Credit Management July and August 2024

CREDIT MANAGEMENT 

CM 

JULY & AUGUST 2024 

THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND 

COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS 

Witness for 

the prosecution 

Making the most out 

of an expert witness 

Sean Feast FCICM 

speaks to Craig Evans of 

Company Watch. Page 24 

Is the Government doing 

enough to collect public 

sector debt? Page 40

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www.tcmgroup.com 

Probably thebest debt collection network worldwide 

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Semnat digital de Razvan- 

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Data: 2022.08.08 18:47:58 

+03'00' 

Moneyknows no borders—neither do we

SEAN FEAST FCICM 

MANAGING EDITOR 

Editor’s column 

HAPPY DAYS IF THE 

DWP EVER PAY YOU 

EXTRA BY MISTAKE 

THERE’S something really interesting going 

on at the moment around public sector 

debt. A dozen or so years ago I recall 

attending the launch of the Government’s 

first ever Fraud, Error and Debt (FED) 

initiative under the auspices of the 

Department for Work and Pensions. 

(It was back in 2010 and I had only just agreed to take over 

the magazine on an interim basis and as such was happy to 

adopt an interim managing editor title. Mad fool.) 

Since that time, the initiative has been revised and refreshed 

but with one very subtle change. When the first FED report 

was released, they were comfortable talking about debt and 

collections, and in particular the ‘can’t pays’ and ‘won’t pays’, 

the vulnerable and the use of third parties. Today there is 

scarcely a mention. The Government is happy to talk about 

the staggering £10bn that was ‘overpaid’ for FYE 2024, but 

more reticent about the amounts that should have been 

collected that had nothing to do with mistakes or mischief. 

It is OK speaking to ‘Fraud’ and even ‘Error’, but ‘Debt’ has 

been noticeably sidelined. 

Now perhaps I noticed it because I was specifically looking, 

but I have certainly sensed a terrible inconsistency when it 

comes to discussing public sector debt. On the one hand, 

organisations like HMRC appear to be able to behave with 

alacrity when it comes to its pursuit of outstanding tax, 

and they are often praised for it. On the other, a third party 

collecting a legitimate parking fine for a local council is the 

devil incarnate, whereas whoever is responsible for enforcing 

the payment of a TV license falls somewhere in the middle! 

It seems that ministers, politicians and the press all have a 

problem with debt but grade their abhorrence of the subject 

based on a personal prejudice or irrational dislike, rather than 

an understanding that a service or a tax needs to be paid for, 

no matter whether it’s affixed to your windscreen, posted 

through your letter box or delivered via a portal. 

Which makes the research from The High Court Enforcement 

Officers’ Association last month (and reported in our May 

news) all the more fascinating. The HCOEA believes that 

‘Fair and effective enforcement has strong support from the 

public’. In its first ever public perception research 83 percent 

agreed or strongly agreed that fair and effective enforcement 

is a necessary part of the justice system and almost 80 percent 

said that people and businesses who are owed money should 

be able to use a regulated enforcement system to recover debt 

from those who haven't paid. 

Now contrast this with a survey of public perceptions by IPSOS 

for FED and the specific section on debt recovery. Consumers, 

it seems, are divided as to when debt recovery is/isn’t ‘fair’ at 

any level. It seems to depend on who owes what, and how 

the debt came about. The majority think that overpayment 

because of deliberate dishonesty should be paid back. Very 

little to argue with there. But debt that results from a DWP 

mistake should not have to be repaid. The lucky recipients 

should be able to keep the cash – a case of ‘DWP error in 

your favour, collect £200’. No opinion was expressed about 

‘can’t pays’ or ‘won’t pays’ because they simply weren’t asked, 

which is incredibly frustrating, and smacks of deliberately 

avoiding the issue. 

Which basically goes to show just how nigh on impossible 

it is to have a sensible conversation with anyone about debt 

collection, especially the recovery of public sector debt, 

without it immediately descending into a farce. I was once on 

the receiving end (mistakenly) of the taxman’s fury, and I have 

to say the experience wasn’t great. Sadly, I have never had the 

good fortune of waking up one morning to find a windfall in 

my pension. If I ever do, however, I will know I have the full 

weight of public opinion on my side should I decide to keep it! 

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / July & August 2024 / PAGE 3

contents 

July & August 2024 issue 

10 – THE BANKRUPTCY OPTION 

Don't assume a personal guarantee is 

worthless. 

12 – MAKING IT PERSONAL 

Data protection considerations for the credit 

sector. 

15 – FROM THE CHAIR 

Debbie Nolan reflects on a period of 

monumental change. 

16 – SILENT WITNESS 

There is a time and a place for expert 

witnesses. 

24 – INTEL INSIDE 

Sean Feast talks to Craig Evans about business 

intelligence and life at sea. 

32 – HORN OF PLENTY 

There's more to Denmark than Vikings and 

Lego. 

38 – DUTY OF CARE 

How to dismiss a whistleblower and other 

stories. 

40 – MIND THE GAP 

Is the Government doing enough to improve 

collections performance? 

52 – READY ABOUT? 

How to navigate change in an organisation. 

10 

INSOLVENCY 

When is bankruptcy an option? 

40 

MIND THE GAP 


16 

SILENT 

WITNESS 

There is a time and 

a place for expert 

witnesses. 

CICM GOVERNANCE 

President: Stephen Baister FCICM 

Chief Executive: Sue Chapple FCICM 

Executive Board: Chair Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) 

Vice Chair: Neil Jinks FCICM 

Treasurer: Glen Bullivant FCICM 

Larry Coltman FCICM / Allan Poole MCICM 

24 

INTEL 

38 

HR MATTERS 

INSIDE 

Sean Feast FCICM 

speaks to Craig Evans 

about business 

intelligence, fighting 

fraud, and his love of 

the sea. 

Advisory Council: Laurie Beagle FCICM 

Laura Brown MCICM(Grad) 

Natalie Bunyer FCICM / Glen Bullivant FCICM 

Alan Church FCICM / Larry Coltman FCICM 

Peter Gent FCICM(Grad) / Neil Jinks FCICM 

Martin Kirby FCICM / Charles Mayhew FCICM 

Joshua Mayhew MCICM / Hans Meijer FCICM 

Debbie Nolan FCICM(Grad) / Amanda Phelan FCICM(Grad) 

Allan Poole MCICM / Emma Reilly FCICM 

Philip Roberts FCICM / Paula Swain FCICM 

Jonathan Swan FCICM / Mark Taylor MCICM 

Atul Vadher FCICM(Grad) / Dee Weston FCICM 

View our digital version online at www.cicm.com. 

Log on to the Members’ area, and click on the 

tab labelled ‘Credit Management magazine.’ 

Credit Management is distributed to the entire 

UK and international CICM membership, as well 

as additional subscribers 

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 and 

Melanie York 

Advertising 

Paul Heitzman 

Telephone: 01727 739 196 

Email: paul@centuryone.uk 

Printers 

Stephens & George Print Group 

2024 subscriptions 

UK: £134 per annum 

International: £166 per annum 

Single copies: £14.00 

ISSN 0265-2099 

32 

* 

COUNTRY FOCUS 

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. 


THE NEWS 

CMNEWS 

A round-up of news stories from the 

world of consumer and commercial credit. 

WRITTEN BY: SEAN FEAST FCICM 

CICM launches 

‘Credit Fest’ to bring best 

practice nationwide 

THE Chartered Institute of Credit 

Management is about to embark 

on Credit Fest, a nationwide tour 

of the UK and Ireland and doing 

what it does best, providing 

learning and development opportunities for 

passionate credit professionals who strive to 

be the best at what they do. 

Devised exclusively for CICM members with 

CICM Premium Partner Hays, Sue Chapple 

FCICM, CICM Chief Executive describes 

the objective of the tour as being to unite the 

Credit Management and Debt Collections 

Community in best practice: “Our expert 

presenters will discuss and debate the topics 

that are on all our minds such as recruitment 

trends, Fraud, AI, Credit Risk and more,” she 

says, “bringing thought-provoking insights on 

the hottest topics from industry leaders across 

a broad range of business sectors.” 

Credit Fest kicks off on 17 September in 

Edinburgh and will visit Leeds, Manchester, 

Birmingham, London, Dublin and Belfast, 

concluding on 7 November. Bookings are 

now open and a more detailed agenda will be 

shared in due course. (See page 55) 

“Our expert presenters will discuss and 

debate the topics that are on all our minds 

such as recruitment trends, Fraud, AI, 

Credit Risk and more.” – Sue Chapple FCICM 



Equifax claims first in new 

Open Banking framework 

EQUIFAX claims to have become the 

first of the three main UK based credit 

reference agencies to be named on Crown 

Commercial Service’s (CCS), Open 

Banking Dynamic Purchasing System 

(DPS) framework for Open Banking 

services. 

This development is said to enable 

Equifax to bid to provide Account 

Information Services (AIS) to any 

UK public sector body that uses the 

DPS. These include central Government 

departments and wider public sector 

bodies, such as, local authorities, NHS, 

police, education providers, devolved 

administrations and charities, to 

access Equifax’s Open Banking 

solutions. 

CCS supports the public sector to 

achieve maximum commercial value 

when procuring common goods and 

services. In 2022/23, CCS helped the 

public sector to achieve commercial 

benefits equal to £3.8bn – supporting 

world-class public services that offer 

best value for taxpayers. 

Equifax’s Open Banking proposition 

is said to provide integrated solutions 

to help public sector bodies use data to 

gain real insights. With the inclusion in 

the DPS framework, public sector buyers 

can tap into Equifax’s services which 

include, identity verification and fraud 

services, income verification, credit risk 

and affordability assessments. 

James Hilton, Chief Commercial 

Officer, TDX Group, and Equifax 

Public Sector, is delighted with the 

news: “Our Open Banking capabilities 

are a vital part of Equifax’s services and 

capabilities, having built one of the most 

powerful Open Banking categorisation 

engines. Equifax works with leading 

financial players, and our Open Banking 

solutions provide faster verification, and 

more accurate decision making, within 

financial services and beyond. Therefore, 

it is extremely positive that these 

capabilities are being integrated within 

the public sector. 

“We believe that Equifax’s consultative 

and proactive approach to creating 

and integrating the best solutions for 

our clients, means we’re well-placed 

to provide valuable insights to the 

public sector.” 

“Our Open Banking capabilities 

are a vital part of Equifax’s services 

and capabilities, having built one 

of the most powerful Open Banking 

categorisation engines.’’ 

Sitting uncomfortably 

DFS Furniture has issued its second profit 

warning in three months, with underlying 

pre-tax profits expected to be between 

£10m and £12m for the 53 weeks ending in 

June. The company also expects revenues 

of £995m to £1bn, down from previous 

guidance of £1bn to £1.02bn. DFS has been 

hit by disruption in the Red Sea, with this 

adding significant delays and increasing 

shipping costs. The company has also been 

affected by falling consumer demand in the 

upholstery sector. DFS is said to be hoping 

to bounce back as inflation continues to fall 

and interest rates become more favourable. 

Home a loan 

THE Financial Conduct Authority has 

published figures that show a surge in new 

home loans, indicating strong demand 

among buyers. The value of new mortgage 

commitments in the past three months 

reached £60.1bn. Figures from the Bank of 

England show that the number of mortgages 

in arrears, relative to all outstanding 

mortgage balances, increased to 1.28 percent 

in Q1, up from 1.23 percent in the final 

quarter of 2023 and taking it to the highest 

proportion since the end of 2016. The value 

of outstanding mortgage balances with 

arrears increased by 4.2 percent quarteron-quarter, 

to reach £21.3bn. Significantly 

this is 44.5 percent higher than a year ago. 

Insurance hikes 

FIGURES from the Association of British 

Insurers suggest that households in the 

UK are facing the largest increase in home 

insurance premiums on record, with insurers 

blaming extreme weather events as one of 

the reasons for the hike. Quoted premiums 

have risen by 42% percent over the past year, 

the highest annual increase in a decade. 

While quoted premiums now average 

between £150 and £199, the ABI believes 

that the true average cost is closer to £400. 

Customers who have previously made claims 

have seen an even larger 50 percent increase 

in their premiums. 

Close protection 

PROTECTIONISM is leading to slower 

global growth. In a new report, The World 

Bank has said 80 percent of the world’s 

population are living in countries where 

growth would be slower in the next three 

years than in the pre-pandemic decade. 

Although the global economy had avoided 

recession, The World Bank says it has 

stabilised at a lower level than in the years 

leading up to the start of the pandemic. 

The World Bank expects global growth of 

2.6 percent in 2024 and 2.7 percent in 2025. 


THE NEWS 

Resilient construction 

SMEs weather stormy 

business landscape 

MORE than half 

(58 percent) of 

SMEs working in 

the construction 

sector say they are 

optimistic that orders will increase 

in 2025, yet a similar amount (59 

percent) report that banks are less 

willing to lend to small businesses like 

theirs compared to the previous six 

months. 

A survey by Bibby Financial Services 

suggests that while SMEs in construction 

are seeking to grow, they are being held 

back by the impact of inflation, supply 

chain challenges and reduced access to 

capital. 

The survey found that while the 

uncertain economic environment is 

causing many businesses across sectors to 

press pause on investment, construction 

SMEs are most inclined to spend. Only 

38 percent of construction companies are 

waiting to invest until after the General 

Election, a figure much lower than the 

average of 46 percent across all other 

sectors. Inflation has had a particularly 

severe impact on construction firms – 56 

percent of construction SMEs identified 

it as a key challenge they face, compared 

to an average of only 48 percent of SMEs 

across other sectors surveyed. The high 

cost of materials was identified as a key 

challenge by 65 percent as was supply 

chain disruption (42 percent). More than 

a third (34 percent) have suffered bad 

debt in the last year. 

Despite confidence among business 

owners and leaders, access to external 

finance remains a hurdle, as 53 percent of 

construction SMEs said it’s more difficult 

to access external finance than it was six 

months prior to February 2024. A further 

43 percent said their need for external 

finance increased over the same period. 

Derek Ryan, UK Managing Director 

of Bibby Financial Services, says that in 

many respects, the construction sector is 

the bellwether for the economy: “It’s clear 

that many of the sector's SMEs owners 

are seeing an increase in work volumes, 

which will undoubtedly act as a positive 

multiplier effect for adjacent sectors, 

such as manufacturing and transport. 

‘‘Despite this optimism, the high cost 

of materials and shipping, and pressure 

on supply chains triggered by geopolitical 

factors in Europe and the Middle East 

continue to hamper the growth of many 

construction firms as many businesses 

price-in this risk, exacerbating the issue 

throughout supply chains. 

“Add to this the increased susceptibility 

to bad debt and the ongoing challenges 

faced by construction firms in accessing 

the finance they need to fulfil existing 

orders and take on new work, the 

remainder of 2024 could be a pivotal time 

for the sector, and the wider economy.” 

Major Credit Union enters administration 

CASTLE & Crystal Credit Union has 

gone into administration, one of the 

largest Credit Unions to fail in recent 

months and the latest in a line of such 

organisations finding themselves in 

financial distress. 

James Sleight and Peter Hart of the 

advisory team at PKF Littlejohn have 

been appointed as Joint Administrators 

for the Dudley-based Credit Union 

whose membership covers residents and 

employees who live or work across parts 

of the West Midlands. 

Regulatory bodies have also declared 

the Credit Union in default, which 

means that savers are entitled to receive 

their deposits back. At the time of 

writing, all should have had their payments 

made to them through the Financial 

Services Compensation Scheme within 

seven days of the Credit Union being 

placed into Administration at the end of 

May. 

Castle & Crystal is not the first to 

find itself in trouble in recent times. In 

September 2023, 6 Towns Credit Union 

entered into administration and has 

since stopped trading. Its membership 

extended to residents and employees 

who lived or worked in the Credit 

Union’s common bond areas of Sandwell, 

Worcestershire and South Birmingham. 

A year earlier almost to the day, 

another Credit Union in the region – 

Birmingham Inner Circle Community 

Credit Union also entered administration. 



Buy now. Rules later. 

MAJOR changes to buy now, pay later 

(BNPL) regulations are still more than a year 

away, regardless of the election outcome. 

According to an exclusive report in The Sun 

newspaper, plans to regulate BNPL products 

– which have been repeatedly postponed 

since their announcement in 2021 – will 

also be put on the back burner and the 

rules are not expected to be implemented 

until late 2025 or even 2026. The Treasury 

is responsible for drafting the legislation, 

while the Financial Conduct Authority 

will regulate the products. Labour plans to 

address BNPL regulation quickly if elected, 

but they may make their own amendments, 

further delaying the process. 

High Court Writ 

Recovery exceeds 

collections targets 

in first year 

HIGH Court Writ Recovery has 

completed its first full year of trading in 

which it has collected more than £12.5m 

of debt for its clients, exceeding all 

expectations. 

