New goals for our expanding team

A newly signed former footballer and two recently recruited sports fanatics are about to kick-off a start-of-the-season sales drive by our eight-strong business development team.

Richard Powell used to play in the North East Counties League and also in South Africa at a semi-professional level.

David Nendick supports the rugby league team York City Knights and Rob Barnard is a West Ham supporter who has played football and cricket for amateur teams in Ilkley.

All three joined us this summer as Business Development Executives.

Globe-trotting Richard has worked in Johannesburg and, as Commercial Manager for Sir James Hill (Wool) Ltd., frequently made business trips to Kenya, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Before joining us he was Business Development Executive with Hitachi Capital Credit Management, reporting to the Managing Director. Richard, who will concentrate on creating relationships with new clients and deepening relationships with existing ones, said: “Although I never became a professional footballer, I feel I’ve joined a thoroughly professional outfit at Incasso LLP. “It’s the sheer professionalism of what the firm offered – the comprehensive range of services, heavy investment in IT and the ability it offers clients to track progress of their cases online – that attracted me to the job.”

David, who has an MBA from Warwick Business School, has held senior positions with Andersen Business Consultancy, Deloitte and one of the UK’s leading executive search firms, MGMS International, where he was Business Development Director. In this latter position he led a team of consultants which won more than 150 new clients worth over £5m. He said: “What drew me to Incasso LLP was the fact that the firm was very much in growth mode. Sales are up from £1.65m to more than £2m in a year and staff members have risen to nearly 50 but the firm is not too big to have lost the personal touch.” David will concentrate on developing our consultancy services which have already proved their worth with clients such as the Leeds building firm, S&B Building Ltd.

Rob used to be head of Debt Recovery for a law firm in Bolton and unsecured revenues manager for the Bradford solicitors Drydens. Earlier he worked for the Skipton Building Society and Yorkshire Bank.

Supporting the extended team is another new recruit, Jennifer Barber, who came from the Leeds solicitors Lee and Priestley to be our Business Development Administrator.

Mark Taylor, who leads the Business Development Team, commented: “With greater strength in depth, we can take advantage of new business opportunities and meet the increasingly challenging growth plans we have set ourselves over the next three years.

Just for the record, here’s a who’s who in the Business Development Team.

Mark Taylor Business Development Manager 0845 404 1902 Laura Geall Collections Manager 0845 404 1903

Neil Jinks Client Services Manager 0845 404 1904

David Nendick Business Development Executive 0845 404 1905 Richard Powell Business Development Executive 0845 404 1906 Rob Barnard Business Development Executive 0845 404 1950 Jessica Peacock Marketing Executive 0845 404 1907

Jennifer Barber Business Development Administrator 0845 404 1945.

Czech Mates

Did you hear about the “World Cup” when Ecuador, far from being knocked out by England, emerged as the winners? Oh, and Italy crashed out because they couldn’t understand the rules!

It all happened in May, a month before the real World Cup kicked off, and Incasso LLP was there. Like the real thing, it had group stages and penalty shoot-outs. Unlike the real thing, it took place in Leeds and it was five-a-side. Still, it was all great fun with our boys representing the Czech Republic.

They got through the group stage with few problems, winning three games and drawing one. Joint top of the group with Japan, they progressed to the knock-out stages where their opponents were to be Italy. Confused over rules, the Italians didn’t realise they had qualified and packed up to leave so the Czech Republic got a bye into the quarter finals. Here they drew 2-2 with Ecuador but, in the best English tradition, lost on penalties.

Hands up Simon Gregg, Finance and Administration Assistant, who confessed: “I fluffed my kick, sending it too near the goalie.” Simon added: “We were disappointed to lose but it was a great day. Everyone enjoyed it.”

The star of our side was undoubtedly Neil Banville, Trace Co-ordinator, who scored five goals. The third employee of Incasso LLP was Peter Schofield, Legal Recoveries Executive. Richard Wilson from Cobbetts also played as did several friends of Peter who answered the call at the last minute as other members of the squad were unavailable representing Incasso LLP at a conference in Blackpool.

If only they had been available, the course of sporting history may have been different…

All the fun of the fair

Did you join in the fun at our two glamorous client events - Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the Gentleman’s Club - earlier this year?

If you did - or even if you didn’t - you’ll know you cannot afford to miss the next one to be held at the Queen’s Hotel, Leeds on October 27.

This time the theme is the End of the Pier Fairground, so it’s roll-up, roll-up for an evening of palm readings, hook-a-duck, candy floss and coconut shies.

To secure your invitation, please call Jessica Peacock on 0845 404 1630 or email jpeacock@incasso.co.uk.

Towering interest following Blackpool conference

More than 200 local authority delegates attended the two-day IRRV Collection and Enforcement Conference in Blackpool during May.

