FROM OCTOBER 2014’s RECRUITER MAGAZINE

A decision on whether the founder of Healthcare Locums (HCL), Kate Bleasdale, should be made bankrupt was delayed following legal arguments at Kingston County Court on 23 September.

The long-running case involves Bleasdale and Debbie Forster, who seeks to make Bleasdale bankrupt claiming £4.1m in costs and damages from the entrepreneur.

Forster claims she was sacked from Stayput Solutions, a company she founded and in which Bleasdale had invested, for alleged misconduct. District Judge Gold adjourned the case until an as yet undetermined date following legal arguments by Bleasdale’s counsel Alun Jenkins.

Forster told the court that Bleasdale’s counsel’s tactics were “just another stalling mechanism to mislead and waste the court’s time”.

The case is another chapter in the colourful career of Bleasdale who founded HCL in 2003. In March 2011, as executive vice-chairman of HCL, she was dismissed by the company after accounting irregularities were discovered at the firm.

This led to an ultimately unsuccessful £12m claim by Bleasdale for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.

On 30 July 2014, the court agreed that Forster could petition for bankruptcy in an attempt to recover the money she believes Bleasdale owes her. This does not include sums owed to any other creditors that Bleasdale may have. HCL is believed to be a creditor.