Co-founder Daren Simcox said 

that he was immensely proud of the 

achievement: “This would not have been 

possible without the unwavering support 

of our clients and the dedication of our 

team. We are grateful for the faith that 

has been placed in us and look forward 

to continuing to deliver exceptional 

results.” 

The business, which was launched 

last year by Daren and Wayne Whitford 

FCICM, has also recently become an 

accredited member of the Enforcement 

Conduct Board (ECB), an independent 

oversight body for debt enforcement 

in England and Wales. Its mission is to 

ensure fair treatment and protection for 

those facing enforcement action. 

The ECB oversees enforcement agents 

and their operating firms and was 

established in response to the Centre for 

Social Justice report, ‘Taking Control for 

Good’ in 2021, and through collaboration 

with the civil enforcement industry and 

debt advice charities. 

Client focused, High Court Writ 

Recovery describes its approach as 

providing a tailored solution to achieve 

the best possible outcome: “We are 

committed to ensuring a high level of 

consistency irrespective of whether we 

are managing one instruction or many,” 

Wayne adds. 

“We are committed to ensuring a 

high level of consistency irrespective 

of whether we are managing one 

instruction or many,” 

Not so cooperative 

THE Co-operative Bank has come under 

pressure from its small business account 

holders after a glitch caused some small 

business account holders to have payments 

taken twice. One business owner took to 

social media to say they had been left ‘almost 

£5,000 down’, while another claimed they 

had only realised that money had been taken 

when they could not buy petrol. Others have 

complained that the incident has meant they 

have been unable to buy supplies and run 

their businesses. The bank said that they 

were aware of the problem but that only a 

small number of its 96,000 small business 

customers were affected. 

Greenwashing 

accusations 

A report by Stand.earth and the 

Coordinating Body of Indigenous 

Organizations of the Amazon Basin has 

called out five major banks - Citibank, 

JPMorgan Chase, Itaú Unibanco, Santander, 

and Bank of America - for ‘greenwashing’ 

their role in the destruction of the Amazon 

rainforest. The report calls for the banks 

to be held more accountable for the 

damage caused by firms who they support 

financially, and especially those in the oil 

and gas industry. 

Capital sum 

MITSUBISHI HC Capital UK PLC, a 

leading UK provider of finance solutions 

for consumers and businesses, has posted 

pre-tax profits of £126m in FY23/24. The 

business, trading as Novuna, saw new 

business volumes reach £4.5bn, increasing 

1 percent on the prior year despite 

challenging economic conditions. The 

increase in new business to record levels has 

come while maintaining the Group’s track 

record of building a high-quality portfolio. 


INSOLVENCY 

THE 

BANKRUPTCY 

OPTION 

Don’t assume a Personal Guarantee is worthless. 

BY GIUSEPPE PARLA 

DON’T ASSUME YOUR PG IS 

WORTHLESS. IF YOU ARE AT 

ALL IN DOUBT, SEEK ADVICE 

FROM AN INSOLVENCY 

PRACTITIONER. 



SO, you have been met with a scenario 

where your debt has not been paid 

and the liquidator of your customer’s 

company has confirmed there will be no 

dividend to unsecured creditors, what 

can you do? 

If you have a valid Personal Guarantee (“PG”), then 

you could consider petitioning for the individual’s 

bankruptcy. An element of due diligence would need 

to be carried out before pursing this next step, such as: 

What other PGs have they provided? What assets does 

this individual personally own? 

If the due diligence steers you towards pursuing a 

bankruptcy, then you will need to instruct solicitors to 

make the individual bankrupt. 

Upon the making of a bankruptcy order, the Official 

Receiver (“OR”) is appointed Trustee in bankruptcy. 

Assets of the bankrupt will vest in the Trustee with 

immediate effect. 

As a creditor, you have the right to appoint your own 

independent Trustee, should you feel that the OR is not 

carrying out lines of enquiries that you have identified. 

Would appointing your own 

independent Trustee cost you 

more? 

The OR has their own costs and expenses, but the OR also 

charges for the realisation of any assets as a percentage of 

realisations and these costs come from the realisations 

made in the estate. The same applies for an independent 

Trustee who may choose to charge on a time costs basis, 

percentage of realisations, a set fee, or a combination 

of the three. So, in short, will it cost you any more to 

appoint an independent Trustee? The answer is “no”. 

What are the merits of a 

bankruptcy? 

Whether it be the OR or an independent Trustee 

appointed, the advantages are that a Trustee will carry 

out a thorough investigation of the individual’s financial 

circumstances. Undertaking wide ranging enquiries into 

whether they are putting assets illegitimately beyond the 

reach of their creditors. 

Given the cost-of-living 

crisis, why are bankruptcy 

numbers so low? 

In Q1 of 2024, it was reported that bankruptcy levels 

(21.3 per 10,000 adults in England and Wales) were at the 

lowest rate to the 12 months ending November 2017. 

1) the popularity of Individual Voluntary Arrangements 

(“IVA”) which are commonly used for consumer debt. 

2) Debt Relief Orders (“DRO”) which were introduced 

to deal with the individuals that had minimal assets, 

who were being made bankrupt but had no likelihood of 

returning any funds to creditors. 

Debt Relief Orders 

These were introduced in 2009 and the thresholds to 

allow an adult to apply for a DRO have been increasing. 

Current limits are: 

• Total debts of £50,000 or less; 

• Assets worth less than £2,000; and 

• Has £75 or less of surplus income per month. 

These increased on 28 June 2024 from £30,000 of debt. 

There are other stipulations of seeking a DRO such as 

having no previous DRO in the last six years and you 

must have lived in the England and Wales for the last 

three years. However, the above provides you with an 

indication of why their levels have grown, during the 

rising popularity of a credit society. 

Summary 

A bankruptcy may be an underused and understated 

tool at present, but the merit of using this option ensures 

that the individual is thoroughly investigated and denied 

the opportunity to simply walk away from the debts that 

have been incurred or promised to be paid under a PG. 

Usually when a petition is considered for the company’s 

winding up, of concern is how the relationship with 

the customer is likely to now come to an end. However, 

in this instance, unless you really want to trade again 

with the individual, then any relationship deterioration 

becomes irrelevant. 

Whilst an individual only remains an undischarged 

bankrupt for one year, the assets that vested in the 

Trustee, remain vested in the estate until they have been 

dealt with. 

Remember a defence for Breathing Space may be used 

by the individual. 

Don’t assume your PG is worthless. If you 

are at all in doubt, seek advice from an 

Insolvency Practitioner. 

Author: Giuseppe Parla is a Business 

Recovery Director and Licensed 

Insolvency Practitioner at Menzies LLP. 

Aside from the cost of making an individual bankrupt, 

the answer to this is twofold: 


DATA PROTECTION 

MAKING IT 

PERSONAL 

Data protection considerations 

for the credit sector. 

BY JESSICA PADGET 

DATA protection issues rarely 

stray far from the headlines 

– or the courts – and recent 

judgments have shown that 

the credit sector needs to 

take care when storing and 

processing data. 

Indeed, there have been a recent flurry of decisions in 

cases relating to data protection compliance by credit 

reference agencies (CRAs). The recent decision of the 

Upper Tribunal in Information Commissioner v Experian 

Limited confirmed that the legitimate interests basis 

can be used for processing personal data for direct 

marketing purposes, and that the requirements for 

privacy notices go beyond those listed in Article 14 of 

the UK GDPR. 

Also, on 7 December 2023, the European Court of 

Justice (CJEU) gave its decision on related cases 

involving a German CRA. The CJEU ruled that in 

certain circumstances, credit scoring carried out by 

CRAs can constitute automated decision-making 

under Article 22(1) of the General Data Protection 

Regulation (GDPR). The CJEU also ruled that where 

a CRA retains personal data about individuals from 

insolvency proceedings, this information should only 

be kept for as long as it appears on the relevant public 

register. 

By looking at these cases and findings it is possible 

to explain how the decision of the CJEU could affect 

businesses in the UK. 

ICO v Experian 

What was the case about? 

Experian, the CRA, holds and processes personal 

data relating to over 51m people in the UK – which is 

essentially the whole of the adult population in Britain. 

Experian’s direct marketing business unit, which 

operates as EMS, holds and processes personal data 

it obtains from its CRA business unit, public sources 

such as the electoral register and from data suppliers 

that had acquired personal data through their own 

interactions with individuals. EMS provides offline 

direct marketing services by collecting personal data 

from such sources, then combining it to sell or licence 

it to third parties. Experian is a data controller of such 

personal data for these purposes. 

On 12 October 2020 the Information Commissioner's 

Office (ICO) issued Experian with an enforcement 

notice following an investigation into whether EMS 

holding and processing the personal data of over 51m 

people in the UK was in contravention of Articles 5(1) 

(a), 6 and 14 of the GDPR. The ICO found that (i) 

Experian’s processing was not sufficiently transparent; 

(ii) individuals were not properly notified of the 

data collection and processing; (iii) there had been 

‘invisible processing’ in relation to the data collected 

from publicly available sources; and (iv) there had been 

unlawful processing, as Experian could not rely on the 

exception of legitimate interests for the processing of 

personal data for marketing purposes. 

Experian appealed the ICO's enforcement notice to 

the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) on the grounds that 

the law had been applied incorrectly and that the 

ICO had come to a flawed conclusion based on the 

facts. Experian also argued that the enforcement 

notice was disproportionate and unfair given that the 

remedial actions needed would make it impossible 

to continue with its direct marketing business. This 

appeal was largely decided in Experian’s favour, and 

the enforcement notice was modified accordingly. 

The ICO subsequently appealed the FTT’s decision to 

the Upper Tribunal. In April 2024, the Upper Tribunal 



How does this affect CRAs and other organisations 

in the UK? 

It will be welcome news that the Upper Tribunal 

confirmed the ability for an organisation to consider 

its own commercial interests when contemplating the 

lawful basis of legitimate interests as justification for 

direct marketing practices. That said, organisations 

should exercise caution as this will only apply provided 

individuals’ fundamental rights are not contravened 

– as ever, there is a balance to be struck between a 

genuine business advantage and individuals’ data 

protection rights. 

CRAs should assess their privacy notice to make 

sure it complies with the Upper Tribunal’s clarified 

standards. Beyond simply complying with Article 

14 of the UK GDPR the privacy notice should be a 

comprehensive explanation of the processing of their 

personal data, including the specific reasons why it is 

being processed. 

dismissed the ICO's appeal and affirmed the FTT’s 

decision. The ICO has since confirmed that it has 

decided not to seek any further appeal. 

What does this mean for direct marketing? 

This decision confirmed that legitimate interests can 

be a lawful basis for processing personal data for 

direct marketing purposes. The FTT found that the 

ICO failed to recognise the benefits to Experian, its 

clients and the data subjects of processing personal 

data for offline direct marketing purposes. The FTT 

had previously dismissed the ICO’s submission that 

receiving marketing communications is always likely 

to cause distress to the receiver, and suggested that 

the marketing communications received may be of 

interest. 

What does this mean for transparency requirements? 

Article 14 of the UK GDPR sets out the information 

that a data controller must provide to a data subject 

when it has obtained their personal data from a 

third party, deriving from the transparency principle 

in Article 5(1)(a) of the UK GDPR. In most cases, 

organisations cover off this information in a privacy 

notice to the data subject. The Upper Tribunal 

clarified that the list of information in Article 14 is the 

‘basic minimum’ that must be provided to individuals; 

in order to comply with the transparency principle, a 

privacy notice must ensure that individuals are aware 

of the risks, safeguards, rights and rules in relation to 

the processing of their personal data, and the specific 

reason for the processing. 

The SCHUFA cases 

What were the cases about? 

The CJEU made a ruling in related cases OQ v Land 

Hessen and SCHUFA Holding AG (as intervener) and 

UF and AB v Land Hessen and SCHUFA Holding AG (as 

intervener) . 

SCHUFA is a German CRA that provides its 

customers, such as banks, with information on the 

creditworthiness of consumers. SCHUFA establishes 

the probability of a future behaviour (such as the 

repayment of a loan) and allocates the consumer a 

‘score’, based on their specific characteristics, using 

mathematical and statistical procedures. The claimant 

in the first case was denied a loan by a loan provider 

based on a SCHUFA score. 

SCHUFA also records and stores information from 

public registers in its own databases. This includes 

information from the public insolvency register 

where an individual has been formally granted release 

from their debts. Such information is deleted from 

the public insolvency register after six months but 

SCHUFA kept this information for three years. The 

claimants applied to SCHUFA for this information 

about them to be deleted. 

What did the CJEU decide about automated 

decision-making? 

The CJEU determined that automated decisionmaking 

will occur if there is a decision that is based 

solely on automated processing which produces 

legal effects concerning an individual or similarly 

significantly affects them. 


DATA PROTECTION 

The CJEU found that SCHUFA satisfied this test. The 

‘decision’ was the automatic refusal of the individual’s 

online credit application without human intervention 

(even though the lender, and not SCHUFA, made this 

decision). The decision was based solely on automated 

processing because SCHUFA created an automated 

probability score relating to the individual’s ability 

to repay a loan in the future based on their personal 

data. And the decision had a legal effect because the 

lender’s action strongly relied on the score received 

from SCHUFA. For example, a consumer’s loan 

application was almost always denied where the score 

from SCHUFA was inadequate. 

What did the CJEU decide on retention periods for 

insolvency proceedings data? 

The CJEU found that where the official publication of 

information about an individual’s discharged debts has 

ended, the CRA shouldn’t continue to retain this data. 

At that point, an individual’s right to erase their data 

outweighs the interest of the CRA in having access to 

that information. The CJEU stressed the importance 

of granting individuals a clean slate when applying 

for credit – an insolvency should not negatively affect 

their ability to take out credit indefinitely. 

The ruling suggests that any company retaining and 

using data from public registers for internal purposes, 

when this information has been removed from the 

public register itself, contravenes the GDPR. 

Does this affect businesses in the UK? 

Following Brexit, CJEU decisions are not binding on 

any UK courts. However, there is significant common 

ground between the EU and the UK for a court to 

sensibly seek insight and interpretation from Europe. 

The UK’s system relating to data protection still 

largely mirrors the EU system under the GDPR, and 

UK courts are expressly permitted to consider postexit 

CJEU decisions when interpreting the UK GDPR. 

The ICO says that loan providers will carry out 

automated decision-making under Article 22 of 

the UK GDPR if their website uses algorithms and 

automated credit searching to provide an immediate 

yes/no decision on a loan application. Based on the 

CJEU’s ruling, the scope of automated decisionmaking 

may now be applied to CRAs in the UK, even 

where the ultimate ‘decision’ to approve or deny the 

loan is taken by the lender. Indeed, the CJEU’s broad 

analysis of automated decision-making means that it 

may be applied more broadly, including in relation to 

companies using AI to make decisions (for example, 

across the insurance or healthcare industries). 

If CRAs rely on information published in public 

registers, the CJEU decision also indicates that such 

information should be deleted once it’s removed from 

the register – this would certainly reduce the extent 

of information that CRAs are able to provide to 

customers. 

Data protection 

considerations from the 

SCHUFA cases 

Although the CJEU decision isn’t binding in the 

UK, if a CRA is in the UK and its customer uses 

scoring or other profiling data provided by the CRA 

as a determining factor in the granting of credit, it 

is likely carrying out automated decision-making. 

Other companies should use this ruling as a marker to 

reassess their data processing activities to understand 

whether they are carrying out automated decisionmaking. 

Automated decision-making is only permitted 

where that decision is necessary for entering into, or 

performance of, a contract between the data subject 

and a data controller, where it is based on the data 

subject’s explicit consent or where it is authorised 

by a law which also lays down suitable measures to 

safeguard the data subject’s rights and freedoms and 

legitimate interests. 

With automated decision-making comes additional 

information requirements. CRAs have to inform the 

data subject about the automated decision-making 

and give meaningful information about the logic 

involved, the significance and the consequences of 

processing their data in that way. This also applies 

to any businesses relying on the automated decisionmaking, 

such as lenders who may automatically 

approve or reject a customer's application for a loan 

based on a score generated by a CRA or other provider. 

Additionally, CRAs should consider mapping out 

what data they obtain from public registers and store 

on their own servers. They should also ensure that 

their internal retention periods do not exceed those of 

the public register. If they do, they will be expected to 

record clear justification for this. 

Summary 

Despite exiting the European Union, judgments 

emanating from its courts still appear to have 

application in the UK. Regardless, CRAs need to show 

proper justification for their actions in holding and 

processing private information. And if there is any 

doubt, good advice in relation to privacy notices, data 

retention periods and policy, or automated decisionmaking 

should be sought. 

Author: Jessica Padget is an associate at Walker Morris. 


THE CHAIR 

FROM THE CHAIR 

The CICM Chair reflects on a period of monumental change. 

