
role to play in reducing payment times: “By
making processes easier and less cumbersome,
third parties can be encouraged to pay up
and small businesses can spend less time on
admin. For instance, using things like cloud
accounting products that are affordable and
easy to implement will help with automation
and preventing errors. small businesses can
also better forecast cashflow, target late payers,
and speed things up with ‘click to pay’
functionality.”
Among the most effective credit management
techniques, Paul says, are a range of automated
solutions: “Automated invoicing systems have
become widely available and exist either as
standalone applications or as an element of
commercial or cloud accounting software,”
❝
‘‘Research shows
that businesses
using software
to support their
credit management
process are three
times more likely to
get an invoice paid
before the due date
than those not using
software - so putting
the right systems
in place can truly
help you tackle late
payment problems at
your business.”
– Paul Struthers
❝
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 16

LATE PAYMENT
AUTHOR – Sean Feast FCICM
he explains. Small businesses can now send
invoices in real time via email or SMS as soon
as a transaction is complete. With e-invoicing,
invoices are sent from one accounting system to
another as a digital exchange. “Software sending
automated emails and SMS messages are also
useful. Business owners can avoid chasing late
payments personally which has historically
been a hurdle for those keen to protect client
relationships. Solutions for sectors with
specialised functionality and applications are
also an emerging trend, such as Brightpearl by
Sage for retail businesses.”
Gary Brown, Founder of Debt Register, the
winner of the 2023 BCA for Credit & Collections
Fintech similarly sees technology as at least part
of the solution.
“I think we need to be honest in the debate
around late payment and agree we will never
change a culture, but that we can give businesses
the tools they need to make payments between
companies easier and more productive,” he
explains.
Invoice basics
Gary agrees that in his experience, many
invoices aren’t paid because of simple process
errors: “Sometimes invoices aren’t paid because
they can’t be paid, because the details on the
invoice are wrong and so disappear into the
system,” Gary explains. “We also know that on
many occasions, an invoice isn’t paid for the
simple reason it never reached the right person,
or the person who did have responsibility has
since moved on.”
Gary believes that this is where a Fintech
like Debt Register can help: “The system is
completely autonomous and uses Artificial
Intelligence (AI) such as email recognition to
prevent final notices from being sent to ‘dead/
gone-away’ email addresses or the wrong
contacts and notifies a credit controller of any
anomalies. Debt Register enables debts that
might have been normally written off to be
settled in minutes, while the money collected is
sent direct into client bank accounts.”
In terms of whether bigger companies should
be incentivised or penalised, Gary tends to sit
in the latter camp: “It is possible to combine
technology with a ‘stick’ as in the case of Debt
Register,” he explains. “With our system, there
is a consequence for those businesses who
fail to pay a supplier invoice that is not in any
way in dispute. They are reported to the credit
reference agencies which could, in turn, impact
their credit rating. In our experience, this
usually has the desired result.”
Creative solutions
Andrew Birkwood, Founder and Chief Executive
of Azzurro Associates, thinks that any initiative
from Government to change attitudes to late
payment should be applauded: “But a cultural
shift will take time, when more immediate
strategies are required to address the liquidity
❝
“Many small
businesses and
business owners
are great at
what they do,
and selling their
product or service,
but not always so
well equipped or
skilled in terms of
administration.
They are also often
time poor.’’
– Sue Chapple
FCICM
❝
issue,” he says. “As the former interim Small
Business Commissioner Philip King FCICM has
previously said ‘….at times like these we need
creative ideas’, and that includes companies
turning a potential bad debt write off into
positive cashflow by selling its beyond-term
invoices for cash.”
Azzurro Associates helps service the needs of
typically larger companies struggling to collect
higher volumes of low value debt – part of the
‘late payment’ debate that is often overlooked:
“Typically the conversation around late payment
settles on the treatment of smaller businesses
by their larger customers,” he says, “but larger
companies also suffer from late payment issues
which can significantly impact their cashflow.”
To this end Andrew says that Azzurro is
already working with a number of businesses
across a diverse range of sectors to head off a
potential credit ‘crunch’.
“We are interested in buying unpaid invoices
for prices up to 90 percent of their outstanding
balance, depending on their age and the credit
profile of the customer, and we’re also happy to
share a proportion of the collections achieved
with the selling company. We are, in effect
creating a new ‘category’ of debt management
solutions to support businesses through these
unprecedented times and beyond.”
Curate’s egg
Sue Chapple FCICM, CEO of the CICM, believes
that the issue of late payment is something of a
curate’s egg, and while it may never be solved
completely, best-practice credit management
has a huge part to play in reducing its impact:
“We can help many small businesses alleviate
their late payment issues through good credit
management,” she explains.
“Many small businesses and business owners
are great at what they do, and selling their
product or service, but not always so well
equipped or skilled in terms of administration.
They are also often time poor. But there are also
many stories, true and apocryphal, of small
businesses invoicing the wrong company name
or address, or the wrong amounts, or failing
to include basic references such as Purchase
Orders that would accelerate payment.”
She says the more that small businesses
understand about their customer’s processes, the
better their chances of getting paid: “Speaking
to the customer in advance, understanding their
invoice and payment process, and conforming
to that process can make all the difference,” she
continues. “At the very least, it will reduce the
likelihood of an invoice becoming a dispute,
and make it clearer show you should/should not
be doing business with.
“Small business pressure groups are quite
right to call out bad practice among large
suppliers. They could also benefit from engaging
with organisations such as ourselves who are
committed to helping those small businesses
processes.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 17

Outstanding achiever
Credit Management profiles David Scottow FCICM,
winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award at this
year’s CICM British Credit Awards.
DAVID Scottow FCICM, has been
a prolific character in the credit
management, debt recovery,
and enforcement industries
for more than four decades,
recovering countless millions
for his clients, creating learning organisations,
and positively impacting the careers and
personal lives of numerous colleagues. He has
selflessly used his status to promote diversity
and encourage people from all backgrounds to
achieve excellence.
As a true ‘poacher turned gamekeeper,’ David’s
professional career started in accountancy
and credit control, giving him unique insight
into clients' businesses. He entered into debt
recovery with Lee & Priestley, moving after 13
years to Shergroup, which pioneered services
connected to the world of Sheriffs, and then
Incasso, the debt recovery subsidiary of
Cobbetts. He subsequently joined DWF, then a
regional law firm operating predominantly in
Liverpool and Manchester.
Here David was a founding leader of the
Recoveries Teams for all UK jurisdictions and
for providing a holistic service to DWF's UK
Client-base. The Recoveries Department swiftly
centralised all commercial and consumer debt
collection, debt litigation, enforcement, and
insolvency actions, and David, rising to Senior
Director and National Head of Recoveries, comanaged
a department of approximately 40
people. By 2019 the firm became the largest law
firm on the London Stock Exchange, with 30
offices across the world.
Imbued with Integrity
“David was extremely determined and
hardworking,” says Graham Dagnall, Partner,
DWF Solicitors. “He was pretty much
responsible, with the support of his senior
management team, for driving the growth of
the Recoveries team to unprecedented success,
and that included navigating some very choppy
waters where the external environment was
extremely volatile.
“Yet during more than ten years working
together, I can honestly say that though we did
not always agree on everything and quite often
actively disagreed, we never exchanged a cross
word. As well as being a highly respected work
colleague, I am also very proud to say David
has been a great friend, too, providing valuable
life insights. I learned a great deal from him in
terms of his approach, his ability to work with
❝
“He was pretty
much responsible,
with the support
of his senior
management
team, for driving
the growth of the
Recoveries team
to unprecedented
success, and that
included navigating
some very choppy
waters where the
external environment
was extremely
volatile.’’
– Graham Dagnall
❝
people, line manage them, invest in talent, and
still be a friend. I can unequivocally say I have
not known a more committed, deeply caring
individual who espouses and lives by a very
clear set of high moral standards that his team
and the business all benefitted from.”
David lives with integrity and leads by
example. He is a ‘career paralegal,’ and it is a
sad indictment of the legal profession that some
paralegals still feel like second-class citizens at
their law firms. David, however, maintained and
strengthened trust relationships with people on
all levels, whether qualified or unqualified, by
valuing loyalty, treating smart people smart,
showing people respect, learning from others,
and exhibiting fairness in the way people are
treated.
Totally devoted
David created a learning organisation,
continuously investing in training and
upgrading of skills. Although in full-time
employment, in his spare time, he promoted
the CICM to encourage learning among the
Institute's members and those aspiring to join,
such as students at Park Lane College, Leeds.
Alan J Smith FCICM, Chair & Board Director
of the High Court Enforcement Officers
Association, recalls: “I had the pleasure of
working with David in my role as Chair of the
Yorkshire Ridings branch of the CICM when
David was Vice Chair. He ran several branch
events and annual conferences, culminating
each year in the annual charity ball.”
He was equally devoted to his clients,
supporting them with consultations behind the
scenes or on the coalface, wherever he was most
needed. And they are to him. Philip Holbrough
MCICM, Member of the CICM Executive Board
& Chair of the Yorkshire Ridings Branch says:
“David is the only legal recoveries professional
that I trust. He understands my business
requirements and my desire for results. He is
very easy to deal with and hugely efficient.”
Debbie Tuckwood, Chief Advisor (Professional
Development) at the CICM summarises his
devotion, telling Credit Management: “David is
well recognised in the industry as a ‘go to person’
on credit management, legal, enforcement and
insolvency matters. He played a key role in
introducing CICM qualifications and helped
the education team in delivering the Level 5
Diploma in Credit Management. David’s work
in establishing professional standards and best
practice in the industry has been exemplary.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 18

OPINION
❝
“David is well recognised in the industry as a ‘go to person’ on credit management,
legal, enforcement and insolvency matters. He played a key role in introducing CICM
qualifications and helped the education team in delivering the Level 5 Diploma in Credit
Management. David’s work in establishing professional standards and best practice in the
industry has been exemplary.”
DE&I Champion
As well as client services, David has been
at the forefront of driving the Diversity,
Equity & Inclusion agenda. Whilst most
of the UK is relatively accepting of the
LGBTQ+ community now, this was not
always the case. As a gay man, earlier in
his career, David had to hide his private
life from colleagues and clients for fear
of homophobia, exclusion, or being
overlooked for valuable promotions.
Increasingly, businesses have pledged
support to employees, irrespective of
their sexuality. Within the Recoveries
Department at DWF, he established a
diverse and complementary management
team and workforce, making sure to
have people who differed in ability,
background, and personality but with
complementary skills. David has worked
hard to empower people, establishing
clear boundaries of what is allowed and
what is not and establishing a climate
of freedom for individuals to develop
their natures and express their diverse
qualities.
In the wider community, David is an
LGBTQ+ diversity champion and has been
actively involved in Stonewall, Friends of
Dorothy, and the White-Collar Club.
Paul Maddock, Vice Chair of the Law
Society's LGBT+ Division, says that David
is a real standout role model in the
LGBT+ community: “From his work with
charities such as Friends of Dorothy to
his mentoring of junior practitioners,
David lives and breathes improving
inclusion in the profession. I have always
been moved by David's kindness and
ability to champion those who struggle to
champion themselves – a real star and a
fantastic gentleman!”
A Legacy of Leaders
Perhaps David's greatest achievement is
his legacy. He developed and maintained
a performance-driven culture within the
DWF Recoveries Department he founded
almost 14 years ago. Throughout this
time, he has identified emerging talent,
and recognising their worth created
leadership development opportunities,
and created a pipeline for future leaders.
David was particularly proud of the
Department being awarded the Legal
Provider of the Year Award in 2022.
What stands out and makes David
exceptional, according to his colleague,
Kevin Feehan, Senior Director, DWF
Solicitors, is his passion for developing
people, his dedication and loyalty to his
team and the relationships he develops:
“He has a talent for identifying peoples’
skills and ensuring those skills are
recognised and developed,” Kevin says.
“He mentors individuals in his teams,
helping them develop and build a career
in debt recovery. Under his tutelage I
became a Senior Director and David's
support and encouragement have been
crucial in that development. I am
not alone in developing a friendship
with David whilst working for him,
which will long outlast the time we work
together.”
With thanks to Kevin Feehan of DWF.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 19

SECTOR FOCUS
SOLID GROUND
Why include price escalation clauses
in construction contracts?
AUTHOR – Jessica Gates and Seumas Cram
THE aftermath of a global
pandemic has led to
cost uncertainty in the
construction industry,
exacerbated by ongoing
global conflict, surging
global energy prices, sanctions, Brexit,
and a looming recession. In particular,
the knock-on effects of a downturn in the
current economic climate have presented
themselves in the form of increased costs
of materials due to material shortages
and longer lead delivery times, reduced
workforces, and supply chain issues.
The ban around the use of red diesel in
heavy construction plant machinery in 2022
has also contributed to making projects
more costly for contractors to deliver.
Additionally, surging rates of inflation in
the UK and other developed economies have
prompted the Bank of England to repeatedly
raise interest rates during 2022, raising the
costs of borrowing for parties looking to
fund construction projects by way of debt
financing.
Taken as a whole, these factors have
created uncertainty around the financial
viability of existing construction projects,
potentially increasing the risk of contract
disputes. With regard to future construction
projects, it’s expected that well-advised
parties will pay greater attention to
the manner in which construction
contracts allocate the risks of wage and
price inflation. While contractual price
escalation provisions may be regarded as
less important during periods of wider
economic stability, the current economic
environment highlights the importance of
ensuring that contracts contain adequate
pricing mechanisms in order to enable
the parties to perform their respective
obligations.
Cost uncertainty for contractors
Unless otherwise agreed, the default
position for the risk of delay and cost impact
as a consequence of material shortages and
inflationary price increases is one which is
primarily borne by contractors on projects.
For example, liquidated damages could
be levied against a contractor in the event
that materials are delayed. As a result,
contractors may find themselves incurring
significant losses by being tied into a longterm
fixed lump sum or remeasurement
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 20