The consensus was that, once again, it had been a very useful event, but for Incasso LLP, it proved an exceptional one. The firm, which works for more than 40 local authorities in England and Wales, was represented by Mark Taylor, Business Development Manager and Laura Geall, Collections Manager, who had an exhibition stand for the fourth year in succession.

This time, delegates were particularly keen to talk to them - more than 20 local authorities have set up meetings with Incasso LLP following the conference to discuss ways in which revenue collection and enforcement can be improved. A big talking point was the article in the previous edition of Angles in which Geoff Waterton, Head of Collection at Enfield Borough Council, told how charging orders and orders for sale raised £500,000 in unpaid council tax last year.

Incasso LLP continues to grow its market share in this particular sector and establish long-term working partnerships with local authorities, especially on the dance floor at the conference disco!

How to squeeze your collection rates up

Collection rates are continuing to improve both for council tax and for non-domestic rates, according to figures published this summer by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Local authorities collected a further £32 million in unpaid council tax in 2005-6 than in 2004-5 as the average collection rate edged up to 96.8% from 96.4%. For non-domestic rates, the average collection rate also went up slightly to 98.4% from 98.3%.

The official figures show the collection rates for all local authorities in England. Kirklees in West Yorkshire, for example, brought in an extra £6.5 million as its collection rate rose from 95.9% to 96.5%, giving them the highest collection rate in West Yorkshire.

Graham Beckett, Divisional Manager at Kirklees, said: “To have a relationship with a partner offering a quality service is important to Local Authorities. In Incasso LLP, we have a specialist firm which has provided substantial cost effective recoveries for our Receivable Division.”

Further south, North Hertfordshire recorded one of the highest collection rates at 99.5% up from 99.2%, netting a further £3 million. Both are longstanding clients of Incasso LLP.

Local Government Minister Phil Woolas said that “local authorities have worked very hard to achieve even further improvements in council tax collection rates” and looked forward to seeing “even better results in future years.”

Yet, with the pressure on local authorities to achieve continuous improvement in collection rates in 2006-7, how are they going to up their game still further?

This is where the rigorous approach to analysing the effectiveness of existing collection methods and introducing new techniques - pioneered by Incasso LLP - comes in.

Mark Taylor, Business Development Manager, said: “We look carefully at each of our clients’ collection methods to see which ones are working well and which ones are not quite delivering to their full potential. “It’s also important to consider other recovery techniques such as charging orders, orders for sale and insolvency proceedings. We have found these to be very effective in certain cases with our local authority clients. “You need a careful selection process to choose the most appropriate method for each particular debt. That is where our experience and knowledge are particularly valuable.”

Mark added: “The key thing is to keep squeezing up the collection rates because even a small percentage gain can give local authorities millions of extra pounds to spend on services. Enfield, for example, saw its collection rate rise from 95.3% to 95.4% but that produced more than £2 million in extra revenue.”

Are you missing out on late payment interest?

A recent survey has found that two out of three firms in the UK do not know how to calculate interest under the Late payment legislation introduced in 2002.

Credit policies and credit terms have been an issue for credit managers and credit controllers for many years, when customers deliberately withhold payment as a source of finance or because of their own customers’ financial difficulties.

Even though interest rates and cost of borrowing are at their lowest levels for 50 years, this can still cause problems for your cash flow.

The Act came into force fully on 7 August 2002. In brief, it applies to all contracts entered into on or after 7 August 2002 for the supply of goods or services (including hire contracts):

• Where both parties are acting in the course of a business;
• Which is not a consumer credit agreement;
• And which is not a contract of Mortgage/pledge/charge or where some other Security is supplied.

If the money payable under the contract is not paid at the due time, the debt attracts statutory interest and the creditor is entitled to additional compensation for late payment, depending on the size of the debt.

The statutory interest is 8% above a rate fixed by the government twice a year (30 June and 31 December). Currently the total statutory interest rate is 12.5% simple interest. For contracts entered into on or after 7 August 2002, a right to compensation for late payment arises once the statutory interest begins to run and is an additional sum that is recoverable from your customer.

The additional sums are:

invoices less than £1,000 - compensation payment of £40.00 invoices more than £1,000 but less than £10,000 - compensation payment of £70.00

invoices more than £10,000 - compensation payment of £100.00. The threat of charging interest and an administration fee is potentially an effective deterrent against late payment.

If your business does not take advantage of your rights under the Act, you could be missing out on a very useful method of helping to ensure your debtors pay on time.

Incasso LLP has worked closely with a number of clients to implement these rights into credit procedures, ensuring payment is made promptly or, if late payment does occur, it is not at a cost to you. Our systems are capable of calculating late payment interest and compensation payments automatically, ensuring that it is built into all forms of communication.