BY DEBBIE NOLAN FCICM(GRAD) 

AS I reflect on my tenure as Chair of 

the Executive Board of the Chartered 

Institute of Credit Management 

(CICM) over the past four years, I am 

filled with a sense of deep pride and 

personal fulfilment. These are years 

that have been marked by significant 

achievements, invaluable experiences and significant 

technological improvements. 

These are also years where we had to keep pace with the 

changing market, a volatile political landscape and the impact 

of an uncertain global economy on the credit management 

profession. It certainly hasn’t been dull. 

So what are the highs and lows of my term in office, the 

accomplishments we’ve achieved together, and the aspects I 

have most enjoyed? 

Global economy 

The global economic downturn posed significant challenges for 

our members and the broader industry. Navigating this period 

has required difficult decisions and strategic adjustments. 

Despite these challenges, our resilience and adaptability has 

ensured that we have continued to support our members 

diligently and effectively. 

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented disruptions, 

not least having to furlough teams and adapt to new working 

patterns, with an almost immediate overnight shift to remote 

operations. Maintaining member engagement and supporting 

professionals throughout the crisis were significant hurdles. 

But wherever there are difficulties, there are always possibilities, 

and these challenges also brought opportunities for digital 

transformation and innovation. Likewise, the subsequent and 

slow return to the office and face-to-face meetings has meant 

that we have continued to seek new and imaginative solutions 

that help our members adopt a new ‘business-as-usual’. 

The CICM used the pandemic as a catalyst to drive the 

digital transformation of CICM’s learning, development and 

networking platforms. We successfully transitioned many of 

our training programmes, events, and member interactions to 

virtual formats and built an extensive library of podcasts to 

ensure continuity and accessibility for the greatest number. 

Implementing our new, intuitive, and easy to use website has 

also helped further improve the operational efficiency of the 

institute and our member services. The integration of these 

technologies has modernised our approach and enhanced our 

capabilities in addressing our members’ needs. 

As well as specific training programmes and digital 

enhancements we have also launched initiatives to promote 

even greater Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) within 

the credit management profession. These efforts included 

apprenticeships, mentorship programmes, and diversity 

workshops, which have made a meaningful impact in fostering 

a more inclusive professional community, and at different 

intersections beyond simply gender and age. 

Moving home 

My tenure in office also included the brave decision to move 

our Headquarters from The Water Mill, our long-term, Listed 

building, to our new home in state-of-the-art premises more 

reflective of the modern institute that we have become. This 

decision was inspired. It is a building that allows us to attract 

new talent, as well as being a better working environment for 

our existing team. It is a building also that enables us to better 

utilise the technology at our disposal - and even has a mobile 

phone signal! 

Being Chair has given me plenty of perks too. I’ve been 

fortunate to be on stage at the British Credit Awards, 

celebrating the achievements of such passionate, hardworking 

individuals and teams across the industry and presenting 

them with their awards. 

I have also been lucky to witness those organisations who 

have invested time, energy and money into attaining CIMQ 

accreditation, and I’ve enjoyed engaging with members, 

understanding their needs, and fostering a sense of community. 

I have enjoyed building relationships with professionals across 

the entire industry and seeing the positive impact of our 

initiatives on their careers. All of these interactions have been 

immensely rewarding 

Having input to innovative projects and initiatives that drive 

the profession forward has been a particular highlight. The 

opportunity to explore new ideas, implement transformative 

solutions, and witness their success has been highly gratifying. 

Mentoring emerging leaders and young professionals is 

similarly a fulfilling experience. Contributing to their 

development, and seeing them grow into influential figures 

in the industry, has to be one of the most satisfying things 

that one can do as a leader in our profession or indeed in any 

profession. The development of our mentoring programme 

has been fantastic to watch, and something I hope to give 

some more time to once my Chair duties are over. 

I am proud of the progress we have made and the challenges 

we have overcome. Our collective achievements, from 

strategic initiatives to industry advocacy, have 

significantly advanced the credit management 

profession. I am grateful for the support and 

collaboration of my colleagues, members, and 

partners, and I look forward to finding ways to 

continue to contribute to the CICM and our 

industry’s future successes. 


LEGAL 

SILENT 

WITNESS 

There is a time and a place for expert witnesses. 

BY DR. IRINA DURNOVA 

EXPERT testimony in legal cases 

is pivotal. Such professionals 

offer specialised knowledge, 

clarifying complex details for 

judges and juries and their 

insights often bridge the gap 

between intricate matters 

and the court's understanding, shaping informed 

decisions. 

Over the years a number of trends have emerged and 

so it is appropriate to examine what is going on in 

relation to the use of expert evidence in commercial 

proceedings in England and Wales, as well as the 

most common and some unusual expert disciplines. 

Rules on expert evidence 

English courts have strict rules about adducing 

expert evidence and expert duties. These are set out 

in Civil Procedure Rules (Part 35), Practice Direction 

35, court guides, relevant pre-action protocols, and 

overarching protocol principles. 

The parties to a dispute have an overriding duty to 

restrict expert evidence to that which is reasonably 

required to resolve the proceedings. Each party 

must only call an expert or put an expert's report in 

evidence with the court's permission. 

In complex commercial cases, parties can usually 

each instruct their own expert witnesses. However, 

in certain situations, the court may opt for a different 

approach by appointing a single joint expert. This 

is generally appropriate only for peripheral and 

relatively uncontroversial issues in high-value cases. 

In any event, the primary obligation of an expert 

witness is to the court. Their paramount duty is 

to provide impartial and unbiased opinions based 

on their expertise on the relevant issues in dispute. 

Regardless of who engages or pays them, the expert's 

ultimate allegiance is, therefore, supposed to lie 

with the court - free from any partiality. 

Expertise Distribution 

There has not been any comprehensive study on 

types of expert evidence in English commercial 

courts. However, Solomonic, a litigation analytics 

platform, provides insights into experts deployed in 

commercial proceedings. For our purposes, a dataset 

including 2,446 experts and 2,973 judgments had 

been studied. 

As background, Solomonic collects positive and 

negative commentary made about particular experts 

(the dataset does not include judgments with neutral 

comments or no comments about expert evidence) 

and is limited to judgments since 2014 from 

Chancery Division (Business List, Financial List, 

Intellectual Property List, Insolvency & Company 

List – since January 2021) and King's Bench Division 

(Admiralty Court, Commercial Court, Financial 

List, Technology and Construction Court, Media & 

Communications List (since April 2020)). 

The analysis of the Solomonic data shows that 

the most common expert disciplines deployed are 

in foreign law (23.78 percent); quantum, forensic 

accountancy, and valuations (21.86 percent); and 

science including engineering, geology, chemistry, 

biology, etc. (15.84 percent). 

Finance makes up 7.77 percent; medical and 

pharma 6.9 percent; IP, IT and telecoms 4.88 

percent; transport including shipping 3.4 percent; 

architecture 1.41 percent; art 0.84 percent; and 

‘other’ 13.32 percent. 



ENGLISH COURTS 

TRADITIONALLY 

CONSIDERED 

FOREIGN LAW NOT 

AS A DISTINCT 

CATEGORY OF LAW 

BUT AS A MATTER 

OF FACT, THOUGH 

RECOGNISED AS A 

‘SPECIAL’ FACT. 

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / July & August 2024 / PAGE 17 continues on page 18 >

LEGAL 

Foreign law 

The courts in England and Wales commonly encounter 

matters involving foreign law. Unlike many continental 

legal systems, English courts traditionally considered 

foreign law not as a distinct category of law but as a 

matter of fact, though recognised as a ‘special’ fact. This 

requires the parties to plead the content and application 

of foreign law. 

Where the specifics of the relevant foreign law are 

not explicitly stated in the case, the ‘presumption 

of similarity’ applies. This principle serves as a rule 

of evidence, permitting a judge to presume that the 

foreign law aligns with the applicable English law. 

The English courts, particularly the Commercial 

Court, have substantial experience in dealing with and 

implementing foreign legal principles. For example, 

there is extensive English case law on the application of 

the Russian tort law rules (in particular, Article 1064 of 

the Russian Civil Code). 

Quantum, forensic accountancy, and valuation evidence 

have different purposes but are often performed by 

accounting professionals with broad expertise to cover 

these topics. While quantum experts focus on assessing 

damages, forensic accountants primarily delve into 

fraud detection, and valuation experts determine asset 

worth. 

Experts in science may be required in cases involving 

complicated technological aspects to explain intricate 

scientific concepts relevant to the case. Their role 

involves clarifying technical details, conducting 

experiments, or interpreting scientific data to help the 

court understand those matters. 

Unusual expertise 

While foreign law and quantum are the most commonly 

used experts, the parties and the courts occasionally 

have to deal with niche areas of human knowledge. 

Two examples, Yemeni criminality and Formula One 

sponsorship opportunities, below, demonstrate how 

expert witness testimony may or may not affect the 

outcome of a case. These unique areas of expertise 

highlight the diverse range of disciplines that might 

be called upon in legal proceedings, reflecting the need 

for specialised knowledge to address specific, nuanced 

aspects of a case. 

Yemeni criminality 

The case of Suez Fortune Investments Ltd & Piraeus Bank 

AE v. Talbot Underwriting Ltd & others [2019] EWHC 2599 

(Comm) concerned the loss of the oil tanker Brillante 

Virtuoso and subsequent insurance claim made to 

recover the loss of the vessel. 

In July 2011, seven armed men boarded the Brillante 

Virtuoso off the Yemeni coast, which was followed 

by an explosion in the engine room, leading to severe 

damage. The core dispute centred on whether the attack 

on the vessel was fortuitous or intentionally caused. The 

parties asked for permission to adduce expert evidence 

on Yemeni criminality. Mr Justice Teare highlighted the 

unusualness of such expert discipline. 

Expert evidence is tailored to the issues in the case. By way 

of example, these might include geologists, providing 

insights into reservoir analysis and drilling techniques; 

petroleum engineers, providing resource estimation 

in oil and gas disputes; mechanical or civil engineers 

who might offer expertise in structural integrity, design 

defects, or failure analysis in engineering-related cases; 

and environmental scientists who could be involved in 

assessing ecological impacts or compliance issues. 

THE CORE DISPUTE CENTRED 

ON WHETHER THE ATTACK ON 

THE VESSEL WAS FORTUITOUS 

OR INTENTIONALLY CAUSED. 



Two experts had to consider the nature of crime in Yemen and the 

profile of Yemeni criminals and criminal gangs; the effect of the 

breakdown and corruption of Government organisations, such as 

the Coastguard, on criminal activity; the identity of the persons 

who had the means to carry out the attack (which included piracy 

off Yemen); and the access of Yemeni Government individuals/ 

Yemeni criminals to the weapons and equipment used in the 

attack. 

The bank’s expert expressed the view that it was plausible to 

suggest the armed men were Yemeni pirates who planned to take 

the vessel to Somalia and then do a deal with Somali pirates, 

which involved sharing a ransom for the vessel and cargo. The 

underwriters' expert disagreed that that might have been the case. 

Following careful evaluation of factual and expert evidence, the 

Commercial Court found that the vessel had been intentionally 

destroyed at the direction of its beneficial owner, Marios 

Iliopoulos. 

Formula One sponsorship 

In AMP Advisory & Management Partners AG v Force India Formula 

One Team Limited [2019] EWHC 2426 (Comm), a sports marketing 

company asserted that it had introduced a sponsorship 

opportunity with an Austrian water company (BWT) to the 

defendant Formula One Team and had an agreement entitling 

them to a percentage of the net proceeds from the sponsorship 

deal. 

Industry experts were involved and addressed three issues in 

their reports. This was the basis upon which sponsorship agents 

are typically engaged in Formula One; the nature of the agency 

agreements customarily used in Formula One; and whether 

there is market practice in the Formula One industry for agents 

to receive a 15 percent commission up to €12.5m and 12 percent 

thereafter. 

Factual evidence revealed that it was not the claimant but a third 

party who had introduced the sponsorship opportunity to Force 

India. Therefore, the expert questions became largely irrelevant. 

The court decided that the value of AMP’s contribution to 

achieving the deal was limited in nature and, therefore, ordered 

Force India to pay for the benefits resulting from the services 

performed of £150,000. 

Frequency of appearance 

While some experts only appear in this capacity on a single 

occasion, there is a whole industry of ‘professional’ experts 

whose main job is to act as experts in litigation and arbitration 

proceedings. 

Solomonic data analysis shows that quantum and accountancy 

experts are more likely to appear in English courts more than 

once. They in turn are followed by IT and foreign law experts. As 

mentioned earlier, both parties are usually permitted to instruct 

their own experts in commercial disputes. However, Solomonic 

data suggests that claimants are slightly more likely to make the 

instruction (52 percent of expert instructions). 

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / July & August 2024 / PAGE 19 

continues on page 20 >

LEGAL 

Several factors might contribute to claimants being 

slightly more inclined to instruct their own experts in 

commercial disputes: 

• In civil cases, the burden of proof lies with the 

claimant. To meet this burden, claimants might rely 

on expert testimony to substantiate their claims, 

clarify complex technicalities, and provide evidence 

supporting their case. 

• Claimants initiate legal action and might be more 

proactive in assembling their case, including gathering 

evidence, and engaging experts early to strengthen 

their position. 

• A defendant might accept the claimant's expert 

evidence by stipulation, acknowledging its validity 

and agreeing to its relevance in the case. This could 

happen if the defendant perceives the evidence as 

accurate and chooses not to dispute it and not to 

adduce expert evidence. 

• Defendants might decide not to defend a claim at 

all. If the defendant does not defend the case or fails 

to respond within the specified legal timeframe, the 

court might issue a default judgment in favour of the 

claimant. 

• In some cases, the defendant might opt to settle the 

dispute with the claimant outside of court. This could 

occur if the defendant acknowledges the strength of 

the claimant's evidence, including expert testimony, 

and decides to negotiate a settlement rather than 

contest the case at trial. 

While these reasons might contribute to claimants 

being keener on instructing experts, the decision to 

engage experts ultimately depends on the specifics 

of each case and the strategies employed by the legal 

teams. 

Judicial criticism 

Whatever party instructs an expert, it is important 

that they consider the candidate’s qualifications 

and experience and provide them with appropriate 

guidance on their duties to the court. 

Failure to follow these simple rules can lead to judges 

being extremely critical of experts and their reports, 

sometimes completely dismissing their evidence. It is 

not uncommon for the judges to comment that ‘the 

expert evidence proved to be of limited assistance’ for a 

variety of reasons. 

The most common criticism relates to the following 

aspects of expert selection and presentation of evidence: 

• Lack of expertise in a specific area relevant to the case. 

This might be due to the absence of the appropriate 

qualifications or experience, or inability to answer 

questions put to them. 

• Poor quality of reports. Judges express frustration 

about experts who submit reports that are unclear, 

poorly structured, not referenced or which fail to 

address the key issues adequately, making it difficult 

for the court to rely on their findings. 

THE ROLE 

OF EXPERT 

EVIDENCE 

IN ENGLISH 

COMMERCIAL 

LITIGATION IS AS 

DIVERSE AS THE 

LEGAL CASES IT 

SERVES. 

• Lack of impartiality. Some experts are perceived as 

biased, appearing more as advocates for the party 

that hired them rather than as impartial providers of 

specialist knowledge. 

Therefore, ensuring the proper selection and guidance of 

experts is crucial, as judicial criticism can significantly 

undermine the credibility and effectiveness of their 

testimony. 

Conclusion 

The role of expert evidence in English commercial 

litigation is as diverse as the legal cases it serves. 

Examining Solomonic data provides a glimpse into the 

prevalence of specific expert disciplines, shedding light 

on the frequency and patterns of expert engagement. 

While foreign law, quantum, and science experts 

dominate, the legal landscape occasionally calls for 

unusual expertise, exemplified by cases involving 

Yemeni criminality and Formula One sponsorships. 

Claimants, holding the burden of proof, often lead 

in expert engagements, leveraging these specialists 

to fortify their cases. The decision to instruct experts 

is strategic, influenced by factors such as evidential 

strength, initiative-taking case assembly, the shape 

of the pleaded issues and the nature of legal disputes. 

However, the courtroom narrative remains dynamic, 

with defendants often instructing their expert but 

having the option to accept claimants' evidence, 

negotiate settlements, or even choose not to contest a 

claim. 

Author: Dr. Irina Durnova is an associate at Enyo Law. 


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CICMQ 

A DISTINCTIVE 

RESTYLING 

How Saint Gobain Created the Conditions for Success. 

BY MELANIE YORK 

WHEN she was 16 

years old Laura 

Brown, MCICM 

(Grad) loved her 

job as a hairdresser, 

coiffing curls, 

chatting to customers, 

hearing all about their experiences and listening 

to their stories. The only thing she didn’t like about it was 

having to work on the weekend. 