SECTOR FOCUS
AUTHOR – Jessica Gates and Seumas Cram
❝
A price escalation clause (or 'cost escalation clause') is a contractual mechanism that
facilitates the contractor passing on increased overheads to the employer. The contractor
retains the ability to adjust the contract price in line with the fluctuating costs of raw
materials in the market and other elements of the works at the time.
contractual arrangements which are no
longer financially viable over the course
of a project.
If a contractor is forced to continue
the contract at a loss, inevitably this is
not going to be in the best interests of an
employer either. Contractor insolvency
part way through a project will result in
an employer having to pay more than
originally budgeted.
There are however contractual
mechanisms available to safeguard a
contractor’s position. In particular, there
is a rising trend of contractors seeking
to include price escalation clauses in
construction contracts. The purpose of
such a provision is to transfer some of
the financial risk on a project so that it is
absorbed by the employer.
What are price escalation clauses?
A price escalation clause (or 'cost
escalation clause') is a contractual
mechanism that facilitates the contractor
passing on increased overheads to the
employer. The contractor retains the
ability to adjust the contract price in line
with the fluctuating costs of raw materials
in the market and other elements of the
works at the time.
Price escalation clauses can be
mutually beneficial for both employers
and contractors, serving to mitigate the
risk of disputes later down the line and
in turn preserving amicable commercial
relationships between the parties. The
inclusion of price escalation clauses in
contracts may result in lower bids being
tendered for works by contractors from
the outset. In the absence of a price
escalation clause a contractor may inflate
the proposed contract sum to compensate
for the lack of cost certainty.
Bespoke drafting to maximise cost
effective solutions
Careful consideration should be given
to the reasonable risk allocation of costs
in construction contracts and to parties’
specific requirements on projects. Clear
drafting is essential. In particular, thought
should be given to the requirements
for notification of contract adjustments
such as the method, timeframe, and
level of supporting particulars required.
Some industry standard form contracts
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 21
incorporate optional or standard cost
saving mechanisms:
JCT Design and Build contains a
fluctuations provision which allows
an adjustment to the contract sum
for fluctuations in the market price
for labour and material. One of the
commercial purposes of the fluctuations
provisions is to provide some protection
for contractors working on construction
projects which might take several years
to complete. On smaller projects with a
shorter anticipated duration of works,
fluctuations provisions will usually not be
used, placing the risk of price increases
for labour and materials solely with
the contractor. Where no fluctuations
provisions have been incorporated into
a building contract, the contractor must
ensure that it has accounted for any
anticipated price increases for labour
and materials within the contract sum as
it will have no contractual right to adjust
the contract sum during the course of the
project.
Option A is the standard position and
provides flexibility to revise the contract
sum in the event of changes to rates of tax
or duties payable in respect of the labour
and materials required to complete
the contractor's works. Parties should
note that Option A does not provide for
any adjustment to the contract sum to
reflect the effects of inflation or other
factors resulting in increased labour and
materials costs.
Where Option B is selected, the
contractor will be reimbursed both in
respect of changes to tax and duties
affecting labour and materials (as in
Option A), and additionally where rates of
wages and other related expenses affecting
the cost of labour increase during the
course of a project. Additionally, Option
B allows for adjustment of the contract
sum where the price of required materials
and utilities (such as electricity) increase
during the course of the project.
Lastly, where Option C applies the
contract sum will be adjusted in
accordance with the JCT Formula Rules
that are current at the base date.
The relevant fluctuations option must
be stated within the contract particulars
in order to take effect.
continues on page 22 >

SECTOR FOCUS
AUTHOR – Jessica Gates and Seumas Cram
It should be noted that price escalation
clauses can also account for a decrease in the
contract price where costs fall. For this reason,
a fluctuation provision is also known as a ‘rise
and fall’ mechanism. In this way, the employer
could benefit from potential cost savings too.
Alternatively, where the cost of materials
increases or they are unavailable, an adjustment
to the contract price could be agreed by way
of a variation but this does not automatically
guarantee entitlement to additional costs for a
contractor. A contractor’s entitlement to price
increases for raw materials could also be dealt
with as a relevant matter under the contract.
JCT Prime Cost Building Contract is an example
of a standard-form cost reimbursable contract,
which is designed for use where urgent or
immediate works are required, and where the
exact extent and design of the required works
is not known. In practice, this type of contract
may be used in connection with urgent repair or
building alteration work.
Under a cost reimbursable contract, instead
of agreeing a fixed contract sum, the contractor
is entitled to be paid the actual cost of labour,
plant and materials, in addition to its overhead
and profits. This creates an obvious risk for the
employer, as in the absence of a fixed contract
price, there is no certainty as to its overall cost
liability to the contractor during the course
of the project. As a result, the financial risks
associated with the construction project will sit
almost exclusively with the employer under a
cost reimbursable contract. For this reason, cost
reimbursable contracts are rarely considered by
employers, and would usually be inappropriate
for any construction works which do not require
an immediate start date.
NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract
options A, B, C and D provide a secondary
optional provision which caters for the employer
agreeing to take on the risk of inflation - Option
X1. This option has a wide application but can
be restricted to apply to prices of specific raw
materials only.
Additionally, clause 16 allows a contractor
to suggest an alternative solution - i.e., value
engineering, which could in turn reduce the
cost of the works. The employer determines the
amount of value engineering percentage in the
tender documents that is used in calculating the
reduction in prices.
NEC Option C includes a mechanism in a
‘target cost’ contract where the cost saving
or overrun is calculated and split between
the parties in accordance with an agreed
formula. This is known as the ‘pain/gain share’
mechanism.
In Option E (‘Cost Plus’), the default position
is that the employer is responsible for the risk of
inflation. The contractor is reimbursed for the
actual costs it incurs for work carried out plus
the allowances for overheads and profit.
In keeping with the collaborative approach of
the NEC suite of contracts, a contractor could
utilise the early warning process to notify the
employer of cost increases, whilst maintaining
an amicable commercial relationship.
Alternatively, a contractor could claim
additional costs by way of a compensation event
but there is no automatic entitlement.
Fidic Red Book 2017 includes a schedule of cost
indexation - a table of adjustment data - and an
optional price escalation clause - ‘Adjustments
for Changes in Costs’ - for rises and falls in the
cost of labour, goods and other inputs to the
works.
Fidic Silver Book 2017 contains a
straightforward fluctuations mechanism. It says
that “the amounts payable to the contractor
shall be adjusted for rises or falls in the costs
of labour, goods and other inputs to the works,
by the addition or deduction of the amounts
calculated in accordance with the schedule(s)
of cost indexation in the particular conditions”.
Other contractual or commercial options
There are other options for employers and
contractors to consider when seeking to
control cost. These include suspension or even
termination if material prices increase by a
certain amount. Appropriate advice should be
taken before taking such action; it's likely to be
cheaper and far less disruptive in the long term
for an employer to support a contractor rather
than terminate the contractor’s engagement.
It's also possible to cap an employer’s exposure
with a maximum limit of contract adjustments
or frequency to prevent contractors having
limitless recovery. And then there’s the sourcing
of materials from alternative suppliers where
specified materials are difficult to procure or
unavailable, or sourcing materials locally to
reduce transportation costs.
Lastly, parties should ensure timelines are
more realistic given supply chain challenges;
consider that pre-purchasing and stockpiling
materials at the outset of a project provides
greater cost certainty and protection against
market fluctuations during the course of the
project; purchase materials directly from the
supplier to avoid cost mark ups by contractors;
and put in place bespoke drafting for provisional
sums to cover price increases and provide
greater flexibility.
Summary
It’s a fact of life that costs are increasing and
firms in the construction sector need to plan
ahead to mitigate the effects of inflationary
price increases. Time spent considering the
best option before signing a contract is a wise
investment.
Jessica Gates and Seumas Cram are associates
in the Construction & Engineering team at
Walker Morris LLP.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 22

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COUNTRY FOCUS
The eco-friendly
New Zealand makes
a strong case for UK
exporters.
Mount Taranaki / Mount
Egmont, Taranaki, New Zealand.
Looking beyond the Haka
AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein
FOUR years ago, the actor and
comedian Griff Rhys Jones
filmed a four-part travelogue
on a journey he took from the
northern tip of New Zealand
to the southernmost part
of the country. Encountering a land of
huge opportunity and stunning scenery it
quickly became apparent that there’s more
to New Zealand than Māori culture and
26m sheep.
Honey, whale watching, kiwi birds (the
country’s national emblem), earthquakes
and volcanoes, the former of which
did a frightening amount of damage to
Christchurch in 2011 – there’s a lot to
New Zealand. A little larger than the UK,
a little smaller than Japan and nearly
1/36th the size of the US, New Zealand is
located in the South Pacific Ocean
around 1,000 miles east of Australia, 1,100
miles south of New Caledonia, 1,700 miles
south of Fiji, and 1,500 miles south of
Tonga.
With little pre-history, New Zealand was
only settled by Polynesians around 1,300
who subsequently developed the Māori
culture. It wasn’t until 1642 and Dutchman
Abel Tasman that Europe first came across
the land. British captain James Cook made
landfall in 1769 followed by whalers, sealers
and traders. By 1840, Māori chiefs fearing
French takeover sought British protection
and signed the Treaty of Waitangi with
Britain afterward declaring sovereignty.
For a while in the 1890s New Zealand
contemplated joining independence
talks with Australia. However, that was
abandoned and dominion status came in
1907 followed by full independence in 1947.
It should be said that many of the land
disputes that exist in the present day follow
on from misunderstandings of the treaty.
While some 500 chiefs signed it, the CIA
World Factbook says that many did not.
Further, the British thought that the Māoris
had ceded control while translations
appeared to have given the British less
control.
Demographics
Being a size close to that of the UK and
having a population of around 5.1m, New
Zealand would be considered sparsely
populated even if its people were uniformly
spread over the country.
But they’re not.
As Clarke Group Property Management
notes, New Zealand is mainly urban with 90
percent living in towns and cities. It details
that Auckland has some 1.6m people,
Christchurch 383,000, and Wellington –
the capital – 215,000. Overall, there are
10 cities with between 100,000 and 1.6m
inhabitants, and 33 with between 10,000
and 100,000 people.
As for languages, 2018 figures cited by
the CIA indicates that English is spoken by
95.4 percent of the population, Māori by 4
percent, Samoan by 2.2 percent, Northern
Chinese by 2 percent, Hindi by 1.5 percent,
French by 1.2 percent, Yue by 1.1 percent,
New Zealand Sign Language by 0.5 percent,
and other or not stated by 17.2 percent. The
CIA also notes that the percentages total
well above 100 percent due to multiple
responses on the 2018 census.
On age, Statista details that in 2021,
19.29 percent were aged 14 or under, 63.98
percent between 15 and 64 years, while
16.74 percent were aged 65 years or older.
This closely aligns with 2020 data from
the CIA World Factbook which gives the
percentages as, respectively, 19.63 percent,
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 24

COUNTRY FOCUS
AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein
64.83 percent and 15.54 percent. It should be
added that according to NZ Adviser, population
growth is expected to slow significantly over
the next decade – down from 1.6 percent
between 2011 and 2021 to 0.9 percent over
the period 2021 to 2031. The publication says
that “the slowdown would require more focus
on planning properly for the future, given
the population projections.” It added: “The
65-years and older age group is projected to
be the fastest growing in the coming decade,
growing by 3.2 percent annually nationally
between 2021 and 2031.”
As for the economy, the OECD worries about
growth in New Zealand. It thinks that GDP
growth is projected to slow from 2.7 percent
(Stats NZ) to 1 percent in 2023 and 1.2 percent in
2024. It also thinks that “private consumption
will weaken with lower employment growth
and rising mortgage-servicing costs and
tighter credit conditions; weakening demand
will weigh on business investment.” There are
concerns that unemployment will increase
– albeit from a low level of 3.3 percent (Q3)
and headline inflation will fall throughout
the projection period - house prices could
fall more than assumed, accentuating any
downturn. Inflation in Q3 was recorded as
being 7.2 percent.
Of course, the current world situation
aside, New Zealand’s economic position was
not helped by its response to Covid. Much
of the economy was put into lockdown and
by September 2020 the economy went into
recession and contracted by 12.2 percent. A
V-shaped recovery followed but nevertheless,
many businesses including catering, aviation,
media, retail, telecoms and TV were affected
and job losses followed. Tourism especially
took a pummelling when borders closed
in March 2020. With tourism, according to
the National Institutes of Health in the US,
making up 5.8 percent of GDP, the missing
3.6m overseas visitors cost the economy dear
and domestic tourism couldn’t make up the
deficit.
Opportunities
Stats NZ details where the country’s GDP
is generated – at least in 2020. Its primary
industries generated some NZD 21.1bn of
which agriculture made up NZD 13.8bn,
fishing and aquaculture and support services
NZD 2.8bn, mining the same, and forestry and
logging generating NZD 1.6bn. (Note: NZD 1 is
worth 52p)
New Zealand’s goods producing industries
earned NZD 62.2bn of which construction
made NZD 22.4bn, food, drink and tobacco
NZD 12.1bn, utilities NZD 8.8bn, petroleum
and rubber NZD 5.6bn, transport equipment
and machinery NZD 5.4bn, metal products
NZD 3bn, wood and paper products NZD
2.2bn, non-metallic minerals NZD 1.1bn,
furniture NZD 841m, printing NZD 662m, and
textiles and leather NZD 620m.
Hobbiton Movie Set,
Matamata, New Zealand.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 25
New Zealand
continues on page 26 >New

