East Midlands

The next meeting of the IRRV East Midlands Association which will be held on Tuesday 21st June 2022.

The meeting will be led by Paul Bowden, Partner at Wilkin Chapman LLP and Andrew Hobley, Assistant Ombudsman at the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Since 2009 Paul has formed part of  Recoveries department at Wilkin Chapman and has acted for a range of creditor clients in relation to both volume recoveries and more complex insolvency proceedings. Paul became a partner in 2018 and acts for a wide range of corporate clients, including local authorities, utility companies, debt purchasers and other commercial creditors. Paul specialises in finding ways to assist local authorities in dealing with collections. Paul is the current Vice President of the IRRV East Midlands Association.

Andrew Hobley is an Assistant Ombudsman with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, leading a team of investigators in the London office. With over 20 years’ experience of investigating complaints of all varieties he has a particular interest in local taxation matters. This stems from his 12 years working as local taxation recovery officer, in London, Surrey and Hampshire.

This meeting will be the Associations first in person meeting since before the pandemic and will be held at Wilkin Chapman Offices, The Maltings, 11-15 Brayford Wharf E, Lincoln, LN5 7AY. The offices are just a short walk from the train station and there are a number of car parks within walking distance.

The meeting will be of particular interest to anyone with an involvement with the recovery of any debt (NNDR, CTAX and Sundry Debts including Adult Social Care) that may be due to a local authority.

The programme is as follows:

10:00 to 10:30 - Refreshments

10:30 to 11:00 - An update on the current state of play for the main debt streams - Paul Bowden

11:00 to 11:20 - An update from the LGO - Andrew Hobley (Live link - virtual session)

11:20 to 11:30 - Comfort break

11:30 to 12:00 - Specialist enforcement options available, including Bankruptcy, Charging Orders/Orders for Sale - Paul Bowden

The meeting is free to IRRV members. If you are not a member of the IRRV, there will be a charge of £25.00 payable for your attendance at this meeting. If you are not a member of the IRRV, please provide a purchase order number when you make your booking for this meeting.

If you are interested in becoming an IRRV member, please click here.

In order to assist with arrangements and bookings, please let Gary Clarke know who will be attending from your organisation.

Don’t forget you can follow the IRRV East Midlands Association on Twitter and LinkedIn.

​If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Gary Clarke using the link.

The next meeting of the IRRV East Midlands Association is a "Recovery Technical Day" on 21st October 2024. This will be held in person at Leicester City Council's offices at City Hall, 115 Charles Street, Leicester, LE1 1FZ.

The offices are a short walk from Leicester train station, and there are also a number of car parks located nearby.

The event will start at 10:00am (please arrive from 09:30) with an expected finish time of approximately 15:00pm.

The current timetable is as follows:

10.00 – 10.15 – Welcome and introductions – Paul Bowden – IRRV East Midlands Association President

10.15 – 11.00 –Session 1 – Update from IRRV HQ – some key issues for practitioners to have on the radar- Moira Hepworth Head of Law and Research, IRRV

11:00 – 11:15 – comfort break/refreshments

11.15 – 12.00 – Session 2 –Case law update, some key cases to consider around liability order applications and enforcement – James Freeman – Barrister – Enterprise Chambers

12.00 – 13.00 – Lunch

13.00 – 13.45 – Session 3 –topical issues in sundry debt collection – Gary Clarke - Recovery Manager – Wokingham Borough Council and Michael Line – Managing Director – JTR Collections

13.45 – 14.00 – comfort break/refreshments

14.00 – 14.45 – Session 4 –current lay of the land – freeman cases – Gary Taylor – Solicitor and Insolvency Practitioner – Wilkin Chapman LLP

This event is free to individual IRRV members and has proved very popular in the past therefore early booking of places is recommended. A charge to non-members of £25.00 per person is applicable - please provide a purchase order number at the point of booking.

If you would like to attend this event or would like to discuss further, please contact Gary Clarke at irrvema@hotmail.com. Please also advise whether you have any access or dietary requirements.