When she turned 20 she went to Ibiza for a summer in the 

sun and on her return found a regular Monday to Friday 

job as an administrator in a transport company. Here she 

collected all the driver's timesheets and receipts for the 

firm’s credit controller, and at the end of each month, 

she folded customer statements and stuffed them into 

envelopes. Over time, by chatting and asking plenty of 

questions, she learnt enough about the role that when the 

credit controller was leaving, Laura applied for the job. 

And she hasn’t looked back since. 

Later, Laura Brown moved to a large refrigeration firm 

where her manager had just finished her Level Three 

CICM qualifications. Laura decided to follow suit. Having 

initially looked to train as an accounting technician, 

her manager suggested the CICM qualifications 

might be better suited for a career in credit control. 

Laura began evening classes for the Level Three exams 

at a local college. She loved learning, and found her new 

knowledge invaluable in her job. It also boosted her 

confidence. Her tutors taught her how to have difficult 

conversations with customers and to challenge them by 

telling them, for instance, that the Commercial Debts 

Act allows interest on late payments to be charged at the 

Bank of England base rate plus 8 percent. That advice 

was and still remains invaluable: “It was helpful to have 

that toolkit”, she says, “and know the options you have to 

encourage people to pay, or what support you can offer 

late payers.” 

That appetite to learn and the knowledge gained has 

helped her at every stage of her career. In 2014, she passed 

her Level Three exams and they were instrumental in her 

being hired as a team leader that year at Saint-Gobain, 

Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction: 

“Having that qualification on my CV really helped,” she 

says. “My manager told me they saw it and picked me out 

for an interview.” 

She continued studying and after being promoted to 

credit control manager in 2019, she went on to achieve her 

Level Five in 2022 and last March, became head of credit 

control; she found the studying for CICM qualifications 

prepared her well to step into that senior role: “It provides 

more understanding,” she says, “particularly with areas 

like strategic planning because it isn't something you do 

day-to-day.” 

Learning from mentors 

It took six years for her to complete Level Five, partly 

because she took maternity leave and worked compressed 

hours to have more days with her two young children. It 

was the support of her mentors that encouraged her to 

keep her career on track and to finish the exams. They also 

gave her opportunities to grow, and pushed her to achieve 

more: “I am an overthinker,” Laura says. “Sometimes it’s 

the worry that comes with the job.” 



A team of distinction 

During the CICMQ process and all the changes that have 

happened, Laura’s team has learnt how to streamline 

processes, improve workflows and follow best practice 

across the whole business. The team have also learnt how 

to support one another, to ask each other for help and 

approach those with particular areas of strength when 

they are needed. And together they achieved a Distinction 

in their latest CICMQ assessment. 

Then she received some good advice from her line 

manager Rob O’Neil: “He told me not to try and control 

everything. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Just focus on 

what you can control.” 

Today she is still learning from mentors. She has one 

from the commercial side of the business: “He’s giving me 

insights into the different parts of the organisation and 

how it all works.” 

Creating one policy 

That insight into different parts of the business has been 

invaluable when her team, based within a Shared Service 

Centre (SSC), started to standardise credit control across 

12 individual business units within Saint-Gobain, one of 

the biggest challenges of her career. 

After the first CICMQ assessment at Saint-Gobain, one 

recommendation was to create a documented credit 

policy. There was an outline and some procedures in 

place, but no formal credit policy across the group and the 

businesses operated slightly differently. So standardising 

those policies proved to be quite a daunting task when it 

began in 2019. 

The team started by mapping out what the current 

process was, what needed to change and where it was easy 

to standardise business processes. There were 12 business 

units and each had a Sales Director and Finance Director 

who had to sign up for and sign off any process and policy 

changes. All 12 had implemented the new policies in just 

six months. Laura’s approach was to explain, educate 

and bring people along with her and her team: “We are 

going through this CICMQ process to introduce best 

practices across the business,” she would say. “We’d like to 

standardise this part of the process across the company. 

We think this is the best way, and that it will be more 

efficient.” 

That approach encouraged the sales and finance 

teams in each division, who now invariably say they 

are more than happy to do what she and her team 

recommend. But Laura thinks it is important 

that it is a two-way street. She finds people 

are more open and receptive when she tells them, 

“If there are any other areas that you want us to 

look at, come to us.” 

It was a proud moment for Laura, her team and her 

colleague Rosie, Head of Credit Risk. Laura and Rosie 

were promoted less than 18 months ago, “The first major 

change we achieved under our new leadership was the 

CICMQ distinction,” says Laura. 

There were other reasons for the team to be proud. The 

CEO and CFO recognised the achievement publicly 

across the company and the CEO, HR Director, and 

SSC Director came to the official presentation. That was 

significant: “It really meant the department was no longer 

just a stepping stone to other departments or other parts 

of the business — and that’s what made the team really 

proud.” 

The gateway 

Originally, the credit department was perceived as a 

gateway into general ledger where people could study 

accountancy. Credit is now seen as a career, with people 

wanting to become team leaders and credit managers. 

Learning through CICM is now embedded into the 

culture, and Saint-Gobain is running the CICM as an 

apprenticeship programme. So now people stay. 

The CICMQ Distinction is the latest achievement 

following the team’s British Credit Award for Shared 

Service Provider of the year in 2023, Laura won the 

Credit Professional of the Year award the same year, and 

this year, they won the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 

Project Award. 

For any new recruit wanting to succeed in their career 

Laura’s advice is to build your relationships with your 

customers: “Get to know them, how they operate, who 

those escalation points are.” 

She finds being able to pick up the phone and call on 

them when you need to can make a huge difference: “Just 

talk to them,” she says. “While email is good, it often 

loses something in translation and is less personal. Chat 

to customers about the business but also get to know 

them because we are all human, and we all need those 

interactions.” 

If you would like to learn more about CICMQ and 

how your team can be recognised for best practice visit: 

https://www.cicm.com/learning-development/cicmq.html 

or email: luke.sculthorp@cicm.com 

Laura Brown MCICM(Grad). Head of Credit Control, 

Saint Gobain UK & Ireland. 

Brave | | Curious | | Resilient / www.cicm.com / July & August 2024 / PAGE 23

INTERVIEW 

INTEL 

INSIDE 

Sean Feast FCICM speaks to Craig Evans about business 

intelligence, fighting fraud, and his love of the sea. 

CRAIG Evans, Chief Executive of 

Company Watch, has spent more than 

30 years in the business intelligence 

industry, and is a respected leader in 

the field. But like many working in 

the credit industry, it’s not where he 

started. 

Born and bred in Cardiff, Craig’s mother was a pharmacist 

and his father worked in the family’s commercial vehicle 

repair business. As well as handling ‘traditional’ repairs, 

the business also had contracts with various charities 

such as Oxfam and The Red Cross, working across 

Africa, which included converting Land Rovers into 

specialist medical vehicles. 

While his brother followed his father into the business, 

Craig decided on a different path: “It was a bit too dirty 

and grimy for me,” he laughs, “so when I came out of 

school I went straight into the Royal Navy. It was 

something I had always wanted to do. We had a careers’ 

advisor at school, but I was the easy one. The sea and the 

water were in my blood. 

“My parents always had boats and various crafts and for 

as long as I can remember I said I wanted to be a sailor.” 

Finding a job 

Although signing up for a 12-year term, time on shore 

base persuaded Craig to buy himself out early and 

go back to education, studying at Cardiff University 

and graduating with a BA (Hons) in Business Studies. 

Then came the realisation that he needed to find a job. 

Scanning the papers, he spotted a job in Cardiff working 

for ICC, an information company, and decided to 

apply: “My role in the Royal Navy was quite technical 

and involved computers, and ICC was advertising for 

someone to help with data loading onto mag tapes and 

such like. It was the early days of the industry, but that’s 

how it all started.” 

Within ICC, it wasn’t long before Craig progressed 

from the slog of loading data to analysing that data and 

becoming a full-time data analyst. This opened up a 

new opportunity to work with Infocheck: “The concept 

of risk ratings was then emerging,” he explains, “and 

we spent hours of every day analysing sets of business 

accounts using microfiche. It was still a very manual and 

labour-intensive process, and we were literally writing 

reports by hand for our clients that we would fax over 

to them.” 

Craig helped build some of the early scoring models in 

parallel with his interest in the commercial side of the 

business: “I fancied a more customer-facing role,” he 

adds, “and that’s what started me on a new career path 

in sales.” 

Working as a regional account manager in the South 

West brought him into direct contact with credit 

managers and senior staff across a range of different 

companies and industries, successfully securing new 

contracts with building societies, banks, retailers, legal 

firms, construction companies and manufacturers – any 

organisation trading with another that wanted to better 

understand the risk of doing business. 

Infocheck acquisition 

The acquisition of the Infocheck Group by Equifax 

Europe in 1995 might have been a challenge, but was 

welcomed by the business: “The Group was going through 

a difficult period and the acquisition came at the right 

time,” he remembers. 

Under new management, Craig stayed with the business 

as a sales manager until an approach from Colin Thomas 

FCICM, the joint Managing Director at Graydon, lured 

him away: “I worked closely with Colin until he left to 

join STA International (where he is still Chairman) and 

the late Martin Williams took over. 

“Martin was a lovely man and I learned so much from him 

that I think of now, running Company Watch. He was a 

great guy to work with and a great loss to the industry.” 

Originally based in Colindale, the business moved 

to Harrow. Craig’s role was principally in business 

development, heading up vertical markets, originally 

focused in the then burgeoning IT industry: “The sector 

was growing really quickly with a large volume of IT 



“I’M A BIT LAND- 

LOCKED WHERE 

I AM NOW, AND 

HAVEN’T BEEN 

SAILING FOR 

YEARS. BUT I’M 

SURE I COULD FIND 

MY WAY AROUND 

A BOAT PRETTY 

QUICKLY!” 



INTERVIEW 

resellers and distributors, so business was booming,” he says. 

With the defection of various staff to Dun & Bradstreet, then on 

a serious recruitment drive, Craig had the opportunity to ‘own’ 

the IT sector and become expert at his job. It was, he admits, a bit 

of a ‘leaky bucket’: “My initial focus was on revenue retention,” 

he says, “and trying to stop the bucket from leaking any further. 

But then it was also about turning things around with new ideas, 

innovation and creativity, and that was exciting.” 

Intelligence networks 

Craig’s career at Graydon spanned almost 25 years, and it is 

his long association with the business for which he is probably 

most remembered. Having succeeded in making IT a success, 

the business rolled out a similar concept across other verticals 

including petroleum, timber, steel, and telecoms, among many 

others: “We created what we called ‘intelligence networks’ which 

meant we could effectively crowd source data, listening to 

people on the ground and then bringing that intelligence back 

into our data. 

I WAS AT A 

STAGE IN MY 

CAREER WHERE 

I WONDERED 

WHETHER TO 

LEAVE THE 

BUSINESS 

INFORMATION 

SECTOR 

ALTOGETHER 

“We were adding value, and the Graydon name became 

synonymous with delivering customised intelligence. It was 

what we would refer to in sales as our ‘value wedge’!” 

Within Graydon, Craig rose through the ranks, becoming 

Business Development Director in 2009 and promoted Head of 

Commercial in 2012. It was a post he held until the autumn of 

2021, when he stepped up to become UK Country Director. 

In March 2022, Graydon was acquired by CreditSafe, and Craig 

decided to take time out from the business world: “The sale 

process took a considerable amount of energy and so I decided 

I needed to take six-months off while I considered what to do 

next. I was at a stage in my career where I wondered whether 

to leave the business information sector altogether and do 

something else.” 



Transitional time 

Craig’s great plan didn’t quite come off as he intended. 

Just a handful of weeks into his voluntary sabbatical, 

he received an approach from Company Watch: 

“Company Watch had only recently been acquired by 

the Volaris Group and was going through something of 

a transition. I knew one or two people there and they 

reached out to me. And the rest is history, as they say.” 

Initially joining on a six-month contract, the departure 

of Jo Kettner, the CEO, to pastures new, presented 

an opportunity for Craig to step into the role. While 

others applied, it was Craig who got the job. 

In taking over as CEO, Craig’s first priority was in 

setting the strategy for future growth. Volaris set clear 

targets that had to be met, and while the focus had 

to be on profitability, Craig was similarly keen to reinvigorate 

the innovation for which Company Watch 

had gained a leading reputation under Jo’s steer. Since 

December 2023, Company Watch has launched six new 

products – an average of one a month. 

One particular innovation is an intelligent search 

engine to more easily and helpfully mine Companies 

House data. Company Watch has digitised more than 

600,000 annual reports filed as scanned images at 

Companies House. Previously these reports had to 

be searched manually, which was a slow and painful 

process. With SearCHeD, Craig says Company Watch 

is giving credit managers the power to find hidden red 

flags, new business opportunities and market insights 

at the click of a button: “We have an extensive suite of 

due diligence tools to help you meet AML requirements 

and manage your exposure to risk,” he explains. 

“Financial failure is a huge threat to any business, 

it’s important to know the financial health of your 

customers and suppliers before you engage in any 

business transaction. While you may have assessed the 

company's financials and director history, it’s unlikely 

you’ve read an entire annual report, and yet there may 

be key words or phrases contained within the annual 

reports filed at Companies House that are indicative 

of risk.” 

anomalies and inconsistencies across multiple critical 

triggers,” Craig continues. “The new Economic Crime 

and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) powers 

that Companies House have are a step in the right 

direction to tackling business fraud, but they may not 

be enough and it will take a long time to be enacted. 

Whereas controls can be put in place for future data, 

that doesn’t help much with the data that is already sat 

there.” 

Vigilance analyses data and warning signs across 

five key areas: financial; statistical; behavioural; 

operational; and phoenixism. Any company showing 

signs of concern is flagged on an easy-to-use dashboard 

for further investigation: “It’s ultimately about 

empowering credit managers to make even betterinformed 

decisions,” Craig adds. 

“Fraud is undoubtedly the biggest issue facing our 

customers at the moment,” Craig continues. “For years 

we’ve all relied heavily on Companies House and the 

data in financial accounts, but if you can’t trust that 

data anymore, then you have to find new sources of 

data that you can have confidence in.” 

It is still relatively early days for Craig in his new role, 

but already there are ambitious plans for the future. 

Volaris is a naturally acquisitive business, and M&A 

domestically and overseas may well be on the cards: 

“It’s probably something on the horizon,” Craig admits, 

“and that’s exciting.” 

While Craig never got to enjoy his six-months off, he 

still finds time for leisure outside of work. He recently 

took part in Ride London, a 100-mile cycle ride, raising 

money for a Dementia charity, and is planning his first 

half Iron Man. 

He has not, however, got any plans to go sailing any 

time soon: “I’m a bit land-locked where I am now,” he 

laughs, “and haven’t been sailing for years. But I’m sure I 

could find my way around a boat pretty quickly!” 

Craig says that if you have a large portfolio, conducting 

enhanced due diligence on every company can feel like 

an impossible task: “With SearCheD you can upload 

your entire portfolio and search across it for the 

keywords you are interested in. Alternatively, you can 

search across the entire library of Companies House 

reports. Data is easily downloadable to your desktop 

which means you can share your findings with other 

stakeholders quickly.” 

Fighting fraud 

Another more recent innovation is Vigilance, a tool 

billed as giving credit managers ‘a proactive edge’ 

in the fight against fraud: “Vigilance analyses filings 

submitted to Companies House and seeks to identify 


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Brave | Curious | Resilient 

www.cicm.com | +44 (0)1780 722900 | editorial@cicm.com

Introducing our 

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COUNTRY FOCUS 

Horn of plenty 

There’s more to Denmark than Vikings and Lego. 

DENMARK maybe small, but it’s given 

the world plenty to be thankful for. 

Consider the Vikings. As warriors they 

might not have been popular then, but 

they are now. Think also of the tales of 

Hans Christian Andersen that are part 

of many a parents bedtime routine. Then there’s Danish bacon 

(remember the adverts back in the day?) and colourful houses 

up and down the land. But let’s not forget Lego that is still very 

popular with almost every child and countless adults. 

But to this list we could add more – a very popular royal family 

that reaches back 1,000 years, a quasi-anarchist Copenhagen 

community, and salty liquorice. Interestingly, the Danish 

people are ranked among the happiest in the world; a testament 

to Danish culture and a society built on high levels of social 

trust. 

History and background 

Denmark’s history is just as interesting. Post Ice Age humans 

migrated to what is known now as Denmark for its flat terrain, 

rich soil and proximity to water – despite a somewhat harsh 

climate at times. The Iron Age saw Danes establish links with 

the Romans to become traders. A Runic language was in use by 

200 AD. The age of the Vikings lasted for around 250 years from 

around 793, with raids on the English and the establishment 

of settlements in Yorkshire. Denmark also ruled England from 

1015 to 1034. 