COUNTRY FOCUS
AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein
But by far the biggest part of New
Zealand’s economy is the service sector
which in 2020 earned the country some
NZD 212.4bn. Of this NZD 26.9bn came
from professional scientific and technical
services, NZD 23.7bn came from owner
occupied property operations, NZD
23.6bn from rental and real estate, NZD
17.7bn from healthcare, NZD 17.7bn from
finance and insurance, NZD 14.5bn from
wholesale, NZD 14.1bn from retail, NZD
13.9bn from education and training. Even
local Government administration earned
the country NZD 1.6bn.
Agriculture
The US Trade Department notes that
agriculture is a big part of New Zealand’s
economy. The country is one of the world’s
largest exporters of dairy products and
also exports large volumes of beef
and lamb, wool, fruit, vegetables, and
wine. Organic produce has grown
in importance with the sector worth
some NZD 720m.
Farmers are looking to improve
production and reduce costs.
Large item imports are mowers
and tractors, centre-pivot
irrigation systems, and
agricultural implements.
The New Zealand
Government is funding
approximately NZD
190m for environmental
advisory services for
farmers, foresters, growers and
indigenous Māori landowners;
to help the transformation of the
forestry, wood process, food and
beverage and fisheries sectors;
and to help maintain and lift
animal welfare practices across
New Zealand.
Environment
New Zealand has legislation in place
to improve its carbon footprint.
The goal is for all greenhouse gases
except for methane from agriculture
and waste to reach net zero by 2050. The
country’s environment ministry noted in
December 2022 that gross emissions of
carbon dioxide equivalent increased from
68.4m tonnes in 1990 to 81.8m in 2020.
With existing measures, gross emissions
are projected to decrease to 59.2m in 2050.
The New Zealand Sustainable Business
Council has found that local businesses are
investing and prioritising sustainability.
Environmental policy is now influencing
investment decisions particularly in
transport and energy sectors. In other
words, eco-friendly technologies are
much sought after.
The management of drinking water,
stormwater, and wastewater services is
being reformed so that from July 2024
services will be provided by four publicly
owned water service entities. Known as
the Three Waters Reform programme, the
nationwide infrastructure investment is
estimated to range between NZD 120 and
160bn.
Healthcare
New Zealand’s healthcare system
comprises public, private, and voluntary
sectors. In 2020, the Commonwealth
Fund reckoned that state spending on
health in 2017 was around 79 percent of
all spending.
New Zealand citizens receive free or
subsidised healthcare while non-residents
pay full cost. To improve services, Health
New Zealand was created in July 2022 to
manage New Zealand’s public hospitals
and the commissioning of primary and
community health services. Health New
Zealand is expected to reduce complexity
and waste on administrative duplication of
non-health services as well as centralizing
procurement requirements.
The private healthcare system is
dominated by Southern Cross Healthcare
which also runs a small network of
hospitals and works closely with the
public healthcare system. There are
several private chains specialising in
geriatric care.
In May 2022, the Government’s annual
healthcare budget stood at approximately
NZD 11bn. New expenditure is being
prioritised for the redevelopment of
several regional hospitals, ambulance
services and new pharmaceuticals.
Opportunities lie in low carbon
technologies, digital and telehealth
services, medical screening processes,
and for a system coping with an ageing
population.
Technology
On technology, New Zealand has an
advanced digital infrastructure, and
the 2020 Inclusive Internet Index
and Speedtest Global Index ranks the
country in the top 20 countries globally
for network coverage, 5G deployment,
and internet speeds. With 7,500 firms in
fintech, health IT, digital and creative
technologies, ICT is New Zealand’s third
largest export sector with revenue of over
NZD 8.7bn a year.
The Government, banks, and the tech
sector have been cooperating to a point
that an environment of clustering and
Auckland, based around two large
harbours, is a major city in the north of
New Zealand’s North Island. In the centre,
the iconic Sky Tower has views of Viaduct
Harbour
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 26

COUNTRY FOCUS
knowledge sharing has been created. Further, In
May 2022, Microsoft New Zealand is encouraging
Software-as-a-Service start-ups. Interestingly,
the New Zealand Angel Association noted that
in 2021, start-ups saw a 63 percent increase
since 2020 in total funds invested.
New Zealand’s internet connectivity improved
in 2017 when the NZD 695m Hawaiki Cable
between New Zealand, Australia, and the US
went live. And for those in rural areas, things
took a turn for the better when in 2022, SpaceX
launched satellites allowing faster broadband
internet to areas without any fibre connection.
The import and export of digital content
and services, especially entertainment, has
markedly improved.
Tourism
The tourist sector is central to New Zealand and
according to Tourism Industry Aotearoa, it is
the country’s biggest export industry, making up
about 20 percent of total exports and employing
some 13.6 percent of the workforce.
In December 2022 the Ministry of Business,
Innovation & Employment published an
update on the state of the market, albeit with
data for the 12 months to March 2022. It noted
that the sector was worth NZD 26.5bn, with
international tourism expenditure rising 30.6
percent to NZD 1.9bn – this is in line with an
increase of overseas visitor arrivals to New
Zealand of 335.3 percent to 229,370. Domestic
tourism expenditure increased one percent –
NZD 249m to NZD 24.6bn.
And with an eye on the environment The
Guardian reported in May 2021, that the New
Zealand Government wants to diversify and
remove reliance on a number of tourismdependent
towns. Some of the country’s bestknown
natural attractions, such as UNESCO
World Heritage site Milford Sound/Piopiotahi,
will be transformed to take far fewer visitors.
One option highlighted by Invest New
Zealand is a move into high-value activities like
wellbeing spas, mountain bikes, and ziplines
along with sustainable innovation, with projects
such as the Ōpuke hot pools. It also said that key
New Zealand destinations including Rotorua,
Taupō, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown,
and Dunedin are seeking additional hotel
investment.
Food and drink manufacturing
According to the Ministry of Business,
Innovation & Employment, New Zealand is a
major food and beverage exporter, with the
industry accounting for 46 percent of all goods
and services exports. It’s surprising then, that
most of the sector reports featured on the
Ministry’s website are old and generally go back
to 2014. That said, one, a 2019 Investors Guide,
says that the food and beverage industry has a
combined revenue of NZD 71.7bn (2018/19). It
also notes that its market focus is moving from
feeding the West to the Asia-Pacific region while
also changing its product mix to more finished
AUTHOR – Adam Bernstein
❝
New Zealand
may be small,
but it is a market
that is worth a
serious look.
With a common
language and
legal outlook,
and now, a new
trade agreement
with the UK.
❝
goods that are either more luxury or consumed
by the service sector.
The guide notes the low use of medicines and
chemicals in products and that also, much of
the production is privately held – only 18 firms
were publicly listed.
Tax
In terms of tax on business, New Zealand
resident companies are taxed on their worldwide
income, and non-resident companies (including
branches) are taxed on their New Zealandsourced
income, subject to any applicable dual
taxation agreements. The corporate income tax
rate is 28 percent.
Social security is covered by general taxation
and there’s a fringe benefits tax (think benefits
in kind) that is paid by the employer up to a rate
of 49.25 percent for employer provided cars, low
interest loans, medical insurance premiums,
foreign superannuation contributions etc.
There’s also a goods and services tax, a form of
VAT that applies to most supplies of goods and
services, including low value imported goods,
services, and intangibles supplied remotely by
an offshore supplier to New Zealand resident
consumers. The narrow category of exempt
supplies includes financial services. The rate
applied to taxable supplies is currently 15
percent or zero rated.
The latter rate applies to a few supplies
only, including exports and financial services
supplied to other registered businesses, an
interest in land between two GST-registered
parties if the purchaser acquires the land
with the intention of using it to make taxable
supplies and it’s not intended to be used as a
principal place of residence for the purchaser
or an associate, or in relation to the sale of a
business as a going concern.
There is also a ‘reverse charge’ mechanism
that requires the self-assessment of GST on
the value of certain services imported by GSTregistered
persons.
Offshore sellers are required to register for
GST at 15 percent on supplies of low-value
imported goods if sales to New Zealand private
consumers in a 12-month period exceed NZD
60,000.
Regarding private income tax, New Zealand
residents are subject to tax on worldwide
income. A non-resident is subject to tax only on
income from sources in New Zealand.
Rates are set in five bands – 10.5 percent on
income to NZD 14,000, 17.5 percent on income
from NZD 14,001 to 48,000, 30 percent on
income from NZD 48,001 to 70,000, 33 percent
on income from NZD 70,001 to 180,000, and 39
percent on income of NZD 180,001 or more.
Summary
New Zealand may be small, but it is a market
that is worth a serious look. With a common
language and legal outlook, and now, a new
trade agreement with the UK, exporters may
well find that a long-distance trip is worthwhile.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 27

FUTURE-PROOFING
CAREERS
IN CREDIT
MANAGEMENT
Congratulations to all winners of the British Credit
Awards 2023. We’re thrilled to be celebrating the stand out
achievements of the most deserving individuals, teams
and organisations in the international credit industry.
Whatever your goals, we bring the people, the technology and the
partnership you need to achieve them, now and in the future. Our scale,
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We’re working for your tomorrow. Rely on us to support you in a complex
recruitment landscape, now and in the future.
Visit hays.co.uk/accountancy-finance today to discover how we can
future-proof your career in credit management.
hays.co.uk/accountancy-finance
© Copyright Hays plc 2023. The HAYS word, the H devices, HAYS WORKING Brave | FOR Curious YOUR | TOMORROW Resilient / and www.cicm.com Powering the world / March of work 2023 and / PAGE associated 28 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-1149352659

HIGH COURT ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
FAIR PLAY
Independent oversight for enforcement.
AUTHOR –Alan J Smith
AS an Association, we often
talk about having three key
aims. They are:
– helping creditors recover
unpaid debts,
- supporting Government by
recommending changes and implementing
improvements to the legal framework around
High Court enforcement, and, importantly,
– informing debtors – by ensuring that anyone
who owes money is treated fairly, ethically, and
proportionately.
Our members enforce judgments fairly,
ethically and within the letter of the law.
In order to reinforce this, we’ve developed
a Code of Best Practice which builds on the
National Standards for Enforcement Agents
issued by the Ministry of Justice. It sets out the
levels of professionalism and responsibility
that the Association expects from High Court
Enforcement Officers and their appointed
enforcement agents.
In line with this, while our own Code of
Practice has been in place for some time, we
welcome the introduction of the Enforcement
Conduct Board (ECB), which will operate
independently of both the profession and the
Government and has a mandate to ensure
fair treatment and appropriate protection
for people subject to action by enforcement
agents.
ECB is making positive progress
Since the announcement of the ECB back
in early 2022, the Association has enjoyed a
positive working relationship with the ECB’s
new Chair and now its newly appointed Chief
Executive.
We fully support its purpose to ensure that
all those who are subject to enforcement action
in England and Wales are fairly treated, and we
know that our members strive to achieve this
with every writ they receive.
Funded initially by a voluntary industry
levy, the ECB will be guided by the principles
of independence, ambition, proportionality,
collaboration, and transparency. It will
focus on delivering five key functions:
raising standards, improving accountability,
complaint handling, protecting the vulnerable
and achieving fairness and authorisation.
While we’re still awaiting details that sit
beneath this big picture, the appointment of
the ECB’s new Chief Executive is a sign that the
coming months will see this emerge as the ECB
continues discussions with the enforcement
profession and debt advice sector.
We’re looking forward to getting
involved
The HCEOA is pleased that we can now start to
play an active role in some of these discussions
to represent our members and help offer
insight and knowledge from our decades of
experience in enforcement.
In particular, specific protocols will be
welcomed, in addition to the Association’s
recommendations on dynamic vulnerability to
ensure that even though our members support
at-risk debtors well, there are robust systems
and an industry standard in place to deal with
any increase in the numbers of vulnerable
customers.
Although the Debt Respite Scheme
(Breathing Space) has offered some protection
to debtors while they get their affairs in order
with support from the debt advice sector, a
better collective understanding of an agreed
approach to identifying and dealing with
vulnerability can only enhance our flexible
and sympathetic approach when recovering
money owed to UK individuals and businesses.
We’ll be looking forward to hearing more
about how the ECB plans to tackle these
important issues, including its proposed
complaint handling process and improving
accountability for enforcement agents as part
of its independent oversight.
In the meantime, we’re continuing our
own work on increasing professionalism
throughout High Court enforcement. This
includes working closely with CICM on refining
the education pathways and standards for
anyone entering the High Court enforcement
profession and providing ongoing training and
guidance to qualified Hight Court Enforcement
Officers.
The ECB is a great opportunity for the
enforcement profession and the debt advice
sector to collaborate and collectively evolve
standards and increase shared understanding.
Everyone knows that standards and conduct
are important. That’s never been the issue.
The ECB gives us a forum which brings
everyone together to discuss and share
perspectives on and information about best
practice, and it has independent oversight.
This means that 2023 has the potential to be a
year where the enforcement and debt advice
collaborate and communicate more effectively
than ever before, which has to be a good thing
for everyone involved.
Alan J. Smith FCICM is Chairman of the
High Court Enforcement Officers Association.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 29