Our next meeting is the first "Lunch and Learn" that we are holding this year.

This session will take place at 1pm on 5th June 2024 and is scheduled to last for 90 minutes.

At the meeting, we will have Moira Hepworth and Sue Williams-Lee from IRRV Headquarters joining us.

Moira will be providing an overview on the current issues being addressed by the IRRV Law and Research Team. Sue will update members around the current apprenticeship opportunities and the benefits of qualifying via this route.

This meeting is free to everyone, if you would like the link, please contact Gary Clarke who will forward to you.

Also note that we are hoping to arrange our first “in-person” event for late June/early July, details will be available shortly when we have more information.

 The IRRV East Midlands Association AGM will be held on Friday 12th April 2024.

The meeting will start at 2pm at the offices of Rutland County Council and an agenda is attached. Details of local car parks can be found by visiting https://www.rutland.gov.uk/parking/council-car-parks.

If you could advise our secretary Gary Clarke if you are going to attend or wish to give apologies in advance that would be helpful.

The next IRRV East Midlands Association Meeting will be held on Friday 19th January 2024, focusing on Non-Domestic Rating.

This is an in-person meeting and will be held at the offices of Newark and Sherwood District Council. There are two train stations locally, one on the East Coast line and one next to the offices - please note, if using the East Coast line and getting off at Newark Northgate, there is no connecting train to Newark Castle - this is approximately a 20-minute walk.

The agenda for the day is as follows:

10:00 - 10:15 - Welcome and Introductions - Andrea Grinney, Association President

10:15 - 11:00 - Session 1 - Mark Fearn, Walsall Council - A spotlight on the pertinent points of the new NNDR bill, including NNDR1 changes

11:00 - 11:45 - Session 2 - Evie Barden, Landmark Chambers - Collecting and enforcing rates in an economic downturn

11:45 - 12:00 - Comfort break/refreshments

12:00 - 12:45 - Session 3 - Paul Bowden, Wilkin Chapman LLP - practical hints and tips collecting difficult NNDR debts

12:45 - 13:30 - Lunch and networking

13:30 - 14:15 - Session 4 - Stephanie O'Neill, Wilks Head and Eve LLP - Accurately forecasting on losses on rating appeals for NNDR1 Returns (which are due towards the end of January 2024)

14:15 - 14:30 - Comfort break

14:30 - 15:15 - Gary Watson, Chief Executive IRRV - Completion notices and administering reliefs from 1st April 2024

15:15 - 15:30 - Questions, closing comments and session closes.

Attendance is free to individual IRRV members, however, there is a charge of £25.00 for non-members. If you would like to book a place, then please contact Gary Clarke in advance.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Gary using the link above

The IRRV East Midlands Association is hosting a Recovery Technical Day at Wilkin Chapman Solicitors offices in Lincoln on 17th July 2023.

The timetable (confirmed at time of writing) is as follows:

10:00 - Welcome and Introductions

10:15 to 11:00 – Session 1 – Focus on Vulnerability Helen Lord - CEO at Vulnerability Registration Service

11:00 to 11:15 - Break/Refreshments

11:15 to 12:00 - Session 2 - Preparing your Case - Alistair Townsend

12:00 to 13:00 - Lunch (provided by Wilkin Chapman Solicitors)

13:00 to 13:45 - Session 3 - What hasn’t increased in cost since 2014? The case for Enforcement Fee Reform - Steve Brockington-Brown from Marston Holdings

13:45 to 14:00 - Break/Refreshments

14:00 to 14:45 – Session 4 - Use of Last Resort Remedies - Paul Bowden

14:45 to 15:00 - Closing comments

This event is free to individual IRRV members. A charge to non-members of £25.00 per person is applicable - please provide a purchase order number at the point of booking.

If you would like to attend this event, please drop me a message, or send an email to our Association Secretary – Gary Clarke

The next meeting of the IRRV East Midlands Association will be held on Friday 27th May 2022.

The meeting will be led by Darren Kelk, Managing Director of Ascendant Solutions.