Christianity, from 965 and King Harald Bluetooth’s baptism, 

didn’t tame the Danish who expanded their lands to include 

parts of what is now Germany and Estonia. Denmark became 

part of the Kalmar Union in 1397 which existed until the Swedes 

left in 1523. Regular wars between the two nations followed 

which led in 1658 to Denmark ceding the provinces of Skåne, 

Halland and Blekinge, that today make up the Southernmost 

provinces of Sweden. In 1536 Norway was incorporated as part 

of Denmark, but sovereignty transferred to Sweden in 1814. 

The loss of the provinces led to a power grab that resulted in 

the establishment of a hereditary and absolute monarchy. What 

followed was a strong governmental system and reformed 

agriculture. Other reforms followed as did a power struggle 

with the Germans over Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. 

The Danish royal house declared itself to be a constitutional 

monarchy, a move which led to war with the Germans in 1848- 

51 that Denmark won. However, renewed conflict arose in 1864 

and Denmark lost and had to cede the duchies. 

xRubjerg Knude Lighthouse is on the coast of the North Sea in 

Rubjerg, in the Jutland municipality of Hjørring in northern Denmark. 

It was first lit on 27 December 1900. Construction of the lighthouse 

began in 1899. 


on Denmark 

During WWI Denmark was neutral, but post war the 

northern part of Schleswig returned to Danish rule in 1920 

following a plebiscite. Denmark was occupied by Germany 

for five years from April 1940. Denmark joined the then 

EEC in 1972 and is today a member of the UN and NATO. 

Coastal Geography 

Denmark sits on the Jutland Peninsular on the Baltic and 

North Seas. Geographically it has Germany to the south and 

across the water, Norway to the north. Sweden is also to 

the north and east to which it is joined to Denmark by the 

16km long Øresund Bridge that opened in 2000. Denmark’s 

coastline is around 7,300km. 

Just as numbers can be deceiving, so too is Denmark’s size. 

As the CIA World Factbook comments, Denmark is ‘slightly 

less than twice the size of Massachusetts; about two-thirds 

the size of West Virginia’. It has a temperate climate with 

mild windy winters and cool summers. In terms of terrain, 

it is generally flat with a high point of 171m; climbing the 

only ‘mountain’ in Denmark, Møllehøj, means ascending a 

peak of just 5m. 

xNyhavn is a 17th-century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in 

Copenhagen, Denmark. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the Inner Harbour just 

south of the Royal Playhouse, it is lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century 

townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants 

Axel Towers is designed by the 

talented Lene Tranberg from the 

award winning Danish architect firm 

Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter. 

Demographics and languages 

Statista lists its population as rising from one million 

in 1800 to 5.79m in 2020. The 2024 estimate (Statistics 

Denmark) is 5.96m. 

The age bands are evenly distributed between nought and 

79 years of age with peaks around 20-29 and 50-59 years 

according to Statistics Denmark. Overall, as of January 

2023, 17 percent (1.01m) were aged 16 or under, 64 percent 

(3.77m) were aged 16-66, while 19 percent (1.14m) were aged 

over 66 years. 

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com /July & August 2024 / PAGE 33 continues on page 34 >

COUNTRY FOCUS 

THE COUNCIL 

RECKONS THAT 

DENMARK 

PRODUCES 

ENOUGH FOOD 

TO FEED 

15M – CLOSE 

TO THREE 

TIMES ITS 

POPULATION. 

The sexes are very evenly balanced through all 

age bands, while ethnically the population is 84.2 

percent Danish (including Greenlandic who are 

predominantly Inuit) and Faroese, 1.1 percent 

Turkish, and 14.7 percent ‘other’ of which the largest 

groups are Polish, Romanian, Syrian, Ukrainian, 

German, and Iraqi. 

In terms of languages spoken, Danish, Faroese, 

Greenlandic (an Inuit dialect) are in the majority 

with some German. English is the predominant 

second language. (CIA World Factbook). 

While Denmark has in recent years severely 

curtailed its refugee intake, it has, nevertheless in 

the post-war decades welcomed in labourers from 

Turkey, Pakistan and the former Yugoslavia as 

well as peoples from Chile, Vietnam and Uganda, 

Russia, Hungary, Bosnia, Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon. 

The CIA states that 88.5 percent of the population 

is urbanised and ‘with excellent access to the 

North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, and the Baltic Sea, 

population centres tend to be along coastal areas, 

particularly in Copenhagen and the eastern side of 

the country's mainland.’ 

Statistics Denmark states that in 2023, Copenhagen 

was the largest single area with 1.36m people 

which was followed by Aarhus (290,598), Odense 

(182,387), Aalborg (120,914) and Esbjerg (71,921). 

There are another seven areas with more than 

50,000 residents, 52 with between 10,000 and 50,000 

inhabitants, and 191 with less than 10,000. 

Infrastructure 

When it comes to the Danish road network it is 

well served with 1,355 km of motorways, 347 km 

of dual carriageways and 73,344 km of other roads 

(Statistics Denmark). These were, in 2022, used by 

Danes in the form of 40,898 private cars, 323 taxis, 

7,186 vans, 984 lorries, and 686 buses and coaches. 

The figures don’t include users of foreign owned 

vehicles. Statbank Denmark notes that in 2022 

the country spent DKK 8.13bn on new roads with 

another DKK 8.91bn on maintenance. 

The Danish rail network has changed configuration 

over the last 20 years or so. There are now 2,610 km 

of rail (2,798 km in 2003) of which 964 km (635 km 

in 2003) is electrified. There are 592 stations (556 in 

2003). 

Data from Banedanmark combined with figures 

from the national accounts, shows that the Danish 

rail network investment in 2022 comprised DKK 

12.3bn from Banestyrelsen that is responsible 

for the maintenance and traffic control on the 

state-owned Danish railway network, DKK 14bn 

from Copenhagen Metro, and 167m from other 

companies. 

According to Marine Insight, as of 2022 there are 

six major ports in Denmark – Aarhus (11.2m tonnes 

of cargo and over 8,000 ships); Copenhagen (more 

than 8,000 ships and 15m tonnes of cargo); Grenaa 

(1,000 vessels and 1.45m tonnes of cargo); Esbjerg 

(17,800 vessels, 4.7m tonnes of cargo and 1.85m 

passengers); Odense (two milllion tonnes of cargo); 

and Fredericia (2,550 vessels and 16.9m tonnes of 

cargo). 

Investment in the ports has varied from DKK 367m 

in construction and DKK 116m in buildings in 2012, 

to a peak in 2018 of DKK 1.58bn in construction and 

DKK 484m in buildings and, in 2021, DKK 629m in 

construction and DKK 481m in buildings. 

Godigit Insurance details more than 20 airports 

throughout Denmark but only four are of 

consequence for international travel – Copenhagen 

(29m passengers), Billund (3.09m), Aalborg (1.44m) 

and Aarhus (364,546). In 2022 air cargo amounted to 

2.69m tonnes – a marked increase of that carried in 

2012 (1.672m tonnes). 

Robust economy 

When it comes to the size of the Danish economy, 

the IMF reckons that in 2024 it’ll be worth 

$409.99bn – up from $164.16bn in 2000. Ireland has 

a similar population and a GDP of $564.02bn in 

2024 but only $100.25bn in 2000. 

Over the last 10 years inflation has been reasonably 

low with rates of around 1.5 percent except for the 

large and narrow mountain-like high between mid- 

2021 and September 2023. An October 2022 peak 

saw a rate of 10.1 percent. In comparison, the UK 

Lego House is a 

12,000-square metre 

building filled with 25 

million Lego bricks in 

Billund, Denmark, located 

near Legoland and the 

headquarters of The Lego 

Group. It is also known as 

Home of the Brick with 

reference to Billund, where 

Lego originates. 

Amalienborg is the 

official residence for the 

Danish royal family and 

is located in Copenhagen. 

Frederick VIII's palace 

complex has four identical 

Classical façades, 

effectively four palaces, 

with Rococo interiors, 

laid around an octagonal 

courtyard. 



followed a similar pattern – but with higher rates. 

The UK’s usual rate was around 2.5 to three percent 

but its October 2022 peak recorded 11.1 percent and 

the inflationary curve was more pronounced. 

Unemployment is less of an issue in Denmark. It 

stood at 7.5 percent in 2013 but steadily dropping 

to 2.9 percent in April 2024, albeit with a pandemic 

bump to 5.64 percent in 2020 (Macrotrends). 

Denmark ranks as Europe’s best country for 

business and 4th in the world by The World Bank 

in its most recent Doing Business Report. 

Lloyds Bank considers Denmark’s public accounts 

to be quite healthy with one of the lowest debtto-GDP 

ratios in Europe. The measures taken by 

the Government to address the pandemic led to an 

increase in recent years, the ratio stood at around 

30.1 percent in 2023 and is expected to follow a 

downward trend (29 percent in 2024 and 28.7 

percent in 2025) 

Key business sectors 

According to the Danish Agriculture & Food 

Council in its 2023 issue of Facts & Figures, 

agriculture contributes 22 percent to the total of 

Danish exports, with Germany, Sweden, the UK 

and China as its main markets and pork, fish and 

dairy as the key products. 

Notably, 61 percent of Denmark is cultivated with 

large farms that average 83ha; more than 20 percent 

exceed 100ha of land. Many produce crops, but a 

large proportion have livestock. Field crops tend to 

be cereals with 85 percent of production used for 

animal feed. 

Organic food is rising in importance with 30 

percent of milk production and 12 percent of land 

involved. 

The council reckons that Denmark produces 

enough food to feed 15m – close to three times its 

population. Statistics Denmark’s 2022 data shows 

that output was worth DKK 103.81bn with crops 

contributing DKK 40.94bn and livestock DKK 

57.10bn. In 2020, 73,711 workers were employed 

across 33,148 farms. 

In terms of construction, the sector has grown 

since Q1 2014 where it employed 147,199 workers 

but now, in Q1 2024, has 195,380 workers. Of that 

number, currently 50,946 are involved in new 

buildings, 69,406 are in maintenance, and 26,396 

work in civil engineering. 

The sector turned over DKK 368.4bn in 2023. 

However, FIEC EU is expecting a decrease in 

construction activity in 2023 and 2024 due to 

the high level of inflation and the increasing 

interest rates. Combined with high prices for 

materials it is said to increase the uncertainty in 

the sector. 

Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / July & August 2024 / PAGE 35 continues on page 36 >

COUNTRY FOCUS 

Given Denmark’s location and proximity to open water, 

The International says that it’s not very surprising that 

Denmark supports three types of fishing industries – 

fish meal and fish oil, pelagic fishery for general human 

consumption, and demersal fishery for white fish, lobster, 

and deep-water prawns. The overall contribution of the 

fisheries sector to the Danish economy is only around 0.5 

percent of GDP but still it employs close to 20,000 people 

(2022 data). 

Data from 2021 (Eurofish International Organisation) 

noted that the Danish fishing fleet consisted of 1,841 

vessels with a gross weight of 69,526 tonnes. A large 

proportion of businesses were single vessel and the rest 

two to five vessels. However, small vessels (less than 

10m) represented 78 percent of the fleet. It also reported 

that in 2022, the total catch landed by Danish vessels in 

Danish ports amounted to 458,210 tonnes with a total 

value of over €399m. 

As for aquaculture, the main species farmed in Denmark 

is rainbow trout which makes up over 70 percent of the 

total production - in 2022 this amounted to 48,757 tonnes 

and €175.7m in value. 

Denmark is also a major importer of raw materials that 

are further processed and then exported. Production 

volumes here are close to half a million tonnes with 

fish meal and oil production being about 60 percent of 

the total volume. In 2022 the total value of processed 

products stood at €2.13bn. 

Manufacturing and industry 

Denmark was once an agrarian economy but since 1945 

has become industrialised. Its industries, says the CIA 

World Factbook, include wind turbines, pharmaceuticals, 

medical equipment, shipbuilding and refurbishment, 

iron, steel, nonferrous metals, chemicals, food processing, 

machinery and transportation equipment, textiles and 

clothing, electronics, construction, furniture and other 

wood products. 

Firms to note are Vestas Wind Systems, Novo Nordisk, 

Siemens, Lego, Danfoss, Nestle, and Carlsberg. The 

country is said to have enough oil and gas reserves to 

ensure its energy independence. 

Statistics Denmark documents that the industrial 

production index rose from 78.8 in January 2015 to 125.8 

in March 2024, with a sawtooth profile on the way up. 

Sales per quarter are currently hovering around DKK 

270bn. Statista reported that in 2021 manufacturing 

employed some 309,768 workers, down from a 2012 peak 

of 354,183. 

It surprises some that Denmark has a mining and 

quarrying sector – but it does and according to Statistics 

Denmark, in 2022 it produced 31.8m m3 of material from 

land and 11.3m m3 underwater. 

Land-based extraction has declined from a 2006 high of 

41.923m m3 – but is up from a 2010 low of 23.282m m3. 

Land-based products include stone and gravel, chalk and 

limestone, clay, quartz sand and granite. Water-based 

extraction has see-sawed but has generally grown from 

5,870m m3 in 2006. Extractions include paddings, gravel 

and stone, gravel, and sand. 

Healthy tourism 

Denmark maybe the smallest country in Scandinavia, 

but it has the region’s largest tourism market. Statista 

notes that in 2020, Danish accommodation accounted 

for six out of ten overnight stays booked by international 

tourists in the Nordic countries. COVID-19 hurt tourism 

but it’s bouncing back, and more than 45,000 passenger 

trains cross the Øresund Bridge to Denmark each year. 

The World Travel & Tourism Council reckons that 

tourism was worth 5.7 percent of GDP (DKK 163.1bn) 

in 2023. Germany is the biggest source of travellers (32 

percent) followed by Norway (13 percent), Sweden (12 

percent) and the UK (six percent). Tourism directly 

employs around 70,000 but connected jobs take that 

number to nearer 195,000. 

Summary 

Small but mighty is how Denmark can perhaps be best 

described. It’s close to the UK and English is widely 

spoken. It’s financially in a good position and so should 

be on any corporate agenda as a target market. 

Author: Adam Bernstein is a freelance finance writer 

for Credit Magazine magazine. 


THE PERFECT VENUE FOR THIS YEAR’S 

CICM FELLOWS’ 

LUNCH 2024 

CICM Fellows comprise the top percentage of 

Credit Management and collections professionals across 

the globe. So, what happens when you get 

them all together in a room? 

Exclusive to the highest grade of membership, the Fellows Lunch 

provides an opportunity for more growth with the Chartered 

Institute of Credit Management’s most experienced professionals, 

at a gorgeous venue in the heart of the capital. 

Join us at Hamilton Place, Mayfair, London for a 

three-course lunch and a day of meeting new and existing 

colleagues within your industry. 

Friday 20th September – 4 Hamilton Place, Mayfair, London, W1J 7BQ 

Tickets for this event are £100 plus VAT per person. 

Please scan the QR code to book a table or email: 

becki.sharpe@cicm.com for further information. 

No.4 

Hamilton 

Place

HR MATTERS 

DUTY 

OF CARE 

A new code, dismissing a whistleblower, 

and guidance on a carer’s leave. 

BY GARETH EDWARDS 

THE Government has confirmed that 

the new statutory Code of Practice 

on dismissal and re-engagement 

will be brought into force by 18 July, 

2024 in England, Wales and Scotland. 

The code seeks to encourage 

transparent practices and meaningful staff consultation 

in scenarios where an employer is considering dismissing 

staff and offering them re-engagement on new 

terms. Importantly, the code does not change the law 

in this area but is intended to help employers follow the 

current law. 

When the code is in force, it will be admissible in evidence 

in relevant tribunal or court proceedings. Tribunals will 

have the power to increase or decrease compensation by 

up to 25 percent in the event of either party's unreasonable 

failure to follow the code. 

The Government had previously committed to 

publishing the code in order to deal with unscrupulous 

‘fire and rehire’ tactics used by some employers. It sets 

out a step-by-step process that an employer should 

follow to explore alternatives to dismissal and to engage 

in meaningful consultation with trade unions, employee 

representatives or directly with the affected employees to 

find an agreed solution. 

It is important that employers understand the scope of 

the new code before it comes into force. In particular, 

it will be important to consider its practical impact 

on consultation procedures, as well as the potential 

consequences of an unreasonable failure to follow the 

code. 

Dismissal of ‘whistleblower’ 

In Nicol v World Travel and Tourism Council, the 

Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) ruled that if an 

employee makes a whistleblowing disclosure and is 

subsequently dismissed, the employer is not liable for 

automatic unfair dismissal if the decision-maker did not 

know the substance of the protected disclosure. 

Whistleblowing is where an employee or worker makes a 

'qualifying disclosure' of wrongdoing at work, which they 

reasonably believe to be in the public interest. 

