Friday 13:29
The directors of an employment agency that failed with total debts estimated at around £208,000 have given Undertakings not to hold directorships or take any part in company management for four and two years respectively.
The Undertakings by Stewart Andrew Tait Robertson, age 40 and Grace Ellen Robertson, age 46, of Cressing Road, Braintree, Essex were given in respect of their conduct as a director of Simply Personnel Ltd, which carried out business from premises at 1A Little Square, Braintree, Essex.
Acceptance of the Undertakings on 7 December 2004 prevents Mr and Mrs Robertson from being directors of a company, or in any way being concerned or taking part in the promotion, formation or management of a company for the above periods.
Simply Personnel Ltd was placed into administrative receivership on 12 December 2002 and voluntary liquidation on 17 December 2002 with estimated debts of £208,000 owed to creditors.
The Insolvency Service, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Trade & Industry, has responsibility (under Section (6) of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986) for the investigation of the conduct of directors of failed companies and for the disqualification of those who are considered to be unfit to be involved in the management of companies in the future.
Matters of unfit conduct, not disputed by Mr Robertson:
* from February 2000, when trading commenced, through to 27 November 2002 when trading ceased, he caused or allowed the business to fail to deal with its tax affairs in that no P35s were submitted to the Inland Revenue, no payments were made to the Inland Revenue in respect of PAYE and NIC deducted from employees' wages and no Corporation Tax returns were submitted to the Inland Revenue. As a result, by the date of liquidation the detriment to the Inland Revenue had increased to £173,719.
Matters of unfit conduct, not disputed by Mrs Robertson:
* from 28 January 2000 until 1 July 2002, she did not properly discharge the duties she owed as a director of the business in that she played no role in the management of the company and left the other registered director with total control, thus allowing the company to fail to deal properly with its tax affairs.
Notes to editors 1. The Insolvency Service responsible for both the regulation of Insolvency Practitioners and for company directors' disqualifications.
2. Insolvency Practitioners are authorised to deal with the administration of a range of company insolvency procedures including administrations and administrative receivership and creditors' voluntary liquidation. Insolvency Practitioners are required to report to the Insolvency Service on the conduct of company directors' work in each of these proceedings with a view to identifying behaviour that might make these directors unfit to be involved in company management in the future.
3. The Insolvency Service considers the insolvency practitioners reports and, where appropriate, will investigate the conduct of directors with a view to taking disqualification proceedings on behalf of the Secretary of State.
4. A court can disqualify directors from directorships and involvement in the management of companies for between two and 15 years for unfit conduct. If a director breaches a Disqualification Order they can be prosecuted and may be punished by a fine, a prison sentence of up to two years, or both, and may be made personally liable for the company debts.
5. Directors who accept that their conduct is unfit can give an Undertaking to the Secretary of State that they will not become involved as a director or in the management of a limited company for an agreed period of between two and 15 years. This avoids a court process, but the penalties for breach of an Undertaking are the same as for breach of a court order.
6. Companies House maintains a public register of disqualified directors that can be viewed at http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk. Addresses given are those correct at the time of the company failure, but may not now be current.
7. Members of the public who think that they know of any person who is acting in breach of a Disqualification Order or Undertaking should report that person's details to The Insolvency Service Disqualified Directors Hotline on 0845 601 3546 (24 hour message service). General enquires to The Insolvency Service should be addressed to the General Enquiries Help line on (020 7291 6895). For further information about the Insolvency Service and disqualification see http://www.insolvency.gov.uk
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