Editor's Comment

22-July 2009 | By DeeDee Doke

If the wolf is at the door, we say unload the Porsches and Ferraris first and pay back a few creditors.

As Recruiter went to press, we didn’t know what a government report would say about the impact of six months of tightened reporting requirements on pre-pack deals. But we do know, and we reiterate, that it has been too easy to throw off one’s business debts, slap a new coat of paint on the old business and carry on trading as usual. Imagine the film that Sid James and his old ‘Carry On’ gang could have made on this very subject.

We wrote in our comment on 1 April, and reader Alan Rommel, managing director of Parity Resources, wrote in his 8 July Soapbox that the situation was untenable. Non-recruitment agency creditors of ‘phoenix’ recruitment agencies have contacted us in their frustration.

Some insolvencies are legitimate. We hear of agencies that do the right thing and go into voluntary payment programmes to honourably clear their debts. But if the debts have just become a bore, it’s time for the government to collect the car keys.

DeeDee Doke
Editor