If an employee is dismissed because they have ‘blown 

the whistle’, this will be considered automatically unfair 

under s103A of the Employment Rights Act 1996. There is 

no qualifying minimum period of service and no upper 

limit on compensation for this claim. 

Furthermore, both employees and workers have 

protection to not be subjected to detriment on the 

grounds that they have made a protected disclosure. 

In the case, the claimant raised concerns about the CEO 

of the respondent. He emailed two HR consultants 

engaged by the respondent in order to raise these concerns. 

One of the HR consultants subsequently told the CEO 

that there had been complaints about her management 

style, including that the claimant had concerns about the 

departure of a colleague and the CEO’s use of WhatsApp. 

The claimant’s employment was subsequently terminated. 

The reason given for the termination was redundancy, 

although this was found to be a sham. The tribunal 

found the real reason was the breakdown in the working 

relationship. 



The claimant argued that his dismissal was 

automatically unfair because it was a result of the 

protected disclosures he had made in the course of 

his employment. He also argued he had been subject 

to detriment as a result of whistleblowing. The 

claim was dismissed by the Employment Tribunal 

- the claimant appealed to EAT. 

The EAT rejected the claimant’s appeal. Whilst 

he had made a protected disclosure to the HR 

consultants, the CEO (who ultimately took the 

decision to dismiss) was not sufficiently aware of the 

detail of the claimant's complaint, for the decision 

to dismiss to be wholly or principally motivated by 

the protected disclosure. 

THE DEPENDANT 

DOES NOT NEED 

TO BE A FAMILY 

MEMBER AND 

CAN ULTIMATELY 

BE ANYONE WHO 

RELIES ON THE 

EMPLOYEE FOR 

CARE. 

This decision provides authority that the decisionmaker 

in a whistleblowing case must be sufficiently 

motivated by the whistleblowing to dismiss the 

employee in order to be liable for automatically 

unfair dismissal. This authority is likely to also 

apply to claims for detriment as a result of 

whistleblowing. 

Guidance on statutory 

carer's leave 

From 6 April 2024, employees in England, Wales 

and Scotland gained a statutory right to one week’s 

unpaid carer's leave to care for or arrange care for 

a dependant with a long-term care need. Both 

the Government and ACAS have now published 

guidance on how carer's leave will work in practice. 

The dependant does not need to be a family 

member and can ultimately be anyone who relies 

on the employee for care. 

A long term care need is considered as a physical or 

mental illness or injury that requires care for more 

than three months; a disability (as defined in the 

Equality Act 2010); or care needs because of old age. 

Author: Gareth Edwards is a partner in the employment 

team at VWV. 


TAXATION 

MIND THE 

GAP 

Is the Government doing enough to 

improve its collections performance? 

BY STEVE KIELY 



“PUT SIMPLY, FAR 

TOO MUCH OF 

TAXPAYERS’ MONEY 

HAS GONE WHERE 

IT SHOULDN’T – AND 

TOO LITTLE WHERE 

IT SHOULD.” 

COVID and the resultant lockdown 

undeniably hit the finances of the 

UK Government hard. Not only was 

it required to pay out many billions 

of pounds to support the public 

through furlough schemes, but it 

was also obliged to put a pause on 

collections and enforcement work. 

This all made for a large hole in the finances - almost 

£400bn was spent with the aim of protecting jobs and 

businesses, but nobody is entirely certain how much of 

this was either fraudulently taken or else will simply 

never be able to be repaid. The one agency, above all 

others, which is responsible for pulling the tax revenue 

to fill this hole is HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). 

Breathing space 

Increasing revenues will require something of a change 

of outlook, which now seems to be under way, from 

the lockdown period, with its emphasis on breathing 

space and understanding, to today’s world with its 

focus on the need to collect and to prevent fraud. This 

is not necessarily an easy transition, particularly in a 

collections industry which is increasingly focused on 

the softer skills using the appropriate levels of care for 

vulnerable customers. 

Daniel Spenceley, Head of Regulatory Impact at 

trade body the Credit Services Association speaks for 

many in the collections sector: “Helping those with 

vulnerabilities is thankfully a far more prominent 

priority for most service providers and sectors these 

days. “We want to encourage policy-makers and 

regulators to raise their sights and look at how other 

services treat those with vulnerabilities, because at the 

very least they might learn lessons about good practice.” 

Investment in capacity 

Of course, taking a responsible approach to collections 

and enforcement can still mean that finances are raised, 

it is just a question of putting in the right investment 

to achieve the required results – whether that means 

investment in internal capacity or external support 

from specialist debt collection and enforcement 

agencies. And there are signs that, across Government, 

there is recognition that such investment will be 

needed. For example, in the Spring Budget this year, 

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that the Treasury 

will invest £895m in 2025 then a further £1bn each year 

in addition thereafter in a measure billed as improving 

HMRC’s ability to manage tax debts. 

The Budget also saw £34m more for the Public Sector 

Fraud Authority, an agency which has recently been 

quick to warn criminals that its new AI-powered 

fraud detection tool – the Single Network Analytics 

Platform (SNAP) – has been upgraded with thousands 

of new sanctions and debarment records to help it 

detect suspicious networks, activity and users that 

warrant further investigation for organised crime and 

sanctions evasion. 

SNAP was launched by the Public Sector Fraud 

Authority in 2023 as part of its £4m partnership with 

technology specialists Quantexa. 

Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Minister of State at the 

Cabinet Office was clear on the focus to use external 

specialists to increase tax revenue: “Criminals should 

be aware that we’re putting technology on the front 

line to detect fraud and protect taxpayers’ money. 

“Adding sanctions and debarments data to our AI 

counter fraud tool will help us identify organised 

networks stealing from the public purse. And over 

the next year, we’ll be running new discovery projects 

to identify even more ways to use AI to detect fraud 

against the public sector.” 

Meanwhile, last month (May 2024), Neville-Rolfe 

praised 13 local authorities, including Hertfordshire, 

West Northamptonshire, and the City of London, 

for ‘working together to keep taxpayer money safe’ as 

she revealed that they had saved taxpayers over £3.6m 

across the most recent reporting year, 2022-23, through 

their work with the Public Sector Fraud Authority’s 

National Fraud Initiative. 

Councillor Bob Deering, Executive Member for 

Resources and Performance at Hertfordshire County 

Council said: “Our Shared Anti-Fraud Service works 

day in and day out across the county to ensure that 

public funds are not misused. Their stellar work with 

partners from across the public sector just last year 

resulted in millions of pounds being saved. 


TAXATION 

“I am really pleased to see councils working together 

with government to identify areas where safeguards 

can be strengthened and where best practice and 

knowledge can be shared.” 

Fraud plan 

In May, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 

set out its plan to spend £9bn by 2028 to combat public 

sector fraud. 

It will aim to: 

• Hire over 2,500 external agents on a temporary 

basis as part of a Targeted Case Review to help spot 

incorrectness in Universal Credit claims. 

• Modernise information-gathering powers. 

• Introduce a new civil penalty to punish fraudsters, 

potentially broadening the scope of cases that can 

receive a penalty when the courts are not prosecuting, 

and increasing the value of the civil penalty. 

• Invest £70m into advanced data analytics. 

In addition, the Data Protection and Digital 

Information Bill currently before Parliament aims to 

help DWP, working with third parties such as banks, 

to identify claims that signal potential fraud and error. 

DWP believes that this measure will save the taxpayer 

£600m over five years. 

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, 

was again keen to emphasise the need to bring the 

combined abilities of both the private and public 

sector to bear: “We are scaling up the fight against 

those stealing from the taxpayer, building on our 

success in stopping £18bn going into the wrong hands 

in 2022-23.” 

A Joint Counter Fraud Partnership has been established 

between DWP and HMRC to collaborate on shared 

risks and to take steps to protect the exchequer from 

both welfare and tax frauds. 

In 2022, the Fraud Plan heralded a new Fraud 

Prevention Fund of £30m to invest in and test private 

sector solutions to DWP’s fraud and error problems. 

Since being established the fund is supporting 15 

different projects to make better use of data and datarelated 

capabilities, to utilise external expertise to 

gain a deeper understanding of key areas of loss, and 

to pilot different external campaigns. £10m is available 

for 2024-25 for use on other social research projects 

and proof of concepts. 

Falling below standard 

The concern is that, if the public sector uses too much 

of the investment in its own capacities, it will only 

plug some of the holes in its own deficiencies, rather 

than making the best of the private sector’s abilities. 

Last month, the National Audit Office published a 

damning report of HMRC’s customer services work, 

claiming that: ‘HMRC’s telephone and correspondence 

services have been falling below the expected service 

levels for too long, and HMRC has not achieved 

planned efficiencies. To achieve value for money 

HMRC must provide a timely and effective service for 

customers needing help with their tax or benefits, even 

as it attempts to reduce costs. 

‘Forecasting how far and fast digital services will reduce 

demand for telephone and correspondence is highly 

uncertain and, so far, digital services have not had 

the effect HMRC hoped for. While the total number 

of telephone calls has reduced, the total amount of 

time advisers are spending on each call has increased, 

meaning HMRC’s workload has reduced more slowly 

than reductions in call volumes.’ 

It added: ‘HMRC now faces a significant challenge 

without increasing capacity. Its approach to cutting 

services as it introduces new digital solutions has been 

too aggressive… HMRC cannot be certain that tax 

revenue is not suffering as a result.’ 

Private sector lens 

Such inefficiency puts private sector collectors in 

the position of trying to cope with the mess. Glenn 

Collins, Head of Technical and Strategic Engagement 

at accountancy trade body ACCA said that in March 

2024, its research had found that 66 percent (up from 52 

percent in the Autumn survey) of respondents said that 

poor HMRC services were having a negative impact 

on the productivity of individuals and businesses. Just 

two percent said that the impact was positive. 

Many respondents said that taxpayers were now 

waiting until their debt is referred to a debt collection 

agency before even trying to engage. This means that 

they can call the agency and expect to be answered 

immediately by an agent who will then navigate 

HMRC’s system for them. 

Glenn assessed that an increasing number of taxpayers 

are choosing this option because they do not trust that 

they will be able to communicate with HMRC directly. 

Conclusion 

Amidst all the big talk and bright new initiatives, 

it is always worth reminding ourselves of just how 

important this issue is. 

In the last two years alone, according to the 

Taxpayers Alliance, the Government lost £6.4bn and 

£6.5bn, respectively, to benefit fraud. To put that in 

perspective: the average household will pay £1.2m in 

taxes over their lifetime. So, it would take the lifetime 

tax bills of over 5,000 households to pay for just one 

year of benefit fraud. 

Despite the obvious desire to change, it is hard to 

disagree with Joanna Marchong, Investigations 

Campaign Manager when she concludes: “Put simply, 

far too much of taxpayers' money has gone where it 

shouldn't – and too little where it should.” 

.Author: Steve Kiely is a freelance business writer . 


Doing what we do best 

In conjunction with the Chartered Institute of Credit Management’s 

Premium Partner, Hays, the professional body is on tour across the UK 

to deliver thought-provoking insights on the hottest topics from industry 

leaders across business sectors, exclusively for CICM Members. 

We're going to be doing what we do best, providing learning and 

development opportunities for passionate credit professionals who 

strive to be the best at what they do, with a multiple-day event. 

Where will we see you? 

We're going to be all over the UK and Ireland, take a look at 

the cities where you can join us: 

17th September - Edinburgh 

25th September - Leeds 

26th September - Manchester 

8th October - Birmingham 

9th October - London 

7th November – Dublin 

TBC – Belfast 

This won't be one to miss 

Bookings will open for this event from May 1st 2024 

and the agenda for Credit Fest will be shared soon. 

We will be on tour across the UK & Ireland to unite the 

Credit Management and Debt Collections Community in best practice and 

to discuss the topics that are all on our minds such as recruitment trends, 

Fraud, AI, Credit Risk and more. 


International Trade 

Monthly round-up of the latest stories 

in global trade by Andrea Kirkby. 

SMEs planning to spend more 

on business travel overseas 

NEW research from corporate travel 

agency, Travel Counsellors for Business, 

has found that corporate travel spend in 

the UK is projected to increase in the next 

12 months, with over half of SMEs planning 

to spend more on business travel overseas 

than they did last year. 

The survey found that nearly half of 

those questioned cited meeting clients, 

customers and prospects in person as the 

main reason for their overseas trip. The 

top three benefits of such face-to-face 

interactions were enhanced collaboration, 

stronger customer/client relationships and 

increased sales/revenue, indicating the 

competitive advantages associated with 

in-person engagement. 

It appears that ‘bleisure’ – combining 

work trips with leisure activities – is now a 

mainstay of SME travel, with nearly half of 

respondents extending the length of their 

business trip with leisure activity at the end. 

On average, SMEs extend their business 

trips by 2.46 days. Furthermore, over two 

fifths of respondents bring their partners or 

family members on an overseas trip. 

Beware of negative publicity 

ACCORDING to a report in The Guardian, 

‘JCB built and supplied equipment to Russia 

months after saying exports had stopped’ 

and that ‘Russian customs records suggest 

the firm owned by a major Tory donor kept 

supplying machines after a voluntary pause’. 

Jasper Jolly writing for the paper said 

that the data raises questions about 

the accuracy of JCB’s statements on its 

business in Russia and relationship with 

its biggest dealer there, Moscow-based 

Lonmadi, and that company’s former owner, 

UK-based JVM group. 

He reported that JCB has repeatedly said 

that it stopped exporting products to Russia 

and JVM companies after 2 March 2022 

– less than a week after Putin sent troops 

into Ukraine. However, it is suggested that 

customs records collated by a trade data 

BLACK GOLD STILL 

TO BE EXPLOITED 

THERE’S oil to be exploited in Namibia 

and so those with an interest in 

the sector may want to schedule a 

trip to the country. Most recently, 

Portugal’s Galp Energia began the 

hunt for buyers for half its stake in an 

exploration block off Namibia where it 

discovered at least ten billion barrels 

of oil and gas. 

It’s thought that the discovery in 

the Mopane field – among the largest 

in the Orange basin – could revive 

the oil industry in southern Africa. 

Galp has an 80 percent stake in the 

exploration licence, with Namibia’s 

national oil company Namcor and 

exploration group Custos each 

holding 10 percent. Oil giants Shell, 

Total and Chevron are all drilling or 

planning to drill in the Orange basin 

and all ‘still seek oil growth’. Oil 

exploration, it appears, is not dead 

yet. 

provider show the serial numbers of dozens 

of vehicles, worth millions of pounds, which 

appear to have been supplied to companies 

in Russia after that date. 

In its defence JCB’s lawyers said that 

any collection of goods by a JVM company 

after 2 March 2022 was pursuant to 

contractual obligations already entered 

into and completed or substantially 

completed prior to that date. The company 

said it closed down an assembly facility 

and other business operations in Russia, 

at considerable cost, and ‘suffered a very 

significant economic loss’ through its 

voluntary actions. 

Some might consider the optics to be 

poor even if nothing illicit has happened; 

other exporters should heed the effect of 

negative publicity. 


Should Britain stop 

making ‘stuff’? 

The Times recently drew attention to the 

fact that UK sells insurance, consultancy, 

banking, financial, marketing, public 

relations and legal services worldwide, but 

manufacturing is struggling to keep up. 

The essential difference between goods 

and services is part of the reasoning 

behind this along with a certain nuanced 

fuzzy logic in that ‘goods are physical 

things, such as metals; services are 

intangibles, like haircuts’ and that ‘you 

can’t export a haircut, for instance, but you 

can sell an insurance contract to someone 

in another country’. 

In fact, as The Times notes, the UK sells 

a large volume of insurance contracts, 

along with consultancy, banking, financial, 

marketing, public relations and legal 

services. These services accounted for 

around 60 percent of Britain’s entire 

£381bn of services exports last year, which 

in turn made up more than half of nearly 

£700bn of the UK’s exports. 

The Resolution Foundation, commented 

that the UK is ‘the second biggest exporter 

of services in the world after the United 

High LOW TREND 

GBP-EUR 1.19078 1.16716 Up 

GBP-USD 1.28562 1.2661 Flat 

GBP-CHF 1.93414 1.895 Up 

GBP-AUD 1.93414 1.895 Up 

GBP-CAD 1.76014 1.72341 Up 

GBP-JPY 201.605 197.516 Up 

States’ and that this is a strength that we 

should leverage. 

The rise in services has partly come at 

the expense of the goods industry. ONS 

data has noted that since 2010 services 

exports have increased by 63 percent 

while goods exports have risen by only 

seven percent over the same period – and 

are down by about six percent since the 

Brexit vote in 2016. 

Services, by the way, means more than 

just finance; for the UK it also means 

accountants, computer game designers, 

film makers and university education. 

