DATE: Wednesday 25th November
TIME: 11.00 to 11.45am
About this webinar
Following a number of recent court cases and reviews around rates avoidance schemes, this webinar featuring guest speaker, Alex Worthington a leading Barrister with Greenhalgh Kerr, provides an update on how these findings will impact Local Authorities.
Alex will also talk about the implications for avoidance due to the additional pressures COVID has brought and the potential for this to increase as offices and other premises become unoccupied. Set against this backdrop we will also look at forecasts for recovery, including bankruptcies and insolvencies and the actions that Councils should be considering.
Access to good quality data to monitor local businesses will clearly be a key part of recovery forecasts particularly when determining appropriate methods of collection in a post-COVID world. To assist with this we will give a brief overview of our national business ratepayer database, HUB, used by Greenhalgh Kerr and a number of Local Authorities. HUB contains 99% of all English ratepayer details providing information about local businesses including their health, wealth and trading status and is also used as a means to validate applications for small business rates relief (SBRR).
In addition, Alex will also provide a unique insight into the current situation in the hospitality sector and explain the potential ramifications for Local Authorities for their recovery activity in this area.
Why you should attend?
This webinar provides up-to-date expert advice from a leading legal practitioner in the area of business rates avoidance and insolvencies. This includes, looking at the implications following the recent High Court decision that was successful for Birmingham & Bolton councils vs PAPOA and an update on the Hurstwood v Rossendale BC case on piercing the corporate veil that was heard in the Supreme Court on 26th October.
*** This webinar is primarily for Revenues, Recovery, Income, Collections, Finance, Fraud, Business Rates and Property staff within UK local authorities and the collections agencies who work on their behalf and Destin Solutions reserve the right to refuse registrations if necessary in order to protect commercial interests. ***
Presenters:
Alex Worthington
Barrister, Greenhalgh Kerr
After completing a law degree at Queens’ College, Cambridge Alex went on to complete the Bar Professional Training Course in 2012-13. He then practiced as a self-employed advocate and attended hearings in the County Court, High Court and First Tier Tribunal. He attended in excess of 2500 hearings and gained a reputation for dealing with matters concerning insolvency and real property, before joining Greenhalgh Kerr in August 2017.
Alex brings his advocacy experience to the NNDR team, where disputed liability order hearings in the Magistrates Court play an important part in challenging avoidance schemes.
Duncan Baxter IRRV (Hons)
Director, Destin Solutions
Duncan worked for Lancaster City Council for 16 years and held a number of positions within Revenues Services. Since then Duncan has worked as a Consultant and Project Manager for a large private sector software company. As a Founding Director of Destin Solutions, he has been involved with Business Process Re-engineering in Revenues & Benefit services, creation of Electronic Procedure Manuals, software configuration and report writing. He is a member of the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation (IRRV), is a past president of the Lancashire & Cheshire IRRV Association and has spoken at IRRV Conferences both national and locally.