International Trade
Monthly round-up of the latest stories
in global trade by Andrea Kirkby.
APPLE’S Macbook production is
leaving China in 2023 for Vietnam
as the war of words between the
US and China heats up. Apple is
not alone as other US firms including HP,
Dell, Google, and Meta are also planning to
shift production and sourcing away from
China. While the move is partly political, it’s
also because China is no longer the low-cost
manufacturer that it once was.
But beyond Vietnam, India has become
another beneficiary of Apple’s plans and
it’s all a result of the incentives and other
subsidies that the Indian government is
Time to refocus
offering. But there’s more to the draw of
India – local demand for premium devices
is picking up and the use of import taxes
has made it more effective for firms to
relocate production there rather than import.
Regardless, a report on 9to5mac.com said
that half of all iPhones could be made in
India by 2027 and that Chinese suppliers are
already suffering.
All of this means that firms supplying
corporate monoliths may have to think
about following suit. Similarly, firms may
want to relocate their own production to take
advantage of new local centres of expertise.
IT’S ALL A MATTER OF RISK
THE latest edition of Coface’s Country
Risk Map – Q3 2022 is a pretty thing.
The French credit insurer puts
together a quarterly map of 162
countries that illustrates the risk of a
business defaulting on its debts.
On first blush it’s a multitude of
colours randomly applied to countries
around the world. However, on closer
inspection there’s detail there that
might surprise.
At the bottom end of the scale,
is category E where default risk is
extremely high. Here sit the usual
suspects – North Korea, Iran, Libya,
Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, and
Syria (and others).
The list of those that are one step
up, in category D, where the chance of
default is ‘very high’, includes Russia,
Ukraine, Belarus, Mongolia, Pakistan, a
host of countries in Africa, Bolivia and
six others in South America.
But where the map is particularly
interesting is when it looks at the
developed world… where it might
be thought that the risk of default is
excellent.
At the top end of the scale is A1 or
‘very low’. And only one country has
been granted that status – Norway.
Next down is A2, ‘low’ which includes
the US, Canada, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand,
and Japan.
Then we have A3, ‘satisfactory’.
Here we find Germany, France, Spain,
Portugal, the UAE and some others.
But the UK? We’re only in A4, or
‘reasonable’ – just over halfway down
the rankings and in with the likes of
Poland, Ireland, Austria, Thailand and
others.
Not what you were expecting? It
surprised me too. Regardless, it’s a
very visual way of seeing where firms
should be careful when exporting.
WHILE car manufacturers will be
aware of this, suppliers may be less
so. Reports suggest that the UK
Government is worried that a £4.3bn
car export market to the US faces
decimation because the US is
planning to subsidise firms involved
in net-zero products that are made
locally.
The trouble stems from the Inflation
British car firms may want to refocus
Reduction Act which Congress passed
in August 2022. It makes up to $360bn
in subsidies available to firms to
promote green growth and stimulate
the economy. Clearly, a sum that
large will give domestic producers a
competitive advantage – especially
in the world of automotive where
subsidies will be worth $7,500 per
vehicle sold.
The French aren’t overly happy with
the legislation either and have raised
the spectre of retaliation.
So, with trouble looming, car
manufacturers may have to hope that
it doesn’t come to pass or it is watered
down. Supply chain partners may want
to plan ahead by either building in
contingency, looking to other markets,
or developing different products.
Brave Brave | | Curious | | Resilient / / www.cicm.com / / March 2023 2023 / PAGE / PAGE 30 30

Eastern Europe: credit risk
THE 2022 edition of the annual Atradius
Payment Practices Barometer looks at
business-to-business (B2B) payment
practices in markets across the world.
The survey of nearly 1,300 domestic
and export suppliers across Bulgaria,
the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland,
Slovakia and Turkey, ran during Q4 2022.
It sought information on the impact of
late or non-payment, the average time it
takes to turn overdue B2B invoices into
cash, how businesses manage payment
default risks, and expected challenges to
profitability during the coming months.
In terms of Eastern Europe, it found
that 44 percent of sales in B2B trade used
credit during the past 12 months and that
the average payment term granted was 42
days from invoicing. Not unsurprisingly,
almost 40 percent of companies polled
said the main reason to offer credit terms
in B2B trade was to win new business.
It was a concern to Atradius that late
IMPORTANCE OF DUE DILIGENCE
MONEYWEEK recently made the point that
firms trading with overseas partners should
delve deeply into everything that they’re
being told about the partner.
In detail, it wrote that US regulators have
been allowed access to the Chinese audits
of companies based in China and listed in
the US for the first time. The move was to
reduce the risk that around 200 Chinese
companies would be forcibly delisted from
US exchanges. Regulators spent nine weeks
poring over audits conducted by the Chinese
affiliates of KPMG and PwC. The inspections
took place in Hong Kong; mainland China
SECRECY SURROUNDS AN
ISRAEL TRADE DEAL
IT seems peculiar that, in an age of
freedom of information, the Government
feels it inappropriate to publish full
details of the impact of a recently signed
post-Brexit trade deal with Israel.
The deal is said to have a strong focus
on UK services exports to the country -
worth almost £80m – in areas such as
financial services and advice on building
the new Tel Aviv metro. Currently, UK-
Israel trade is worth around £5bn.
The Government’s reasoning is that
modelling used for the deal compared
to other post-Brexit agreements was
different.
The deal was signed earlier this year,
with other agreements including those
with Australia and New Zealand.
Let’s hope that the agreement, despite
the secrecy, is better than that signed
with Australia that former minister
George Eustice recently described as
“not actually a very good deal for the UK.”
payments affected an average of 43
percent of all sales to B2B customers
across industries in Eastern Europe;
the key reason for this was a liquidity
shortfall experienced by customers. And
48 percent expected their days sales
outstanding to worsen over the next 12
months.
But by far the biggest concern for
companies across Eastern Europe
looking ahead is uncertainty about the
effects of the ongoing global economic
downturn. Businesses in Eastern Europe
told Atradius they feared the interplay
of high inflation, the energy crisis,
geopolitical tensions and increasing
costs of production input could delay or
even hamper rebound of their domestic
economies.
What does this all mean? Keep an eye
on your debtors – both their ability to pay
and the amount of credit they’re being
granted.
was out of bounds.
While the work is still at an early stage,
numerous potential deficiencies have
been found. For more than 10 years, the
US government has been concerned that
the standard of auditing in China has been
poor and that it’s contributed to a series
of accounting frauds in US-listed Chinese
companies.
The lesson is clear. Before jumping into
bed with a company where a failure in the
relationship could have a material adverse
outcome, exporters should take steps to
verify the status of their newly found partner.
GO CROATIA, GO
THE start of 2023 saw Croatia, which
joined the EU in 2013, adopt the euro and
join the border-free Schengen area as
its 27th member (which allows freedom
of movement between countries for
400m EU citizens). The kuna is now
history and as such the euro’s adoption
is expected to boost tourism, which
accounts for 20 percent of Croatia’s GDP.
To be fair, use of the euro was already
widespread in Croatia, but formal
adoption of the currency is expected
to help protect Croatia’s economy.
However, Croatia will now be subject
to monetary policy decisions by the
European Central Bank and be part of
the eurozone’s banking supervision
framework.
Nevertheless, things are looking up
for Croatia and so exporters may wish to
think about paying the country a visit.
EU1: A new
cross-border trade mechanism?
THE FSB has called on its members to help
the Government simplify cross-border
trade through a process that’s running
which seeks to understand those data
fields and procedures that are the most
challenging. The idea is to develop a
streamlined, user-friendly ‘Single Trade
Window’ that will make importing and
exporting easier while minimising the
amount of data-entry required.
The Government wants a ‘Single Trade
Window’ to be an evolution of the Trader
Support Service which covers the flow of
goods between mainland GB and Northern
Ireland.
The goal is a process where traders
do not have to enter data repeatedly
in multiple Government systems –
commodity codes are a prime example of
this. The Government is looking for ways to
extract as much existing data as possible
from supply chains.
EU2: Rough waters for UK firms
ACCORDING to a report in the Times, more
than two years after the signing of the
Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA)
with the EU, the number of businesses
trading overseas, both with the EU and
elsewhere, has continued to decline.
The paper quoted Marco Forgione,
Director-General of the Institute of Export
and International Trade, who said that
companies are still struggling with the
rules despite the promise of easy trade.
Forgione said that “the challenge has
been understanding what the rules and
regulations are and overcoming the
issues of trading into a third nation.
Have traders got a handle on it now? No,
they haven’t. Those that are doing it are
getting better at it, but for a whole raft of
others, particularly for micro and small
businesses, they have struggled.”
As the Times reminds, the TCA was
meant to let UK and EU importers benefit
from zero tariffs or customs duties on
goods as long as there was evidence that
the goods mostly originated in the UK or
EU. The problem seems to be that many
small UK exporters find that proving the
origin of goods is overly complicated.
CURRENCY UK
EXCHANGE RATES VISIT CURRENCYUK.CO.UK
OR CALL 020 7738 0777
Currency UK is authorised and regulated
by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
HIGH LOW TREND
GBP/EUR 1.14522 1.11327 Down
GBP/USD 1.24366 1.19722 Down
GBP/CHF 1.14365 1.10853 Down
GBP/AUD 1.79588 1.72344 Flat
GBP/CAD 1.66888 1.60819 Down
GBP/JPY 162.137 156.534 Up
This data was taken on 17th February and refers to the
month previous to/leading up to 16th February 2023.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 31

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 32

Apprentice profile
BARRY McCourt joined United Utilities in
August 2018. He originally applied for
the billing department but was asked if
he would prefer to work for the income
team. After accepting the opportunity,
he became a permanent employee in
February 2019 and was offered the option of doing a CICM
Apprenticeship alongside his day-to-day responsibilities.
“When I was asked to take part in the CICM
Apprenticeship I had mixed feelings,” he explains. “Some
feelings of excitement about what I can achieve from it,
such as being a certified credit controller and having the
coveted ACICM at the end of my name.
“But I was also a bit apprehensive and nervous to
start the course as I didn’t know how it would go for
me personally. I am my own worst critic, but it is about
turning the negativity into positivity and telling yourself
you can do it. So, I was happy to accept the challenge and
I am confident I will pass.”
ROUNDED EDUCATION
The CICM programme, particularly the Customer
Collections and Advanced Collections modules, have
provided Barry with a range of skills that he can apply
to his job. However, he equally values the modules that
have enhanced his knowledge on the broader economy:
“I found the Business Environment module to be the
most interesting and I now understand more about the
world’s economy,” he says. “I find myself breaking down
economic events in the news to my girlfriend, making
me sound smart!
“But in all seriousness, I have thoroughly enjoyed
the programme and how it has been delivered. My
colleagues and I link in and help each other because
what one person may struggle with another may excel
in. I believe helping each other is very important as we
all want to achieve the same result.
“I know that by studying and passing the
apprenticeship, I will enhance my knowledge and
increase my chances of progressing up the career ladder
of United Utilities.”
Latest in a new series
of how CICM-led
Apprenticeships are
supporting professional
development.
Barry McCourt
United Utilities
“When I was asked to take part in the
CICM Apprenticeship I had mixed feelings,
some feelings of excitement about what
I can achieve from it, such as being a
certified credit controller and having the
coveted ACICM at the end of my name.’’
Apprenticeships in Credit
Control and Collections
There are five apprenticeships for those working in the credit
profession. At each Level of apprenticeship you will be able to
gain professional CICM qualifications
• Credit Controller/Collector
• Advanced Credit Controller and Debt Collection Specialist
Apprenticeship
• Compliance/Risk Officer Apprenticeship
• Senior Compliance/Risk Specialist Apprenticeship
• Financial Services Degree Apprenticeship
For more details on how CICM can help you start your
apprenticeship journey, visit cicm.com/apprenticeships
Brave | | Curious | | Resilient / / www.cicm.com / March / March 2023 2023 / PAGE / PAGE 33 33

Aggregate Industries
partners with Barclaycard
Payments to provide
extended working capital
to their clients
Our new trade partner programme gives you a suite of solutions to help
keep your business running smoothly. By partnering with us, your
day-to-day cashflow could improve and your business can thrive, while
our dedicated support and expertise puts you in complete control of
your business payments.
Aggregate Industries’
partnership with
Barclaycard Payments
has enabled us to
increase our sales,
whilst reducing our
Days Sales Outstanding
(DSO) and credit risk.
Phil Rice
Head of Credit
– Aggregate Industries
UK Ltd
Customer satisfaction
Being able to offer flexible and extended payment terms to
customers can make you more attractive, especially if your
competitors can’t match it. Our payment solutions help
improve supply chain payments and embed relationships,
creating value for both parties.
Reduced risk
We help remove the risk that you won’t receive payments.
With quicker payments and our payment guarantee, you can
be far more confident that whatever happens to your
customer, you will receive the money you’re owed.
Increased sales
You might have wanted to sell more products and services to
your customers in the past but were reluctant to take on the
risk of extended credit terms. With Barclaycard taking the
credit risk from you, and extending it through your
customers, your sales could grow with reduced risk
to your business.
Quicker payments
Waiting for and chasing outstanding payments can be
frustrating, time- consuming and a financial drain.
We can help make sure monies owed are paid to you
more swiftly, giving you a better working capital position
and a streamlined accounts receivable process.
Find out how our solutions could benefit your business. Sign up for our trade partner programme today.
Email mark.mcgill@barclaycard.co.uk
Barclaycard is a trading name of Barclays Bank PLC and Barclaycard International Payments Limited. Barclays Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority
and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register number: 122702). Registered in England No. 1026167.
Registered Office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP. Barclaycard International Payments Limited, trading as Barclaycard, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Registered Number: 316541. Registered Office: One Molesworth Street, Dublin 2, Ireland, D02 RF29. Directors: Paul Adams (British), Steven Lappin (British), James Kelly,
Mary Lambkin Coyle, Peter Morris and David Rowe. Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 34

BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
THE CICM
BRITISH CREDIT
AWARDS 2023
SUPPLEMENT SPECIAL
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com /March 2023 / PAGE 35

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 36

BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
Recognising
the best in credit
management
WE live in increasingly challenging times but are often at our best when
confronted by adversity. It is important, therefore, to recognise success
where we find it, and in the following pages you will discover many
examples of businesses and people that demonstrate everything that
is good about our amazing profession and our community. To those
who took the top prizes, congratulations. To those who were highly
commended, and indeed to all of you who took the time and trouble to
enter these awards, be proud of all you have achieved, and never stop
striving for excellence.
Dr Stephen Baister FCICM,
CICM President
Dr Stephen Baister, FCICM
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 37

ww
BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
Shared Service Provider Award
Winner
Saint-Gobain
Sponsor:
Judges' comment: With a strong
focus on continuous improvement,
this is clearly a very professional
shared services team with a strong
commitment to delivering for the
business, with people being at the core.
Presenter: Yvette Gray MCICM, Regional Manager, Atradius
Collector of award: Saint-Gobain Shared Services Team
Resilience & Continuity Award
Winner
Weightmans
LLP
Judges' comment: This company
has demonstrated great resilience by
emerging stronger and wiser from the
pandemic and implementing strategies
from learnings. A worthy winner!
Presenter: Becki Sharpe ACIM, Marketing & Events Manager, CICM
Collector of award: Weightmans LLP Team
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 38

BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
Jenny Oldfield Supporting Women Award
Winner
Toni West ACICM,
Aggregate
Industries
Judges' comment: Whilst the winner
of this award tonight deserves every
accolade for winning, it is my eternal
hope that those that went through
the process of applying for the award,
which meant explaining how great
you are, will remind themselves how
wonderful they are and that they can
reach for the stars in their career.
Presenter: Jenny Oldfield FCICM
Collector of award: Toni West ACICM, Aggregate Industries
Risk Management Award
Winner
Company
Watch Team
Judges' comment: Organisation
provided outstanding examples of
risk management and they more than
demonstrated that their programme
has had a positive effect on the
organisation and their customers.
Presenter: Phil Rice FCICM, Executive Board Trustee
Collector of award: Company Watch Team
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 39

BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
Debt Collection Agency Award
Winner
Global Credit
Recoveries
Judges' comment: An excellent
submission from a highly respected
and experienced leading player in the
global market. They live by the values
behind the award and are deserved
winners.
Presenter: Allan Poole FCICM, Executive Board Trustee
Collector of award: Global Credit Recoveries team
Giving Back Award
Winner
Exclusive
Networks
Sponsor:
Judges' comment: This organisation
has continually showed commitment
in supporting others in the Credit
and Collection industry, making
sure they ‘give back’, which makes
a huge difference in the community,
whether you are starting your career
or a veteran. The positive impact this
organisation has made them very
worthy winners.
Presenter: Alan Smith FCICM, Director, High Court Enforcement
Collector of award: Exclusive Networks Team
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 40

BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
Social Mobility & Inclusion Award
Winner
Skyscanner
Judges' comment: With social
mobility and inclusion at the core of
their company values, whilst putting
DEI at the heart of the business, this
submission was deemed a clear winner.
Presenter: Glen Bullivant FCICM, Executive Board Trustee and CICM Treasurer
Collector of award: Zoe Pope ACIM, Digital Communications Specialist, CICM, on
behalf of Skyscanner
Outstanding Contribution to the Industry
Winner
David Scottow
FCICM, DWF LLP
Sponsor:
PORTFOLIO
CREDIT CONTROL
Judges' comment: The award this year
goes to a champion of our profession,
whose career has spanned over 40
years. During this time he has made
countless achievements as well as
impacting the lives and careers of
many.
Presenter: Chad Vigano, Business Manager Credit Control Division
Collector of award: David Scottow FCICM, DWF LLP
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 41

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 42

BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
B2C Collections Team Award
Winner
Imperial College
London
Sponsor: Global Credit Recoveries
Judges' comment: With a submission
that highlighted several examples of
what they had achieved in the last 12
months, they deserve to be recognised
as winners.
Presenter: Charles Mayhew FCICM, Director, Global Credit Recoveries
Collector of award: Imperial College London Collections Team
B2C Collections Team Award
Winner
United Utilities
Water
Sponsor:
Judges' comment: Whilst creating
a new shared service operation, this
organisation has always championed
personal development throughout
the team – whilst continuing to offer
excellent customer service.
Presenter : Charles Mayhew FCICM, Director, Global Credit Recoveries
Collector of award : United Utilities Water Collection Team
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 43

Get invoices paid faster with
SMS payment reminders
Increase your chances of getting paid with SMS, and let customers pay
instantly via a link in their payment reminder text message.
chaserhq.com
End-to-end accounts receivables automation
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 44

BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
Rising Star Award
Winner
Samuel Johnson –
United Utilites
Water
Sponsor:
Judges' comment: This winner is
going from strength to strength in
their career the submission was
everything we would want to see
from a Rising Star and very much look
forward to seeing their progress in this
industry
Presenter: Natascha Whitehead, Business Director, Hays Credit Management UK
Channel Lead
Collector of award: Samuel Johnson, United Utilities Water
Legal Provider Award
Winner
Shoosmiths
Highly Commended: MKB Law
Sponsor:
Judges' comment: This legal provider
has gone over and above to integrate
with their clients and the team's
quality is proven by some fantastic
testimonials. A solid submission and a
clear winner.
Presenter: Michael Whitaker, Director of Business Development, , Court
Enforcement Services
Collector of award: Shoosmiths Team
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 45

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 46

Best Employer Award
Winner
Fleetmaxx
Solutions
Sponsor:
BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
Judges' comment: We really felt the
energy from this submission, It's
great to see a company doing great
things for their staff. It's clear that the
business wants all employees to feel
that they believe in them.
Presenter: Sam Wells, Strategic Sales Team Leader, American Express
Collector of award: Fleetmaxx Solutions Team
B2B Team Award
Winner
Norsk European
Wholesale
Sponsor:
Judges' comment: Transformation of
culture, leading to spectacular results.
The entry shows the power of adopting
true credit management principles and
processes.
Presenter: Harriet Knight, Strategic Sales Team Leader, American Express
Collector of award: Norsk European Wholesale B2B Team
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 47

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 48

BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
Sir Roger Cork Prize
Winner
Phil Hodgson
ACICM
Judges' comment: Philip achieved
a score of 82 in Credit Management
(Trade, Export & Consumer), 88 in
Consumer Debt Collections, 87 in
Business Law and finishing with a 92
for Business Environment in August
2022.
Presenter: Dr Debbie Tuckwood, CICM Chief Advisor
Collector of award: Luke Sculthorp FCICM, Head of Strategic Relationship, CICM on
behalf of Phil Hodgson ACICM
Credit Professional of the Year Award
Winner
Laura Brown MCICM(Grad)
– Saint-Gobain
Highly Commended: Tina Daulton
MCICM, Biffa Waste Services
Sponsor:
Judges' comment: The winner is
clearly a passionate credit professional
who has rapidly progressed through
the ranks. Whilst identifying with
all roles within credit management,
they ensure they treat the team with
empathy and understanding. A strong
advocate for CICM.
Presenter: Andy Lilley, Managing Director - Global AR, Blackine
Collector of award: Laura Brown MCICM(Grad), Saint-Gobain
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 49

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BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
Excellence in Credit Management
Winner
Imperial College
London
Judges' comment: The Excellence
in Credit Management Award is the
highest accolade awarded by CICM. It
recognises organisations at the very
top of their game. The winners of
this award have demonstrated their
best-in-class standing by meeting
challenging criteria, ratified by the
Institute's Executive Board – including;
business results, continuous
improvement, membership, learning
and qualifications across their teams
as well as sharing examples and
supporting others in our profession.
Presenter: Dr Stephen Baister FCICM, CICM President
Collector of award: Imperial College London Team
Excellence in Credit Management
Winner
United Utilities
Water
Judges' comment: The Excellence
in Credit Management Award is the
highest accolade awarded by CICM. It
recognises organisations at the very
top of their game.
Presenter: Dr Stephen Baister FCICM, CICM President
Collector of award: United Utilities Water Team
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 51

Fill your vacancy or find your next career
move at www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com
CONGRATULATIONS
To David Scottow
FCICM - DWF Law LLP
for achieving the
Outstanding
Contribution to the
Credit Industry award!
His career has spanned
over 40 years…
...impacting the lives &
careers of many. Over
the 20 years of CICM
Fellowship, he has proven to
be a continued ambassador,
who’s legacy will be those
who he has developed &
taught over the years”
Contact one of our specialist recruitment consultants to fill your vacancy or find your next career move!
LONDON 020 7650 3199
1 FINSBURY SQUARE, 3 RD FLOOR, LONDON EC2A 1AE
MANCHESTER 0161 523 5585
THE PENINSULA, VICTORIA PLACE, MANCHESTER M4 4FB
www.portfoliocreditcontrol.com
recruitment@portfoliocreditcontrol.com
theportfoliogroup
portfoliocredit
Rated as Excellent
portfolio-credit-control
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 52

BRITISH
CREDIT
AWARDS
2023
Supplier of the Year Award
Winner
Cedar Rose
International
Services Ltd
Sponsor:
Judges' comment: A very strong
demonstration of product development,
with real time information. A great
submission and worthy contender
clearly demonstrating the values behind
the award.
Presenter: Sonia Dorais, Chaser, CEO
Collector of award: Mario Maroun, Product Manager Risk & Compliance at Cedar
Rose International Services Ltd
Credit & Collections FinTech Supplier Award
Winner
Debt Register
Highly Commended: Know-It
Debt Register was also Highly
Commended in the Innovation and
Technology category
Judges' comment: A leading example
of how to use technology in the
workplace, ensuring the team's
training and progression is on the
forefront.
Presenter: Larry Coltman FCICM, Executive Board Trustee
Collector of award: Tom Perry, Solutions Consultant & Gary Brown, Founder, Debt
Register
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 53

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 54

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 55

Introducing our
CORPORATE PARTNERS
For further information and to discuss the opportunities of entering into a
Corporate Partnership with the CICM, please contact corporatepartners@cicm.com
VISMA | Onguard is a specialist in credit management
software and market leader in innovative solutions for
order-to-cash. Our integrated platform ensures an optimal
connection of all processes in the order-to-cash
chain. This enhanced visibility with the secure sharing
of critical data ensures optimal connection between
all processes in the order-to-cash chain, resulting
in stronger, longer-lasting customer relationships
through improved and personalised communication.
The VISMA | Onguard platform is used for successful
credit management in more than 70 countries.
T: 020 3868 0947
E: edan.milner@onguard.com
W: www.onguard.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
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
Reduce or eliminate manual tasks, allowing AR
teams to focus on actions that drive results, and
strengthen decision intelligence to deliver significant
value to the organisation. Cash Application / Credit
& Risk Management / Collections Management /
Disputes and Deductions Management / Team & Task
Management and AR Intelligence.
Optimise working capital by driving world-class
order-to-cash processes and leveraging decision
intelligence to drive better business outcomes.
To learn more visit www.blackline.com/solutions/
accounts-receivable-automation/
T: +44(0) 203 318 5941
E: sales@blackline.com
W: www.blackline.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
FIS GETPAID solution is a fully integrated, webbased
order-to cash (O2C) solution that helps
companies improve operational efficiencies, lower
DSO, and increase cash flow. The solution suite
includes strategic risk-based collections, artificial
intelligence, process automation, credit risk
management, deduction and dispute resolution and
cash application. FIS is a global leader in financial
services technology, providing software, services
and outsourcing of the technology that empowers
the financial world.
T: +447730500085
E: getinfo@fisglobal.com.
W: www.fisglobal.com
With 130+ years of experience, Graydon is a leading
provider of business information, analytics, insights
and solutions. Graydon helps its customers to make
fast, accurate decisions, enabling them to minimise
risk and identify fraud as well as optimise opportunities
with their commercial relationships. Graydon
uses 130+ international databases and the information
of 90+ million companies. Graydon has offices in
London, Cardiff, Amsterdam and Antwerp. Since 2016,
Graydon has been part of Atradius, one of the world’s
largest credit insurance companies.
T: +44 (0)208 515 1400
E: customerservices@graydon.co.uk
W: www.graydon.co.uk
Tinubu Square is a trusted source of trade credit
intelligence for credit insurers and for corporate
customers. The company’s B2B Credit Risk
Intelligence solutions include the Tinubu Risk
Management Center, a cloud-based SaaS platform;
the Tinubu Credit Intelligence service and the
Tinubu Risk Analyst advisory service. Over 250
companies rely on Tinubu Square to protect their
greatest assets: customer receivables.
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 / March 2023 / PAGE 56