For the latest 

exchange rates visit 

www.currenciesdirect.com 

or call 020 7874 9400 

Currency Exchange Rates 

This data was taken on 18th June 

and refers to the month previous 

to/leading up to 17th June 2024 

UK Export to increase SME support 

UK Export Finance says that it is looking 

to expand the number of businesses it 

supports by 2029, with a particular focus on 

small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), 

especially those led by women. 

It wants to support 1,000 SMEs per year, a 

fivefold increase from current levels - despite 

having the capacity for £60bn of business, it 

only had £46bn on its books last year. 

Over the past three years, an average 

of 170 SMEs annually received support 

which represents 81 percent of its activity. 

However, a significant portion of its 

recent guarantees have been for large 

infrastructure, energy, and aviation contracts 

led by industry giants such as Rolls-Royce 

and BAE Systems. 

It now wants to provide more guarantees 

for working capital and trade finance while 

facilitating access to other business finance 

options. 

CHEMRING FIZZES 

AS DEFENCE SPENDING 

MOUNTS 

THE world has become a much more 

dangerous place because of the 

machinations of certain countries, 

namely China, Iran, North Korea 

and Russia. As a result, the west is 

increasing defence spending to deter 

aggressors, and this is benefitting 

defence companies such as Britain’s 

Chemring. 

Its Norwegian subsidiary, Chemring 

Nobel, recently won a £57m contract 

from the European Commission as 

part of its ammunition-production 

programme, which is helping deliver 

ammunition and missiles to Ukraine, 

and refilling member states’ stocks. 

In more detail, the Norwegian 

Government gave Chemring £32m 

to increase production capacity 

at Chemring Nobel, which makes 

explosive materials such as those used 

in artillery shells which are being used 

in Ukraine. 

SCOTTISH FIRM WINS 

UK EXPORT FINANCE 

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has 

completed its first transaction in 

overseas oil and gas decommissioning 

which has led to a major contract that 

will benefit one Scottish firm and its 

large and local supply chain. 

In particular, UKEF has issued 

a $7.5m guarantee which allows 

Brazilian contractor Ocyan to secure 

financing from ABC International Bank 

plc for new equipment from Scottish 

business Maritime Developments Ltd 

(MDL). 

Based in Aberdeen, MDL is a 

specialist in subsea pipelaying which 

provides consultancy, equipment, and 

personnel to the energy sector. It won 

the 2022 Queen’s Award for Enterprise 

in the International Trade category. 

WHICH COUNTRIES WILL 

EMERGE AS WINNERS? 

CREDIT Insurer Coface recently 

released a short video about emerging 

countries most likely to win tomorrow’s 

world. 

Set against a backdrop of US-Sino 

trade concerns, Middle East and 

Ukraine-Russia strife, Coface thinks 

that emerging economies will rise up to 

serve all. In particular, it sees India and 

non-China south-east Asian countries 

along with Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, 

and Chile, Morocco, Tunisia, Namibia 

and West Africa as winners. And to 

this list are the Gulf states because 

of their natural resources. You know 

where to go. 


DOWNLOAD 

NOW! 

OUR FULLY COMPREHENSIVE & HIGHLY DETAILED 

CREDIT CONTROL SALARY SURVEY 

FROM THE 

ONLY TRUE 

SPECIALIST 

CREDIT 

CONTROL 

RECRUITMENT 

AGENCY IN 

THE UK. 

Based on survey data from hundreds of credit control professionals across the UK. 

• Benchmark your salary against job title & location 

• Gain Credit control hiring insights into the marketplace 

to remain competitive 

• Learn employee & workplace trends 

• Guidance on building a lucrative benefits package 

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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

EXCLUSIVE PAYMENT TRENDS 

HIGH TIDE 

Late payments on the rise across the board. 

BY ROB HOWARD 

IT’S not quite panic stations just yet but the 

warning signs can be seen in the latest late 

payments data which show late payments on 

the up across UK and Irish regions and sectors 

across the board. The average Days Beyond 

Terms (DBT) across UK regions and sectors 

increased by 0.6 and 0.1 days respectively. 

Across Irish counties and sectors, the average DBT figure 

rose by 3.6 and 2.3 days respectively. Average DBT across 

the four provinces of Ireland increased by 3.5 days. 

Sector Spotlight 

For the second month on the bounce, the UK sector 

standings can almost be split in half, with 10 sectors 

moving forwards, and 12 sectors going backwards. 

Still heading in the right direction is the Mining and 

Quarrying sector, with a reduction of 3.4 days taking 

its overall DBT to 4.6 which means it is now the best 

performing UK sector. Elsewhere, the International 

Bodies (-6.8 days), Public Administration (-6.2 days), 

Financial and Insurance (-5.3 days) and Professional and 

Scientific (-5.1 days) sectors all made positive strides 

forward. Going in the opposite direction is the Real 

Estate sector, which slides down the rankings with an 

increase of 6.2 days taking its overall DBT to 16.1 days. 

The Health & Social (+5.2 days) and Education (+4.6 days) 

also saw rises to late payments. 

It’s a similar picture in Ireland, with eight sectors 

improving, 10 sectors increasing and the remaining 

two sectors seeing no change to DBT. However, the 

difference lies in the level of change, in both directions, 

with significant increases and reductions to the number 

of Days Beyond Terms. Focusing on the positives, the 

Public Administration and Mining and Quarrying 

sectors made sizeable strides forward, both now with an 

overall DBT of zero days following cuts of 26 days and 15 

days respectively. At the same time, the Education (+25.3 

days), Hospitality (+21.9 days) and Other Services (+16.6 

days) sectors all saw hefty increases to late payments. 

Regional Spotlight 

The UK regional standings look a bit one-sided from 

afar, with eight of the 11 regions seeing increases to late 

payments. But the vast majority of these, if not all, are 

minor. For instance, Northern Ireland saw the biggest 

rise, with an increase of 1.8 days taking its overall tally 

to 12.4 days. The same can be said for the three sectors 

on the up, with each making minor reductions of less 

than one day to late payments. London saw the biggest 

improvement, reducing its DBT by 0.7 days. 

For Ireland, it’s more of a mix across the counties, with 

15 seeing increases to late payments, nine improving 

and the remaining two seeing no change. On a parallel 

to Irish sectors, the divide can also be split by a 

combination of significant increases and reductions to 

DBT. The counties of Longford and Carlow in particular 

made big steps in the right direction, cutting DBT by 

14.2 and 11.8 days respectively. However, on the flip 

side, there were a number of steep increases to DBT. 

Westmeath, for instance, previously on an overall DBT 

of zero days, saw a significant jump of 39.2 days, meaning 

it slides right down the standings. Elsewhere, Donegal 

(+23.2 days), Sligo (+18.6 days) and Wicklow (+11.5 days) 

saw big increases to DBT. 

It’s one-way traffic across the four Irish provinces, with 

all four seeing rises to late payments. Ulster and Leinster 

saw the biggest jump, with increases of 5.8 and 5.5 days 

respectively. Late payments are also on the up across 

Munster (+2.2 days) and Connacht (+0.8 days). 


* 

STATISTICS 

Data supplied by the Creditsafe Group 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

Region (UK) May 24 Changes from April 24 

North West 10.7 -0.6 

East Midlands 11 0.2 

South West 11 0.9 

West Midlands 12.2 1 

East Anglia 12.4 0.9 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 

Region (UK) May 24 Changes from April 24 

Scotland 14.8 0.8 

London 14.2 -0.7 

Wales 13.9 -0.2 

Yorkshire and Humberside 12.9 1 

South East 12.5 1.7 

Getting worse 

Real Estate 6.2 

Health & Social 5.2 

Education 4.6 

Entertainment 3.8 

IT and Comms 3.2 

Dormant 2.1 

Business from Home 2 

Wholesale and retail trade 1.8 

Business Admin & Support 1.6 

Hospitality 1.6 

Top Five Prompter Payers 

Sector (UK) May 24 Changes from April 24 

Mining and Quarrying 4.6 -3.4 

Financial and Insurance 6.7 -5.3 

Agriculture Forestry and Fishing 9.9 -0.6 

Transportation and Storage 9.9 -0.7 

Entertainment 10.2 3.8 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers 

Sector (UK) May 24 Changes from April 24 

Public Administration 19.8 -6.2 

Health & Social 17.4 5.2 

Manufacturing 16.4 1.6 

Education 16.2 4.6 

Real Estate 16.1 6.2 

Manufacturing 1.6 

Energy Supply 1.2 

Getting better 

International Bodies -6.8 

Public Administration -6.2 

Financial and Insurance -5.3 

Professional and Scientific -5.1 

Mining and Quarrying -3.4 

Other Service -2.1 

Construction -1 

SCOTLAND 

0.8 DBT 

Transportation and Storage -0.7 

Agriculture Forestry and Fishing -0.6 

Water & Waste -0.5 

NORTHERN 

IRELAND 

1.8 DBT 

SOUTH 

WEST 

0.9 DBT 

WALES 

-0.2 DBT 

NORTH 

WEST 

-0.6 DBT 

WEST 

MIDLANDS 

2 DBT 

YORKSHIRE & 

HUMBERSIDE 

2 DBT 

EAST 

MIDLANDS 

0.2 DBT 

LONDON 

-0.7 DBT 

SOUTH 

EAST 

1.7 DBT 

EAST 

ANGLIA 

0.9 DBT 

Region 

Getting Better – Getting Worse 

-0.7 

-0.6 

-0.2 

1.8 

1.7 

1 

1 

0.9 

0.9 

0.8 

0.2 

London 

North West 

Wales 

Northern Ireland 

South East 

West Midlands 

Yorkshire and Humberside 

East Anglia 

South West 

Scotland 

East Midlands 


EXCLUSIVE PAYMENT TRENDS 

Getting worse 

MUNSTER 

9.3 DBT 

CONNACHT 

11.8 DBT 

DONEGAL 

35.9 DBT 

LIMERICK 

-4.9 DBT 

SLIGO 

29.7 DBT 

LEITRIM 

3 DBT 

CARLOW 

28.3 DBT 

WATERFORD 

4 DBT 

MONAGHAN 

0 DBT 

ULSTER 

11.2 DBT 

LEINSTER 

16.7 DBT 

WESTMEATH 

39.2 DBT 

CAVAN 

1.1 DBT 

LOUTH 

26.5 DBT 

Education 25.3 

Hospitality 21.9 

Other Service 16.6 

IT and Comms 12.7 

Energy Supply 12.5 

Health and Social 7.2 

Manufacturing 5.6 

Wholesale and retail trade 4 

Professional and Scientific 3.5 

Financial and Insurance 2.3 

Top Five Prompter Payers – Ireland 

Region May 24 Changes from Apr 24 

Monaghan 0 0 

Limerick 1 -4.9 

Cavan 1.1 -4.6 

Leitrim 3 -7 

Waterford 4 4 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers – Ireland 


Westmeath 39.2 39.2 

Donegal 35.9 23.2 

Sligo 29.7 18.6 

Carlow 28.3 -11.8 

Louth 26.5 4 

Top Four Prompter Payers – Irish Provinces 


Munster 9.3 2.2 

Ulster 11.2 5.8 

Connacht 11.8 0.6 

Leinster 16.7 5.5 

Getting better 

Public Administration -26 

Mining and Quarrying -15 

Real Estate -8.3 

Business Admin & Support -5.8 

Agriculture Forestry and Fishing -5.3 

Transportation and Storage -2.3 

Construction -1.6 

Entertainment -0.8 

Top Five Prompter Payers – Ireland 

Sector May 24 Changes from Apr 24 

Agriculture Forestry and Fishing 0 -5.3 

International Bodies 0 0 

Mining and Quarrying 0 -15 

Public Administration 0 -26 

Transportation and Storage 2.9 -2.3 

Nothing changed 

International Bodies 0 

Water & Waste 0 

Bottom Five Poorest Payers – Ireland 

Sector May 24 Changes from Apr 24 

Energy Supply 40 12.5 

Hospitality 30.9 21.9 

Education 25.3 25.3 

Business Admin & Support 23.8 -5.8 

Other Service 21.6 16.6 


LOOKING FOR 

YOUR NEXT 

CAREER MOVE? 

CREDIT CONTROLLER 

Sale, Greater Manchester, £27.5k pa + 5% annual bonus 

A growing Sale-based company is seeking an experienced 

Credit Controller to join their team of six. Reporting to the 

Credit Manager, you will be tasked with managing your own key 

account B2B ledger, chasing overdue monies, allocating cash, 

and query resolution. Proficiency in Excel and SAP would be 

advantageous. This role requires hybrid working – three days in 

office, two from home, with free parking available. Benefit from 

25 days of holidays and other great benefits. Ref: CC2101 

Contact Joanna Taylor-Coburn on 0161 926 8605 

or joanna.taylor-coburn@hays.com 


Leicester, £30k 

This role would ideally suit a candidate who has worked in 

credit control within a finance assistant position or in the 

department exclusively. Key responsibilities will include 

managing the end-to-end cash collection process, escalating 

advanced debt as per company guidelines, produce and check 

monthly statements, complete credit checks, ensure timely 

payments and minimise outstanding balances. 

Ref: 4564170 

Contact Joel Sam on 0116 251 2288 

or joel.sam@hays.com 

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE CLERK/ 

CREDIT CONTROLLER (TEMP TO PERM) 

Twickenham, £28k 

A newly created role that is being recruited on a temporary to 

permanent basis, this is an office-based role, five days a week. 

Working as part of a friendly finance team, your job will focus 

on accounts receivable and credit control duties. This will 

include collections, query resolution and maintaining the 

sales ledger. Ref: 4481602 

Contact Mark Ordona on 07565 800574 

or mark.ordona@hays.com 


Woolwich, £30k-£32k 

A catering supplier based in Woolwich are looking for a 

Credit Controller to join their tight knit finance team. You will be 

working in a team of two sharing a ledger and reporting directly 

to the Finance Director. You will be responsible for chasing 

payments from customers, mainly by telephone. Relationship 

building skills are key in being successful in this role. Five days 

in office is required. 

Ref: 4568273 

Contact Hussain Ahmed on 0333 010 7453 

or hussain.ahmed@hays.com 

hays.co.uk/credit-control-jobs 

© Copyright Hays plc 2024. The HAYS word, the H devices, HAYS WORKING FOR YOUR TOMORROW and Powering the world of work and associated 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-00287

CREDIT CONTROL TEAM LEAD 

County Armagh, Northern Ireland, up to £35k 

In this role you will lead a credit control department for a global 

leading distribution client in a fast-paced environment. You will 

be responsible for all aspects of credit and accounts receivable 

including KPIs, forecasting, credit analysis, legal processes, 

among other duties. Hybrid working offered. 

Ref: 4567179 

Contact Alice Robinson on 0283 844 5800 

or alice.robinson@hays.com 

REVENUE MANAGER 

Central London, £70k-£80k 

You will be joining a global law firm, headquartered in City 

of London. The main duty of this role will be to liaise with the 

senior partners and fee earners on the matter of un-billed WIP 

to improve the company’s lock-up. To be considered for this 

role, you must have revenue experience within a professional 

service environment. Benefits include free meals and coffee 

while working in the office (three days a week). 

Ref: 4560956 

Contact James Godden on 0333 010 3415 

or james.godden@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 786 433.

RECRUITMENT 

READY 

ABOUT? 

How to navigate change in an organisation. 

BY NATASCHA WHITEHEAD FCICM 

DURING the course of your career, you may 

face varying degrees of change that impact 

your job including structural change, 

such as new teams, management and 

department responsibilities within your 

organisation, or changes to your company’s 

strategy, office location or the main 

systems and technology you use in your day-to-day role. Major 

change at work can be stressful and can throw you off course, but 

adaptability is a crucial skill that will help you to overcome times 

of uncertainty. Here are five ways to stay on track and continue 

to thrive in your credit role amidst workplace change: 

1. Establish a routine 

Many people find a routine is important for improving their 

wellbeing and productivity levels, and there is no better time 

to establish a sense of structure than during periods of change. 

Whilst there are likely to be many factors outside of your control 

when your organisation is going through change, focus on what 

is in your power and build this into your routine. 

You could outline your priorities at the start of each working day 

and split your time into chunks to achieve the top three most 

urgent tasks. Ultimately, being organised and managing your 

time well will stand you in good stead to adjust to change in your 

workplace, so you avoid becoming distracted or overwhelmed by 

your shifting surroundings and are still able to carry out your 

role efficiently. 

Whatever routine you’ve found works for you, whether that’s 

doing specific tasks at certain times or heading out for a walk at 

lunchtime, rely on these habits to give you a degree of stability as 

you navigate organisational change. 

2. Communicate well 

Although having open lines of communication with your 

manager is always important, it is particularly vital during 

challenging times; a positive rapport with your manager will 

allow you to turn to them for support if necessary and also work 

productively as a team as you navigate the new working ways 

together. 



