UK Recruiter Drew Millions Before Two Firms Collapsed Owing £3m

A British recruitment entrepreneur appears to have revived his business operations despite leaving creditors, including the UK tax authority HMRC, out of pocket to the tune of approximately £3 million across two successive company collapses, The Guardian has reported.

Andrew Woosnam spent three decades in the recruitment sector, building expertise through the 1990s before establishing his own firm around the turn of the millennium. Over the years that followed, he drew substantial sums from his companies in the form of salary, dividends and loans — wealth that funded personal assets including a large Berkshire property previously owned by comedians Dawn French and Lenny Henry.

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The pattern of a failed company's assets or operations being transferred into a new entity — commonly known as a "phoenix" arrangement — is a recurring concern for insolvency regulators and creditors alike. Academic research cited in connection with this case found that companies revived through such deals are statistically more likely to fail than comparable businesses with no such history, raising questions about the systemic risks they pose to suppliers, employees and public finances.

Woosnam's case highlights broader regulatory tensions over how directors who have presided over repeated insolvencies are permitted to continue trading. HMRC, which is frequently an unsecured creditor in corporate failures, has pushed for tougher enforcement powers in recent years, though critics argue enforcement remains inconsistent and slow relative to the scale of losses involved.

The recruitment sector, which often relies on thin margins and high-volume contractor payrolls, can leave significant tax liabilities exposed when firms collapse. Continue reading at Business | The Guardian.