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: +44 (0)1992 367 092
E: a.whitehurst@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
Forums International has been running Credit and
Industry Forums since 1991 covering a range of
industry sectors and international trading. Attendance
is for credit professionals of all levels. Our forums
are not just meetings but communities which
aim to prepare our members for the challenges
ahead. Attending for the first time is free for you to
gauge the benefits and meet the members and we
only have pre-approved Partners, so you will never
intentionally be sold to.
T: +44 (0)1246 555055
E: info@forumsinternational.co.uk
W: www.forumsinternational.co.uk
Data Interconnect provides corporate Credit Control
teams with Accounts Receivable software for bulk
e-invoicing, collections, dispute management and
invoice finance. The modular, cloud-based Corrivo
platform can be configured for any business model.
It integrates with all ERP systems and buyer AP
platforms or tax regimes. Customers can self-serve
on mobile friendly portals, however their invoices are
delivered, and Credit Controllers can easily extract
data for compliance, audit and reporting purposes.
T: +44 (0)1367 245777
E: sales@datainterconnect.co.uk
W: www.datainterconnect.com
Serrala optimizes the Universe of Payments for
organisations seeking efficient cash visibility
and secure financial processes. As an SAP
Partner, Serrala supports over 3,500 companies
worldwide. With more than 30 years of experience
and thousands of successful customer projects,
including solutions for the entire order-to-cash
process, Serrala provides credit managers and
receivables professionals with the solutions they
need to successfully protect their business against
credit risk exposure and bad debt loss.
T: +44 118 207 0450
E: contact@serrala.com
W: www.serrala.com
American Express® is a globally recognised
provider of business payment solutions, providing
flexible capabilities to help companies drive
growth. These solutions support buyers and
suppliers across the supply chain with working
capital and cashflow.
By creating an additional lever to help support
supplier/client relationships American Express is
proud to be an innovator in the business payments
space.
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.
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)1273 696933
W: www.americanexpress.com
T: +44 (0) 1302 513 000
E: sales@keyivr.com
W: www.keyivr.com
T: +44(0)
E: *
W: www.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 57

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF CREDIT MANAGEMENT •
Introducing our
CORPORATE PARTNERS
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.
Our Corporate Partnerships give organisations a unique
opportunity to work with us and demonstrate their
commitment to professionalism and best practice in the
Credit industry.
We have combined a number of compelling features
that will deliver great value through sustained exposure
to our membership of over 7,000 credit professionals,
decision-makers and key industry figures.
For further information please contact the Head of Strategic
Relationships, luke.sculthorp@cicm.com
The CICM Benevolent Fund is
here to support members of
the CICM in times of need.
Some examples of how CICM have helped our members are:
• Financed the purchase of a mobility scooter for a disabled member.
• Helped finance the studies of the daughter of a member who
became unexpectedly ill.
• Financed the purchase of computer equipment to assist an
unemployed member set up a business.
• Contributed towards the purchase of an orthopaedic bed for one
member whose condition was thereby greatly eased.
• Helped with payment for a drug, not available on the NHS, for
medical treatment of another member.
If you or any dependants are in need or in distress, please apply today – we are here to
help. (Your application will then be reviewed by the CICM Benevolent Fund committee and
you will be advised of their decision as quickly as possible)
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 58

CICM MEMBER
EXCLUSIVE
Your CICM lapel badge
demonstrates your commitment to
professionalism and best practice
TAKE PRIDE IN
WEARING YOUR BADGE
If you haven’t received your badge
contact: cicmmembership@cicm.com
CM
CREDIT MANAGEMENT
THE CICM'S HIGHLY ACCLAIMED MAGAZINE
Credit Management, the magazine of the Chartered Institute of Credit
Management (CICM), is the leading publication in its field. The magazine
includes full coverage of consumer and trade credit, export and company
news, as well as in-depth features, profiles and opinions. To receive the free
magazine you must be a member of the CICM or subscribe.
SPECIAL
FEATURES
IN DEPTH
INTERVIEWS
ASK THE
EXPERTS
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THE LEADING JOURNAL FOR CONSUMER AND COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS
TO SUBSCRIBE CONTACT: T: 01780 722903

OPINION
Route to Success
Guarantee a productive year ahead
with professional goals.
AUTHOR – Natascha Whitehead
NOW the new year is well
underway, it’s a great time
to consider what career
ambitions you would most
like to accomplish in 2023. If
you’re wondering where to
start, I’ve got you covered. Professional goals,
defined as clear career-focused objectives that
a person aims to achieve, certainly help lay the
groundwork for success and satisfaction in the
credit management sector. Rather than broad
resolutions, goal setting enables you to create
actionable targets you can use as a roadmap to
help move your career in finance in the right
direction.
How to set professional goals
My first piece of advice is to make sure your
goals are personal and meaningful. This may
require you to reflect on where you are now in
your credit management journey and where you
truly want to be, then you can plan the goals that
will support you in getting there. Clarify the big
‘why’ behind your objectives; how would you
feel if you attained these goals and how would
you benefit? It can be useful to visualise success,
by imagining how these goals would shape your
career in the future.
Secondly, break down large goals into
manageable, smaller ones. You could create
a list of steps to take, such as actions you can
incorporate into each day, week or month to
facilitate your overriding goal. For example, if
you want to work on expanding your network,
you could set out to connect with someone new
on LinkedIn each week, then you could spend
some designated time researching events in
the industry to sign up for, to build on your
networking skills even further.
Don’t just think about these
objectives though; plan them
on paper. It's important to have
a record of your professional
goals to hand, so you can keep
track of them and ensure you
continue improving. If you
ever feel lost and in need of
guidance, you can turn to
where you write your goals,
which should spark some
motivation. This visual
tool can similarly be used
to tick things off or edit
where necessary, as your
professional aspirations
are likely to change as you
progress on your career path.
❝
The beauty of
brushing up on
these skills is
that they are
transferable across
all different sectors
and roles. Think
about how you can
practice these in
everyday life and
then apply them in
the workplace.
❝
The goals to guarantee success
Upskilling has arguably never been more
important, as the majority of employers face
skills shortages today. This means a willingness
to learn is essential to significantly enhance your
credit management profession. There are many
ways you can be proactive and take the initiative
to continuously develop your skillset. Research
the certifications that are important for success in
credit management, enrol on a relevant course –
such as how to utilise a specific financial software
– and absorb as much information as you can.
On the topic of skills, soft skills such as
being able to communicate effectively, adapt to
change, be flexible and coordinate with others
are vital today. The beauty of brushing up on
these skills is that they are transferable across
all different sectors and roles. Think about how
you can practice these in everyday life and then
apply them in the workplace. I believe time
management is one of the most crucial soft skills
that will come in handy throughout your career.
Another goal to enrich your career in the year
ahead is to ask for, and know how to effectively
respond to, feedback. This not only illustrates
your enthusiasm to improve but will also equip
you with the tools you need to achieve success in
your credit role. There is so much you can learn
from those around you and what better way
than to act on the advice they have. Preparing
questions to ask about a task you have completed
is a good way to get detailed and targeted
feedback, which you can refer to going forward.
This ties in to being committed to asking for
help if and when you need it, so you can credit
manage with confidence.
Whilst this list of goals is by no means
extensive, you can apply my advice to any
corner of your career you wish to develop
in the upcoming months. Also, don’t
feel restricted or pressured to only
set goals at the start of the year; this
is something you can utilise at any
point in time. Considering which
professional goals you want to
strive for is productive in and
of itself, as it’s an opportunity
to assess your strengths and
weaknesses so you ultimately
know how to make progress.
Your future self will thank you
for it!
Natascha Whitehead is Business
Director of Hays Credit Management.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 60

Switch to Direct Debit
Why not spread
the cost of your
Serrala
CP
CICM Membership
Manage your own cashflow
Simply scan the code below using
your phone, print and return to CICM,
1 Accent Park, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate,
Peterborough PE2 6XS
Another reason to be a member
Make the switch to Direct Debit
For details contact: info@cicm.com
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 61

CICM TRAINING
Training courses that offer high-quality approaches
to credit-related topics and practical skills
Now, more than ever, the Credit Management and Collections industry is
seeing drastic changes and impacts that affect the day-to-day roles of Credit
and Collections teams.
CICM Training offers high-quality approaches to credit-related topics.
Granting you the practical skills and necessary tools to use in your workplace
and the ever-changing industry. A highly qualified trainer, with an array of
credit management experience, will grant you the knowledge, improved
results, and greater confidence you need for your teams to succeed in the
Credit Management profession.
Get trained with your
professional body and the only
Chartered organisation that delivers
Credit Management training
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 62

On-Demand | Online | Face-to-Face
METHODS OF DELIVERY
CICM Training courses can be delivered through a variety of
options, ensuring a range of opportunities for your teams to
be trained on the most up-to-date methods in the industry.
CICM On-Demand
Training
CICM Online
Training
CICM Face-to-Face
Training
On-Demand training can be viewed anytime, anywhere with our
downloadable training videos.
Online training will be for those who find it easy to learn from the space
of their home or office.
Face-to-face training It’s been a long time coming but now you can mingle
and learn together in the same room as your colleagues and peers.
TRAINING COURSES
CICM have a collection of training courses to meet the needs of your Credit and
Collections’ teams. Take a look at the courses below and start training towards the
CICM Professional Standard.
Advanced Skills in Collections • Best Practice Approach to Collections
Best Practice Skills to Assess Credit Risk • Collect that Cash • Credit Bootcamp Effective
Communication in the Credit Role • Emergency Guide to Credit
Harness your leadership Style • Know Your Customer • Managing Insolvency
Reflect and Develop • Set Targets that Work
For more details, visit our website, scan the barcode
or contact us at info@cicm.com
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 63

PAYMENT TRENDS
ON HOLD
The latest late payment data puts a pause on recent
positive performances across the board.
AFTER recent improvement across regions
and sectors in the UK and Ireland, the
latest late payment data is more of a
reality check, with some reductions
mixed with a number of increases across
the board. The average Days Beyond
Terms (DBT) across regions and sectors in the UK
increased by 3.9 and 2.3 days respectively. In Ireland,
the regional figure dropped by 6.4 days, while the sector
figure saw a reduction of 2.0 days. Average DBT across
the four provinces of Ireland increased by 1.0 day.
SECTOR SPOTLIGHT
The UK sector standings are rather one-sided, with 18
of the 22 sectors moving backwards with increases to
late payments. The Mining and Quarrying sector saw
the biggest increase, with a jump of 7.9 days taking its
overall DBT to 30.3 days which means it is now the worst
performing sector in the UK. Elsewhere, the Education
(+6.1 days), Financial and Insurance (+5.2 days), Water
and Waste (+5.1 days) and Wholesale and Retail Trade
(+5.1 days), Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles
(+5.1 days) sectors all saw increases in late payments.
Over in Ireland it’s more of a mixed bag – just under
half (nine) of the 20 sectors saw increases to DBT, six
sectors made reductions to late payments and five saw
no change at all. Focussing on the positives, the Real
Estate sector made the biggest strives forward, reducing
its DBT by an impressive 57.5 days. Also improving is
The Other Services sector, which includes dry cleaners,
hairdressers and other beauty services through to
membership organisations, which cut DBT by 24.0 days
and Education sector which reduced late payments by
15.9 days.
AUTHOR – Rob Howard
REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT
As with the sector standings, the UK regional data does
not make for pleasant reading, with 10 of the 11 regions
seeing increases to late payments. The West Midlands
saw the biggest rise, with an increase of 8.2 days to
its DBT, while an increase of 5.8 days means London
remains the worst performing region. East Anglia was
the only bright spot, reducing its DBT by 0.3 days.
The regional figures in Ireland are mostly
encouraging, with half of the 26 counties making
improvements to late payment performance, some of
which are significant reductions. Wicklow remains the
worst performing county, but is at least moving in the
right direction, with a hefty reduction of 41.6 days to
its overall DBT. Longford, Louth and Kilkenny are all
also improving, cutting DBT by 40.1 days, 33.5 days and
31.1 days respectively. Donegal, Leitrim, Limerick and
Tipperary top the standings, all with an overall DBT of
zero days.
Across the four Irish provinces, despite a small
increase of 0.1 days, Munster remains the best
performing province. Connacht saw the biggest jump,
with an increase of 5.7 days to its DBT. Ulster was the
only province to improve, reducing its DBT by 1.8 days.
Repair of Motor Vehicles and
Motorcycles (+5.1 days) sectors all
saw increases in late payments.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 64

