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03
Nov 2023
HMRC unlikely to receive payment from Harrogate company collapse
Unsecured credits and HMRC are unlikely to receive any payment after the collapsed of failed Harrogate company Amvoc, administrators have said.
The telemarketing company, which was based at Cardale Park, collapsed and was placed into administration in March this year.
In a latest administrators report published this week, Gareth Lewis, Lewis Business Recovery and Insolvency, said it is anticipated funds will be available to pay former staff.
However, HMRC, which is classed as a “secondary preferential creditor”, and unsecured credits are expected to receive no money.
According to the report, employees are owed £233,507.52 in wages, holiday pay and pension contribution arrears.
Meanwhile, HMRC is owed £1.1 million in unpaid VAT, unpaid employees PAYE and national insurance, student loan deductions and industry scheme deductions.
Mr Lewis said in his report that it is unlikely that any repayment will be made.
He said:
Mr Lewis added that there was “no likelihood” that unsecured creditors, who were previously estimated to be owed £868,267, would receive payment.
According to the report, equipment from the company’s old offices on Cardale Park, such as computers, desk and chairs, had now been sold.
'Cash flow difficulties'
Damian Brockway set up Amvoc, the trading name of A Marketing Vocation Ltd, from a small office in Dacre in 2010. It sold telemarketing services, initially in the legal sector, and grew rapidly, moving first to Pateley Bridge and then to large offices at New York Mills near Summerbridge.
It opened a new head office on Cardale Park in Harrogate in 2015, a facility in Leeds in 2018 and an office in Manchester in 2022. It also had plans to expand to London.
At the time of its collapse, Amvoc employed 230 staff.
Staff were left shocked on March 17 this year when they received a late night email from Mr Brockway saying “all our offices are closed with effect from tonight”. It went on to blame “covid debts”.
Mr Lewis said in his administrator’s report that in September 2017, the company entered into a company voluntary arrangement as a result of “cash flow difficulties” because of the loss of a major customer and “significant bad debt”.
Read more:
- Administrators reveal state of Harrogate firm Amovc’s finances
- Hundreds of job losses as Harrogate company goes under
- Collapsed Harrogate firm Amvoc set to enter administration
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