WHILST IT CAN BE 

DIFFICULT, TRY TO THINK 

POSITIVELY, BE OPEN 

MINDED AND EMBRACE 

THE INEVITABILITY OF 

CHANGE 

Many worries people have about change in the workplace 

stem from a fear of the unknown, so don’t hesitate to 

ask questions about the changes taking place, instead 

of bottling up any concerns. If you don’t feel your 

organisation is giving you enough information, speak out 

rather than waiting for your concerns to build up. The 

sooner you have all the facts, the sooner you will be able 

to process what the change means for you. 

Even if your manager doesn’t have all the answers, you 

can still have open and honest conversations about how 

you feel to find a way to move past any obstacles. 

3. Be patient and flexible 

It takes time and perseverance to adapt to change, so don’t 

expect to feel fully adjusted overnight. For example, an 

organisational restructure will often take several months 

to materialise, depending on the size of the company, as 

senior leaders work around any teething issues, so try to 

be patient and trust that the wait will be worth it. 

Where possible, be flexible and open to new processes 

and responsibilities. If you’re required to move over to a 

new work management platform for example, attend the 

training with an open mind and an enthusiasm to learn. 

Although you may have gotten comfortable within your 

team, you must show a willingness to work with new 

people. In order to respond well to change, shift your 

mindset from seeing it as an inconvenience to viewing 

it as an opportunity to progress, build new relationships 

and develop your adaptability skills. 

4. Remember your own needs 

Still, it’s important to be clear about your own needs as 

well as the organisation’s demands of you. Clarify what 

you enjoy about your role, what aspects of your job you’re 

eager to hold on to and what makes you want to come 

into work each day and communicate these priorities 

with your manager so you can come up with a plan of 

action together. 

Amidst the upheaval that can result from organisational 

change, don’t lose sight of your personal progression 

plans. Establish goals that align with your overarching 

career ambitions and focus on how your organisation can 

support with your professional development. 

As workplace change can be stressful, be sure to dedicate 

time for your wellbeing and to achieving a positive worklife 

balance – taking care of yourself is even more crucial 

during times of uncertainty. 

5. Look at the bigger picture 

Last but not least, to understand why change might be 

necessary, it’s beneficial to look at the bigger picture. 

For instance, consider how a restructure could allow for 

more innovative ways of working going forward and how 

it has the potential to improve your company culture, 

or how a different office location could present a better 

working environment, new networking opportunities 

and a chance to grow the organisation and enhance the 

brand. 

Whilst it can be difficult, try to think positively, be open 

minded and embrace the inevitability of change; reflect 

on how this new chapter could present a fresh start for 

you to grow your experience and skills and take your 

career in credit to the next level. 

Author: Natascha Whitehead FCICM, is Senior Business 

Director at Hays specialising in Credit Management. 


Cr£ditWho? 

CICM Directory of Services 

COLLECTIONS 

Controlaccount 

Compass House, Waterside, Hanbury Road, Bromsgrove, 

Worcestershire B60 4FD 

T: 01527 386 610 

E: sales@controlaccount.com 

W: www.controlaccount.com 

Controlaccount has been providing efficient, effective, and 

ethical pre-legal debt recovery for over forty years. We help 

our clients to improve internal processes and increase cash 

flow, whilst protecting customer relationships and established 

reputations. We have long-standing partnerships with leading, 

global brand names, SMEs and not for profits. We recover 

over 40,000 overdue invoices each month, domestically 

and internationally, on a no collect, no fee arrangement. 

Other services include credit control and dunning services, 

international and domestic trace and legal recoveries. All our 

clients have full transparency on any accounts placed with us 

through our market leading cloud-based management portal, 

ClientWeb. 

Guildways 

T: +44 3333 409000 

E: info@guildways.com 

W: www.guildways.com 

Guildways is a UK & International debt collection specialist with over 

25 years experience. Guildways prides itself on operating to the 

highest ethical standards and professional service levels. We are 

experienced in collecting B2B and B2C debts. Our service includes: 

• A complete No collection, No Fee commission based service 

• 10% plus VAT commission for UK debts 

• Commission from 22% plus VAT for International debts 

• 24/7 online access to your cases through our CaseManager portal 

• Direct online account-to-account payments, to speed up 

collections and minimise costs 

If you are unable to locate your customer, we also offer a no trace, 

no fee, trace and collect service. 

For more information, visit: www.guildways.com 

MIL Collections Ltd. 

Palace Building, Quay Street, Truro,TR1 2HE 

M: 07961578739 E: GaryL@milcollections.co.uk 

W: www.milai.co.uk 

From our dedicated office in Truro, Cornwall, our team of over 

50 staff work tirelessly to ensure our clients expectations are not 

just met but exceeded. 

We offer clients an experienced, dedicated and regulated 

collection service. From small sundry invoices through to 

complex property cases and overseas jurisdictions we can 

help our clients recover what is due to them in a fair and timely 

manner. 

Added to the ISO certification, MIL is a pioneer bringing AI 

to the collections world with a platform dedicated to ensure 

customers are treated fairly and clients work is managed 

effectively. 

COLLECTIONS LEGAL 

Lovetts Solicitors 

Lovetts, Bramley House, The Guildway, 

Old Portsmouth Road, 

Guildford, Surrey, GU3 1LR 

T: 01483 347001 

E: info@lovetts.co.uk 

W: www.lovetts.co.uk 

With more than 25yrs experience in UK & international business 

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

every year on behalf of our clients. Services include: 

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

86% of cases) 

• Advice and dispute resolution 

• Legal proceedings and enforcement 

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

CaseManager 

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

feedback: “All our service expectations have been exceeded. 

The online system is particularly useful and extremely easy to 

use. Lovetts has a recognisable brand that generates successful 

results.” 

CREDIT DATA AND ANALYTICS 

CoCredo 

Missenden Abbey, Great Missenden, Bucks, HP16 0BD 

T: 01494 790600 

E: customerservice@cocredo.com 

W: www.cocredo.co.uk 

For over 20 years, CoCredo, one of the UK's leading Credit 

Report companies, has helped thousands of business customers 

minimise their bad debt. Our data is compiled and constantly 

updated from various prominent UK and international suppliers, 

encompassing 235 countries, so our clients can access the latest 

information in an easy-to-read report. Our product and service 

solutions are tailored to meet our clients' needs, including marketleading 

Dual Reports and integrated XML solutions, monitoring, 

and our D.N.A. Credit Risk Management tool that reduce 

costs and boost cashflow.Since 2014, we have been finalists 

and winners of Small Business and Credit Awards. Our clients 

appreciate our involvement in their customer journey, resulting in a 

99% client retention rate. 

DataTrace UK 

Compass House, Waterside, Hanbury Road, Bromsgrove, 

Worcestershire B60 4FD 

T: 01527 386 626 

E: info@datatraceuk.com 

W: www.datatraceuk.com 

DataTrace is recognised as one of the leading trace agencies in 

the UK. Our client portfolio includes leading debt collection and 

enforcement firms, utilities companies, housing associations, 

law practices and universities. Providers of volume electronic 

trace services, enhanced desktop tracing, employment and 

international tracing, propensity to pay reporting, address and 

telephone appending, and pre-litigation reports. We can build 

a bespoke workflow to meet your data needs. All our data is 

validated and priced competitively. 

CREDIT DATA AND ANALYTICS 

TOP SERVICE 

MINIMISE DEBT 

Top Service Ltd 

Top Service Ltd, 2&3 Regents Court, Far Moor Lane 

Redditch, Worcestershire. B98 0SD 

T: 01527 503990 

E: membership@top-service.co.uk 

W: www.top-service.co.uk 

The only credit information and debt recovery service provider 

specifically for the UK construction industry. Our payment 

experiences are the most up to date credit information available 

and enable construction businesses to confidently assess credit 

risk & make the best, most informed credit decisions. Coupled 

with our range of effective debt recovery solutions, quite simply 

our members stay one step ahead & experience less debt & 

more cash. 

CREDIT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 

HighRadius 

T: +44 (0) 203 997 9400 

E: infoemea@highradius.com 

W: www.highradius.com 

HighRadius provides a cloud-based Integrated Receivable 

Platform, powered by machine learning and AI. Our Technology 

empowers enterprise organisations to reduce cycle time 

in the order-to-cash process and increase working capital 

availability by automating receivables and payments processes 

across credit, electronic billing and payment processing, cash 

application, deductions, and collections. 

Tinubu Square UK 

Holland House, 4 Bury Street, 

London EC3A 5AW 

T: +44 (0)207 469 2577 / 

E: uksales@tinubu.com 

W: www.tinubu.com 

MAXIMISE C ASH 

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. 


FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION OPTIONS 

AND PRICING CONTACT 

paul@centuryone.uk 01727 739 196 




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 userfriendly 

interface. Credit Controllers can manage more accounts 

with better results and customers can self-serve on mobileresponsive 

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. 

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-too-common obstacles preventing today’s businesses 

from collecting receivables in a timely manner. From credit 

management to cash allocation, Esker automates each step of 

the 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. 

Genius Software Solutions 

T: +44 (0) 141 280 0275 

E: sales@geniusssl.com 

W: www.geniusssl.com 

Genius provides solutions designed to enhance your customer 

engagement with compliance in full focus; our team have decades 

of operational experience in the Debt & BPO space. 

As a global outreach partner our technology drives compliance 

and operational efficiency to help your business thrive. 

• Streamline Collections, Payments & Asset Recovery, whether this 

be in-house or within a BPO setting with our Adept platform. 

• Enhance customer engagement with our cloud-based 

omnichannel platform, Commpli. 

We've helped businesses worldwide enhance efficiency, optimise 

workflows, and respond to the dynamic needs of a changing 

marketplace. 

My DSO Manager 

22, Chemin du Vieux Chêne, 

Bâtiment D, Meylan, FRANCE 

T: +33 (0)458003676 

E: contact@mydsomanager.com 

W: www.mydsomanager.com 

My DSO Manager is an all-in-one intelligent SaaS accounts 

receivable and credit management system that provides 

real-time insight and scalability from SMEs to international multientity 

companies. It helps AR analysts, accounting or finance 

managers, and any client-facing employee, manage risk and 

maximize cash collection. 

It can swiftly integrate any kind of data from any ERP and 

implement any customization due to its creative, competent IT 

teams that are headquartered inside the firm and collaborate 

closely with support employees, many of whom were formerly 

credit managers at big corporations. 

The feature-rich functions, automated reminders, alerts, and 

numerous services connected to the solution, such as EDM/ 

CRMs/insurance/e-payment/BI platforms etc., along with 

a reasonable pricing system, have simplified the credit-tocash 

cycle by monitoring daily KPIs like DSO, aging balance, 

overdues/past-dues, customer behavior, and cash forecast. 

My DSO Manager's worldwide clientele are its real 

ambassadors, who assist the company in expanding on an 

ongoing basis. 

TCN 

T: +44 (0) 800-088-5089 

E : spencer.taylor@tcn.com 

W: www.tcn.com 

TCN is a leading provider of cloud-based call centre technology 

for enterprises, contact centres, BPOs, and collection 

agencies worldwide. Founded in 1999, TCN combines a deep 

understanding of the needs of call centre users with a highly 

affordable delivery model, ensuring immediate access to robust 

call centre technology, such as SMS, email, predictive dialler, 

IVR, call recording, and business analytics required to optimise 

operations while adhering to callers’ requests. 

Its “always-on” cloud-based delivery model provides customers 

with immediate access to the latest version of the TCN solution, 

as well as the ability to quickly and easily scale and adjust to 

evolving business needs. TCN serves various Fortune 500 

companies and enterprises in multiple industries, including 

newspaper, collection, education, healthcare, automotive, 

political, customer service, and marketing. For more information, 

visit www.tcn.com or follow on Twitter @tcn. 

Invevo 

Daniel Gregory 

T: 07843591646 E : daniel@invevo.com 

W: www.invevo.com 

Invevo is a fully integrated, cloud-based provider of credit 

management and accounts receivable automation solutions, 

offering dynamic features to optimise operational efficiency and 

improve cash performance. 

Our flexible platform empowers organisations to: 

- Automate the manual and repetitive work allowing your team to 

focus on the value-added activities 

- Discover financial and operational insights through beautiful, 

data-rich dashboards 

- Test and adjust workflow strategies immediately through zerocost 

configuration 

- Mitigate customer global risk through integrated credit reporting 

via credit agencies or open banking 

Invevo integrates with your existing systems (ERP, CRM, 

accounting, billing) to present the insights you need to make 

strategic decisions through one system that acts as a single 

source of truth. Access the undiscovered analytics and improve 

performance across your portfolio through data-driven actions. 

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 

Samuel Evans – Director of Business Development 

T: 07759 122503 

E : s.evans@courtenforcementservices.co.uk 

W: www.courtenforcementservices.co.uk 

Court Enforcement Services is the market leading and fastest 

growing High Court Enforcement company. Since forming in 

2014, we have managed over 100,000 High Court Writs and 

recovered more than £187 million for our clients, all debt fairly 

collected. We help lawyers and creditors across all sectors to 

recover unpaid CCJ’s sooner rather than later. We achieve 39% 

early engagement resulting in market-leading recovery rates. 

Our multi-award-winning 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. 

High Court Enforcement Group Limited 

Client Services, Helix, 1st Floor, Edmund St, Liverpool, L3 9NY 

T: 08450 999 666 

E: clientservices@hcegroup.co.uk 

W: hcegroup.co.uk 

Putting creditors first 

We are the largest independent High Court enforcement 

company, with more authorised officers than anyone else. We 

are privately owned, which allows us to manage our business 

in a way that puts our clients first. Clients trust us to deliver 

and service is paramount. We cover all aspects of enforcement 

– writs of control, possessions, process serving and landlord 

issues – and are committed to meeting and exceeding clients’ 

expectations. 

ENGAGEMENT 

CFH Docmail 

T: 01761 416311 

E: info@cfh.com 

W: www.cfh.com 

With over 45 years of experience in supporting organisations in 

the successful delivery of multi-channel communications, CFH 

are the innovative and trusted partner for driving engagement 

and achieving measurable results. 

Combining proven expertise, the right accreditations and 

industry driven communication solutions including Docmail the 

leading hybrid mail solution, CFH have the perfect blend of 

solutions to help you engage offline, online or the perfect blend 

of the two. 



Cr£ditWho? 


FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION 

OPTIONS AND PRICING CONTACT 

paul@centuryone.uk 01727 739 196 

FINANCIAL PR 

Gravity Global 

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

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

W: www.gravityglobal.com 

Gravity is an award winning full service PR and advertising 

business that is regularly benchmarked as being one of the 

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

building long-term relationships with some of the industry’s 

best-known 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. 

INSOLVENCY 

Menzies 

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

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

W: menzies.co.uk/creditor-services 

Our Creditor Services team can advise on the best way for you 

to protect your position when one of your debtors enters, or 

is approaching, insolvency proceedings. Our services include 

assisting with retention of title claims, providing representation 

at creditor meetings, forensic investigations, raising finance, 

financial restructuring and removing the administrative burden 

– this includes completing and lodging claim forms, monitoring 

dividend prospects and analysing all Insolvency Reports and 

correspondence. 

For more information on how the Menzies Creditor Services 

team can assist, please contact Bethan Evans, Licensed 

Insolvency Practitioner, at bevans@menzies.co.uk or call 

+44 (0)2920 447 512. 

INSOLVENCY 

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. 

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 faceto-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 award-winning 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 face-to-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. 

LEGAL 

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. 

Quadient AR by YayPay 

T: +44 20 8502 8476 

E: r.harash@quadient.com 

W: www.quadient.com/en-gb/ar-automation 

Quadient AR by YayPay makes it easy for B2B finance teams 

to stay ahead of accounts receivable and get paid faster – from 

anywhere. Integrating with your existing ERP, CRM, accounting 

and billing systems, YayPay organizes and presents real-time data 

through meaningful, cloud-based dashboards. These increase 

visibility across your AR portfolio and provide your team with a 

single source of truth, so they can access the information they 

need to work productively, no matter where they are based. 

Automated capabilities improve team efficiency by 3X and 

accelerate the collections process by making communications 

customizable and consistent. This enables you to collect cash 

up to 34 percent faster and removes the need to add additional 

resources as your business grows. 

Predictive analytics provide insight into future payer behavior to 

improve cash flow management and a secure, online payment 

portal enables customers to access their accounts and pay at any 

time, from anywhere. 

Cr£ditWho? 


Shoosmiths 

Email: paula.swain@shoosmiths.co.uk 

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

Shoosmiths’ highly experienced team will work closely with credit 

teams to recover commercial debts as quickly and cost effectively 

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

recovery, including: 

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

down •Litigation service •Insolvency 

•Post-litigation services including enforcement 

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

goals, and adept at advising you on the most effective way of 

achieving them. 

FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION OPTIONS AND 

PRICING CONTACT paul@centuryone.uk – 01727 739 196

Credit Management July and August 2024

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