STATISTICS
Data supplied by the Creditsafe Group
Top Five Prompter Payers
Region Jan-23 Change from Dec-22
South West 11.3 2.9
Yorkshire and Humberside 12.7 2.3
South East 14.2 2.4
North West 15.2 4.8
Wales 16 5
Bottom Five Poorest Payers
Region Jan-23 Change from Dec-22
London 19.8 5.8
West Midlands 19.6 8.2
Scotland 17.6 4.9
East Anglia 17.3 -0.4
East Midlands 16.9 4.3
Top Five Prompter Payers
Sector Jan-23 Change from Dec-22
Hospitality 7.1 1
Entertainment 8.9 3.1
Business from Home 9.7 -4.2
Energy Supply 10.4 0.9
Transportation and Storage 12.1 3.6
Bottom Five Poorest Payers
Sector Jan-23 Change from Dec-22
Mining and quarrying 30.3 7.9
IT and Comms 24.9 2.3
Business admin and support 19.3 3.9
Dormant 18.8 2.1
International bodies 18.1 -3.1
Getting worse
Mining and quarrying 7.9
Education 6.1
Financial and insurance 5.2
Water and waste 5.1
Repair of vehicles and motorcycles 5.1
Construction 4.8
Business admin and support 3.9
Transportation and storage 3.6
Entertainment 3.1
Professional and scientific 2.9
Other service 2.2
Public administration 2.2
Dormant 2.1
Hospitality 1
Energy supply 0.9
Agriculture forestry and fishing 0.1
Manufacturing 0.1
Getting better
Business from Home -4.2
International bodies -3.1
Real estate -2.4
SCOTLAND
4.9 DBT
NORTHERN
IRELAND
3 DBT
SOUTH
WEST
2.9 DBT
WALES
5 DBT
NORTH
WEST
4.8 DBT
WEST
MIDLANDS
8.2 DBT
YORKSHIRE &
HUMBERSIDE
2.3 DBT
EAST
MIDLANDS
4.3 DBT
LONDON
5.8 DBT
SOUTH
EAST
2.4 DBT
EAST
ANGLIA
-0.4 DBT
Region
Getting Better – Getting Worse
8.2
5.8
5
4.9
4.8
4.3
3
2.9
2.4
2.3
-0.4
West Midlands
London
Wales
Scotland
North West
East Midlands
Northern Ireland
South West
South East
Yorkshire and Humberside
East Anglia
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 65

PAYMENT TRENDS
Getting worse
ULSTER
8.2 DBT
Repair of motor motorcycles 18.1
DONEGAL
0 DBT
CONNACHT
15.9 DBT
LIMERICK
0 DBT
MONAGHAN
76 DBT
LEITRIM
0 DBT LEINSTER
22.9 DBT
LONGFORD
66.9 DBT
WESTMEATH
1 DBT
LOUTH
0 DBT
Business admin and support 17.6
Manufacturing 13.4
IT and comms 12
Energy supply 8
Transportation and storage 7.3
MUNSTER
-7.7 DBT
KERRY
-1.1 DBT
TIPPERARY
0 DBT
KILKENNY
58.9 DBT
WICKLOW
78.4 DBT
Hospitality 6
Construction 3.7
Professional and scientific 0.7
Top Five Prompter Payers – Ireland
Region Jan-23 Change from Dec-22
Donegal 0 -20
Leitrim 0 0
Limerick 0 -0.8
Tipperary 0 0
Westmeath 1 0
Bottom Five Poorest Payers – Ireland
Region Jan-23 Change from Dec-22
Wicklow 78.4 -41.6
Monaghan 76 0
Longford 66.9 -40.1
Kilkenny 58.9 -31.1
Waterford 47 0
Top Four Prompter Payers – Northern Ireland
Region Jan-23 Change from Dec-22
Munster 7.7
Ulster 8.2
Connacht 15.9
Leinster 22.9
Getting better
Real estate -57.5
Other service -24
Education -15.9
Health and social -13
Mining and quarrying -11.9
Financial and insurance -3.8
Nothing changed
Agriculture forestry and fishing 0
Entertainment 0
International bodies 0
Public administration 0
Top Five Prompter Payers – Ireland
Water and Waste 0
Sector Jan-23 Change from Dec-22
International Bodies 0 0
Entertainment 1 0
Agriculture forestry and fishing 4 0
Mining and quarrying 7.6 -11.9
Education 8.1 -15.9
Bottom Five Poorest Payers – Ireland
Sector Jan-23 Change from Dec-22
Water and waste 120 0
Other service 42 -24
Energy Supply 34 8
Repair of vehicles and motorcycles 33.8 18.1
Construction 29.2 3.7
Focussing on the
positives, the Real Estate
sector made the biggest
strives forward, reducing
its DBT by an impressive
57.5 days.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 66

EDUCATION & MARKETING
Booking your
exams has never
been easier
Head over to our new exam pages
for all the information you need to prepare,
book and take your CICM exams
www.cicm.com/exams/
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 67

LOOKING FOR
YOUR NEXT
CAREER MOVE?
CREDIT CONTROLLER
Birmingham, up to £28k + annual bonus
A large organisation based in South Birmingham is currently
recruiting a Credit Controller on a permanent basis. Reporting to
the Credit Manager, you will be responsible for maximising the
collection of debt and providing remedial solutions to ensure
overdue debt and collections are achieved in line with targets.
Ref: 4359175
Contact Henry Brook on 0333 010 7517
or henry.brook@hays.com
REVENUES MANAGER
Essex (95% remote working available), £45k-£53k
An exciting new position working for a local authority who
are at the beginning of a positive transformation period.
This role will work alongside the senior management team
in the development of the collection processes across a
number of revenue streams. You will oversee a team of
around 10 covering all billing administration and collections
for income tax and business rates. This is a great opportunity
within a progressive organisation. Ref: 4360768
Contact Will Plom on 01603 760141
or william.plom@hays.com
CREDIT CONTROLLER
London, £28k + career progression
An amazing opportunity to join an ever-growing tech firm
based near Neasdon. You will be joining a team of two,
reporting to the Finance Manager in this office-based position.
The successful candidate will have experience within credit
control, ideally dealing with large customers and have
intermediate excel skills (VLOOK UPS and Pivot tables).
Ref: 4352347
Contact Hussain Ahmed on 0333 010 7453
or hussain.ahmed@hays.com
INCOME RECOVERY OFFICER
Belfast City Centre, up to £13.61/hour
(temp 3 months with potential for extension and permanency)
We’re excited to be working with a reputable housing
organisation based in Belfast City Centre to find a personable
candidate to join their busy income recovery team. The role will
include monitoring and logging arrears, liaising with housing
officers to reduce tenant debt, incoming and outgoing calls
with tenants and office guidance. We’re looking for someone
with experience with credit control and a friendly demeanour.
Ref: 4360662
Contact Charlotte McCusker on 0333 010 2730
or charlotte.mccusker@hays.com
hays.co.uk/creditcontrol
© Copyright Hays plc 2023. The HAYS word, the H devices, HAYS WORKING Brave | Curious FOR YOUR | Resilient TOMORROW / www.cicm.com and Powering the / March world of 2023 work / and PAGE associated xx 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-1149351241

CREDIT MANAGEMENT ASSISTANT
South Queensferry, Edinburgh, £24k
An established private sector organisation located on the
outskirts of Edinburgh, are looking for a credit management
assistant to join their team on a 6-month fixed term contract
with immediate effect. They are looking for a highly motivated
and confident individual to assist with maintaining the accounts
receivable ledger and database. This is an excellent opportunity
for a junior credit controller who wants to expand their knowledge
and expertise, as limited prior experience is required.
Ref: 4358389
Contact Ross Jardine on 0131 603 8374
or ross.jardine@hays.com
PART-TIME CREDIT CONTROLLER
Woking, up to £28k pro rata
Working as part of a friendly team, you will handle both consumer
and commercial debt, chasing and collecting payments in line
with agreed terms. In this varied role you will also deal with
resolving customer queries, payment allocation, reporting and
keeping records updated. Working between 21-30 hours a week,
there is flexibility regarding working days and how the hours are
made up. Ref: 4342004
Contact Natascha Whitehead on 07770 786433
or natascha.whitehead@hays.com
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 786433.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE xx

BRANCH NEWS
Need to Go Legal? – How to Get it Right
Annual Sheffield & District Branch
ON a chilly Tuesday
evening, Sheffield &
District Branch members
and guests entered
through the iron gates
into the historic Sheffield
Town Hall. We ascended to the first floor,
by lift, to find the conference room which
is dominated by a huge oval antique
table surrounded by age worn red leather
embossed chairs, all of which is encased
by wood panelling, grand bookcases
and in-between ornate windows looking
onto Sheffield’s Peace Gardens. A very
impressive old room, not often seen by
members of the public.
Upon arrival, members and guests
were greeted by committee members
and enjoyed a delicious buffet supper
whilst networking prior to taking their
seats around the conference table for
the feature presentations. Branch Chair,
Jamie Thornton, welcomed everyone and
then presented the first CICM Sheffield
& District Branch Student Prize to Vicky
Selvester. Many congratulations to
Vicky for coming top in her CICM Level
3 Diploma Mandatory Unit in 2022,
receiving a certificate of achievement
and cheque for her prize award of £150.
Jamie then introduced our guest speaker
of the evening – Solicitor, Carl Jones of
MD Law.
Carl gave a brief introduction covering
his background and his other roles and
then walked us through how we can get
it right should we need to go legal with a
debt matter. Carl stressed the importance
and the foundation of customer due
diligence, whether the contract is written
and terms included, pre-action steps,
insolvency proceedings, issuing a claim,
top tips including getting interest right,
setting out the claim and timescales, and
the lesser-known enforcement options
available. Carl also covered how to get
a personal guarantee correct, causing
the Statute of Frauds (1677) Act to be
mentioned – yes, that’s right – 1677!
Unfortunately, time only allowed for
a quick canter through retention of title
at the end. Experiences were shared and
many questions were asked by members
throughout the presentation, which was
very informative and easy to understand.
Branch Chair, Jamie Thornton, thanked
Carl for his engaging presentation before
announcing a short break allowing
further networking before our guest
speaker, guests and some members
departed the meeting, being escorted
through the deserted building by a
member of staff, with some lucky people
taking a peek into the Council Chamber.
Jamie then brought the meeting
back to order and opened the AGM. He
dealt with the formalities of apologies,
approval of the 2022 AGM Minutes,
approval of the 2022 Branch Financial
Report, nominations and elections of
Committee members for 2023 and then
a review of the 2022 branch events and
preview of the next 2023 event. The final
item of the AGM was Any Other Business
where the committee thanked Andrew
Walker of Sharp Consultancy for his work
and support since joining the committee
in May 2022, prior to his formal election
in January 2023 and some background
was given to the CICM Sheffield &
District Branch Student Prize. As all
official business had been concluded, the
meeting was closed.
Many thanks to Carl Jones of MD Law
(who will be back by popular demand
in the future) for his presentation and
to all attending members and guests for
making the evening a great success.
Author: Paula Uttley, Vice Chair &
Treasurer of Sheffield & District Branch.
PRIOR to the AGM, Annabel Gray, a
Director from event hosts RSM Creditor
Solutions, gave a detailed assessment
of the state of the economy and the
insolvency landscape. Annabel outlined
the slump in insolvencies during the
COVID pandemic, the steep increase to
current levels, and forecasted a fall from
mid-2023.
Super preferential status had resulted
in a significant hardening of HMRC’s
attitude in recent months towards
companies that do not file returns, who
do not communicate with them or who
default on payment plans. The appetite
of lenders had also changed although
this had not yet led to insolvencies. She
talked through the position on director
disqualifications, on Phoenix companies,
Insolvency Update
Annual East of England Branch
and stressed the dangers of assessing
credit risk from a single source.
Many questions were answered, and
Chairman Atul Vadher thanked Annabel
for her informative update.
Atul reported that during 2022 the
Branch held 11 virtual committee
meetings and 2 webinars on changes
since the pandemic, and on corporate
insolvencies.
During the year, Lyn Commons
had resigned from the committee and
Atul thanked her for her significant
contribution, particularly in the fivefold
increase in Branch LinkedIn members.
Steve Walsh and Lorna Westgarth-Pearce
had joined the committee. All ten existing
committee members were re-elected and
joined by Sean Frisby. Posts were assigned
to every committee member.
The committee resolved to continue
organising webinars for the benefit of
members and also to recommence “in
person” events following the pandemic.
The next event will be hosted virtually
on Wednesdayn 15 February. The
following event will also be held virtually,
titled “Credit recruitment and salary
trends – What you need to know in 2023”
by William Plom on Wednesday 15 March.
Atul Vadher thanked RSM Creditor
Solutions for their generous hospitality,
everyone for attending and the committee
for their work over the year.
Author: Liam Hastings
CICM East of England committee
member.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 70

CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF CREDIT MANAGEMENT
ONLINE EVENTS
Keep an eye on our events calendar at CICM.COM for all CICM events!
Visit our website and book online at: www.cicm.com/cicm-events
Many of our events are now
available online, along with a new
series of live recorded webinars
for the credit profession.
Visit our website for updates
and instructions on how to register...
Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / October 2021 / PAGE 57

£0.33 billion
recovered for
our clients
Our debt recovery track record is second to none
– exactly what you’d expect from us, the largest
independent High Court enforcement company.
More Authorised HCEOs than any other with over
400 years combined experience
Excellent client service and agents covering all
of England and Wales
Multiple industry awards for our technology
and training
To find out more or instruct us
08450 999 666
www.hcegroup.co.uk
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 72

HR MATTERS ROUNDUP
Strategic Thinking
The importance of a formal D&I strategy, the
consequences of delaying an appeal, and unamigous
settlement agreements.
A
report prepared by CIPD,
Inclusion at work 2022, recorded
various findings relating to
diversity and inclusion in the
workplace.
The report is based on
information from 2,009 decision makers in UK
employers and highlights that only 48 percent
have a stand-alone diversity and inclusion
strategy, and that of those employers with a
strategy, 18 percent take no steps to actually
monitor its effectiveness.
The document also found that a significant
number of organisations appear to have an
ad-hoc approach to diversity and inclusion,
only responding when a problem or a need
AUTHOR – Gareth Edwards
❝
47 percent of
those surveyed said
their organisations
don’t have a formal
strategy or action
plan on diversity and
inclusion.
❝
arises. 47 percent of those surveyed said their
organisations don’t have a formal strategy or
action plan on diversity and inclusion.
The CIPD has made seven recommendations
to improve and strengthen diversity and
inclusion practices. They are to build a longterm
plan and track its progress; collect and
use data to inform the approach to diversity and
inclusion; assess the organisation's approach
to people management from a diversity and
inclusion perspective; empower and train
managers on diversity and inclusion; support
leaders to champion diversity and inclusion as
role models; tailor the approach to diversity and
inclusion to suit the organisation; and maintain
focus on the long-term aims.
Time limits in the tribunal system…
THE case of Anghel v Middlesex University
highlights how even short delays can have
serious consequences.
Ms Anghel's employment tribunal claim
against the University was unsuccessful
and she sought to lodge an appeal with
the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).
Under the EAT rules a party has 42 days
to appeal a decision. In this case, the
appeal time limit expired on 16 February
2021. Anghel had filed her appeal notice
by email on 9 February with several
attachments. These documents were
inaccessible to the EAT's administration
Claims caught by agreement wording
THE case of Arvunescu v Quick Release
looks at whether an employee had
waived his rights to claim victimisation
by entering into a settlement agreement.
Mr Arvunescu was employed by
Quick Release for a short period of time
between May and June 2014. When
his employment ended, he bought a
race discrimination claim against the
company. His claim was settled when the
parties entered into a COT3 agreement
on 1 March 2018.
In May 2018 Arvunescu brought a
new victimisation claim against Quick
Release. He alleged that in February
2018 Quick Release had prevented him
getting a job with a subsidiary company
team, who informed her of this on 16
February. Anghel re-sent the documents
that day, but her original grounds of claim
were missing. These were not sent until
17 February. Her appeal was therefore not
properly instituted until 17 February and
therefore out of time. Anghel applied for
an extension of time which was refused.
The EAT found that the grounds
of claim were essential to the proper
institution of her appeal and were sent
after the deadline. Anghel had made an
assumption without checking or taking the
necessary care to ensure that her appeal
in Germany on the basis that he had
previously brought a discrimination
claim against Quick Release.
Quick Release argued that Arvunescu
could not bring the claim because it fell
within the scope of the COT3 agreement.
The COT3 contained fairly standard
settlement wording waiving all claims
"arising directly or indirectly out of
or in connection with (Arvunescu's)
employment with (Quick Release), its
termination or otherwise."
The Employment Tribunal and
Employment Appeal Tribunal found in
favour of Quick Release and Arvunescu
appealed to the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal rejected
was submitted properly and in time. The
EAT concluded that litigants in person
are not entitled to any greater leniency
than those parties who are represented,
and that a genuine error or oversight was
not enough to justify an extension of time
in this case. The EAT noted that it is the
responsibility of the parties to ensure they
have complied with deadlines, and it was
not the responsibility of the EAT nor their
administration team to point out errors in
appeal notice or defects in compliance.
Arvunescu’s appeal. It held that the
wording of the COT3 was not ambiguous,
and the victimisation claim did arise
indirectly in connection with Arvunescu’s
employment with Quick Release. The
Court of Appeal held that therefore his
claim had already been settled under the
terms of the COT3.
It is always important for employers
to carefully consider the contents of
any settlement agreement and clearly
understand what claims are being
waived. Employers will usually want to
prepare the first draft of any agreement.
Gareth Edwards is a partner in the
employment team at VWV.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 73

View our digital version online at www.cicm.com
Log on to the Members’ area, and click on the tab labelled
‘Credit Management magazine’
Just another great reason to be a member
Credit Management is distributed to the entire UK and international
CICM membership, as well as additional subscribers
Brave | Curious | Resilient
www.cicm.com | +44 (0)1780 722900 | editorial@cicm.com

Cr£ditWho?
CICM Directory of Services
COLLECTIONS
COLLECTIONS LEGAL
CREDIT DATA AND ANALYTICS
Controlaccount
Address: 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 cashflow,
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 30,000 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.
BlaserMills Law
High Wycombe | Amersham | Marlow | Silverstone
Rickmansworth | London
Jackie Ray : 07802 332104 | 01494 478660
jar@blasermills.co.uk
Nina Toor : 01494 478661 nit@blasermills.co.uk
Edward Bible : 07766 013352 ceb@blasermills.co.uk
www.blasermills.co.uk
Commercial Recoveries & Insolvency
Blaser Mills Law’s commercial recoveries team is internationally
recognised, regularly advising large corporations, multinationals
and SMEs on pre-legal collections, debt recovery, commercial
litigation, dispute resolution and insolvency. Our legal services
are both cost-effective and highly efficient; Our lawyers are also
CICM qualified and ranked in the industry leading law firm rankings
publications, Legal 500 and Chambers UK.
identeco – Business Support Toolkit
Compass House, Waterside, Hanbury Road, Bromsgrove,
Worcestershire B60 4FD
Telephone: 01527 386 607
Email: info@identeco.co.uk
Web: www.identeco.co.uk
identeco Business Support Toolkit provides company details
and financial reporting for over 4m UK companies and
business. Subscribers can view company financial health and
payment behaviour, credit ratings, shareholder and director
structures, detrimental data. In addition, subscribers can also
download unlimited B2B marketing and acquisition reports.
Annual subscription is only £79.95. Other services available
to subscribers include AML and KYC reports, pre-litigation
screening, trace services and data appending, as well as many
others.
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Global Credit Recoveries
GCR 20-22 Wenlock Road,
London N1 7GU
Charles Mayhew FCICM or Joshua Mayhew ACICM
T: +44 (0) 203 368 8630
E: INFO@GLOBALCREDITRECOVERIES.COM
W: WWW.GLOBALCREDITRECOVERIES.COM
Shortlisted as DCA of the Year, by the CICM, for the British Credit
Awards, Global Credit Recoveries Ltd are specialists in Arbitration
and Debt Collection globally.
We specialise in the UK, Europe, The Middle East and the U.S.A,
working as an extension of many CICM members companies for
over 28 years.
Speak with us today in our London or Dubai offices, to see how
we can assist you.
We have the ability, and network, to have someone visiting your
debtors offices, throughout EMEA, within 72 hours.
Recovering funds globally, on a No-Recovery, No-Fee basis.
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
Cr£ditWho?
CICM Directory of Services
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, as one of the UK's leading Credit
Report companies, has helped protect thousands of customers
from bad debt. Our data is compiled and constantly updated from a
variety of prominent UK and international suppliers, encompassing
230 countries, so that our clients can access the latest available
information in an easy-to-read report. We offer tailored products
and service solutions, from market-leading Dual Reports and
integrated XML solutions, monitoring and delivering flexible 'data
on the go' package options that reduce costs and boost cash flow.
Our clients feel valued that we are a part of their customer journey
and we have consistently been finalists and winners of numerous
Small Business and Credit Awards since 2014.
We provide award-winning customer service which is reflected in
our client retention rate of 99%.
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 / March 2023 / PAGE 75

Cr£ditWho?
CICM Directory of Services
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
ENFORCEMENT
Blackline
33 Charlotte St, London W1T 1RR
T: +44 (0) 203 318 5941
E: sales@blackline.com
W:www.blackline.com/solutions/accounts-receivableautomation/
Transform and modernize your accounts receivable processes.
Release cash from customers using next-generation intelligent
AR automation. Optimize working capital by driving world-class
order-to-cash processes and leverage 'decision intelligence' to
drive better business outcomes.
Cash Application AR Intelligence
Credit & Risk Management
Collections Management
Disputes & Deductions Management
Team & Task Management
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.
High Court Enforcement Group Limited
Client Services, Helix, 1st Floor
Edmund Street, 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.
Reduce or eliminate manual tasks, and enable AR teams to
focus on actions that drive results. Strengthen decision
intelligence to deliver significant value to the organization
by harnessing BlackLine’s ground-breaking AR Intelligence
module - unlock hidden data in Accounts Receivable processes
and understand customer behaviours in real time.
For more information and a free instant ROI calculation for AR
visit https://www.blackline.com/solutions/accounts-receivableautomation/
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.
ContactEngine
A NICE Company
Email: info@contactengine.com
Website: www.contactengine.com
ContactEngine is a proactive customer engagement platform,
which connects organizations to its customers through AI
powered digital conversations, ​enabling fully automated
customer journeys. The game changer for collections?
Companies can now talk directly with tens of thousands of
people simultaneously. This enables collections treatment
automation using intelligent, natural language conversations,
dynamic engagement strategies, and easy-to-trigger payment
transactions that move the needle and help organisations collect
outstanding debt faster. ContactEngine anticipates the need
to interact with customers and fully automates personalized,
multichannel conversations that engage customers over days,
weeks, months and years to achieve specific milestones or
trigger next steps based on customer responses.
For more information, visit www.contactengine.com/solutions/
collections or email info@contactengine.com
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.
ENFORCEMENT
Court Enforcement Services
Adele Whitehurst – Client Relationship Manager
M: +44 (0)7525 119 711 T: +44 (0)1992 367 092
E : a.whitehurst@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.
FINANCIAL PR
Cr£ditWho?
CICM Directory of Services
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.
FORUMS
FORUMS INTERNATIONAL
T: +44 (0)1260 275716
E: info@forumsinternational.co.uk
W: www.forumsinternational.co.uk
Forums International Ltd have been running Credit and Industry
Forums since 1991. We cover a range of industry sectors and
International trading, attendance is for Credit Professionals of all
levels. Our forums are not just meetings but communities which
aim to prepare our members for the challenges ahead. Attending
for the first time is free for you to gauge the benefits and meet the
members and we only have pre-approved Partners, so you will
never intentionally be sold to.
FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION
OPTIONS AND PRICING CONTACT
paul@centuryone.uk 01727 739 196
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 76

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.
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
•Post-litigation services including enforcement
•Insolvency
As a client of Shoosmiths, you will find us quick to relate to your
goals, and adept at advising you on the most effective way of
achieving them.
PAYMENT SOLUTIONS
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.
FIS GETPAID
25 Canada Square
London, GB E14 5LQ
T: +447730500085
E: getinfo@fisglobal.com.
W: www.fisglobal.com
The award-winning FIS GETPAID solution is a fully integrated,
web-based order-to cash (O2C) solution that helps companies
improve operational efficiencies, lower DSO, and increase cash
flow. GETPAID provides process automation, artificial intelligence,
and workflow across the O2C cycle, with detailed analysis and
reporting for accurate cash forecasting. FIS is a global leader in
financial services technology that empowers the financial world.
For more information visit https://www.fisglobal.com/en/cashflowand-capital/credit-and-collections
or email getinfo@fisglobal.com.
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
Cr£ditWho?
CICM Directory of Services
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 77

NEW AND UPGRADED MEMBERS
Do you know someone who would benefit from CICM membership? Or have
you considered applying to upgrade your membership? See our website
www.cicm.com/membership-types for more details, or call us on 01780 722903
STUDYING MEMBER
Timothy Cahalin
Joanne Chesworth
Julie Turner
Katy Fisher
Harry Mole
Amanda Mcghie
Richard Moore
Joshua Tipping
Jack Card
Andrew Collett
Richie Caplin
Steven Dyer
Zoe Wong
John Filani
Faye Gadsdon
Jana Kralova
Kelly Childs
Natalie Keddy
Ty Symes
Antonia Fakiri
Assim Mohamed
Sophie Berroyer
Andrew Richards
Jacob Morton
Tvane Rapier
Curtis French
Joseph Osei
Sara Mastrandrea
Jaime Amorrortu
Candace Murdoch
Christopher Wild
Charlotte Buron
TJ Bradley
Emily Rawson
Emma Hicks
Conor Bolton-Phillips
Samuel Chatterton
Sa'diyah Uddin
Gary Timms
Dinah Moores
Emma Halliwell
Ethan Schofield
Leanne Antrobus
Rebecca Green
Sharon Bates
Shamaila Wassiem
Faraday Waite
Alison Clarke
Kevin Holt
Danielle Aykroyd
Sophie Ward
Stephanie Meek
Amy Bird
Daniel Pratt
Carra Ditchburn
Bethany Ewels
Charlotte Button
Oakley Gost
AFFILIATE
Lauren Carter
Nathan Killen
MCICM
Keith Sankey
Sharon Bogg
ASSOCIATE
Efe Emerhana
Umer Farooq
AWARDING BODY
Congratulations to the following, who successfully achieved Diplomas
Level 5 Diploma in Credit & Collections Management MCICM (Grad)
Veselina Nikolova
Level 3 Diploma in Credit & Collections (ACICM)
Ciara McLellan
Robert Ellison
WE WANT YOUR BRANCH NEWS!
Get in touch with the CICM by emailing branches@cicm.com with your branch news and event reports.
Please only send up to 400 words and any images need to be high resolution to be printable, so 1MB plus.
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE 78

STUART LITTLER
NEW HEAD OF ACCOUNTS
“
Having worked in an accounting practice for over 25 years,
qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2000 and a Director of the
company since 2010, I developed and headed up the legal services
department within the practice that dealt with the accounting
and compliance needs of our solicitors’ portfolio. I worked solely
with solicitor practices, supporting their accounting requirements,
business and profit development as well as regulatory compliance.
My finance and regulatory background has enabled me to
guide firms in developing sound financial controls and
compliance with the solicitors regulatory body, which is
crucial for any solicitors practice in the ever changing
environment in which they operate.
- Stuart Littler FCA
www.thomashiggins.com
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / March 2023 / PAGE xx

Ethical and efficient debt recovery solutions to
help organisations improve cash-flow, increase
productivity and reduce overheads
Debt
Recovery
Customer
Care
Receivables
Management
Business Support
Services
IT and Application
Services
Software
Solutions
01527 386 610
controlaccount.com