Darren has over 26 years of experience in private sector debt collections and together with Ascendant Solutions provides data driven solutions to help both the public and private sector. Ascendant Solutions were winners at the 2021 IRRV Performance Awards, winning the Excellence In Innovation (Operational) award whilst working in conjunction with Walsall Borough Council in partnership with Eastbourne Borough Council and Lewes District Council. They were also highly commended in the category, Excellence In Partnership Working.

Darren will be providing a "Mini collections workshop", showcasing how you can use data to improve collections.

The meeting will be held virtually, via Microsoft Teams. Please register for the meeting by getting in touch with Gary Clarke, who will then forward you a calendar invite when acknowledging your registration.

The meeting will start at 10:30 and is scheduled to finish at 12:00.

The meeting is free to IRRV members. If you are not a member of the IRRV, there will be a charge of £25.00 payable for your attendance at this meeting. If you are not a member of the IRRV, please provide a purchase order number when you make your booking for this meeting.

If you are interested in becoming an IRRV member, please click here.

In order to assist with arrangements and bookings, please let Gary know who will be attending from your organisation.

Don’t forget you can follow the IRRV East Midlands Association on Twitter and LinkedIn.

The Annual General Meeting of the Association at 14:00 on Tuesday 26th April 2022. This meeting will be held in the Council Chamber at Rutland County Council, Catmose House, Catmose Street, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 6HP. Refreshments will be available from 13:30.

At the AGM, the Association's accounts for 2021 will be presented and the Association's activities and meetings over the last year will be reported. Additionally, the officers and committee members will be elected for the coming year.

The Association's current executive committee met on 1st March 2022 and drew up a list of nominations for 2022/23. This list is included in the documents attached to this email.

If any member wishes to make further nominations, or to raise any other business at the meeting, they are required to notify Gary Clarke, at least fourteen days before the meeting (12th April 2022).

A meeting pack is attached  via this link. Please note, there will not be printed copies available at the meeting, however, if you do not have a copy of the meeting pack, there will be an opportunity to scan a QR code to access the document on a smart phone/tablet.

The meeting pack contents are as follows:

Page 1 - Agenda

Page 2 - Minutes of Last Meeting

Page 22 - Final Accounts 2022

Page 24 - Nominations

Page 25 - Notice of Motions

A copy of the audited accounts for 2021 has been published separately under "News" heading

Following the formal matters of the AGM, Alistair Townsend, the Institute's President; David Magor, the Institute's Chief Executive Officer and Gary Watson, the Institute's Deputy Chief Executive Officer, will address the meeting and provide an industry update from the IRRV.

In order to assist with refreshments, please let Gary Clarke know if you will be in attendance.

The AGM will be held at the offices of Rutland CC in Oakham. Timings and further details to follow.

The next meeting of the IRRV East Midlands Association will be held on Tuesday 1st March.

The meeting will be led by James Rattenberry from Leicester City Council.

James’ presentation will be around the process that Leicester City Council went through in order to win the Most Improved Team of the Year award at the 2021 IRRV Performance Awards.

The meetingwill be held virtually, via Microsoft Teams. Please register for the meeting by getting in touch with me, and I will then forward you a calendar invite when acknowledging your registration.

The meeting will start at 14:00 and is scheduled to finish at 15:30.

The meeting is free to IRRV members. If you are not a member of the IRRV, there will be a charge of £25.00 payable for your attendance at this meeting. If you are not a member of the IRRV, please provide a purchase order number when you make your booking for this meeting.

If you are interested in becoming an IRRV member, please click here.

In order to assist with arrangements and bookings, please e-mail our Secretary Gary Clarke and advise who will be attending from your organisation.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 19th January 2022 and will be led by Mark Fearn, Systems Lead at Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council and Daniel Pearce, Director of Sales and Business Development at Telsolutions Ltd.

Mark has worked within Revenues for almost 25 years and has held posts at Milton Keynes Council, North West Leicestershire District Council and South Derbyshire District Council. Mark has been a member of the East Midlands Association Executive Committee since 1998 and was previously Secretary and President of the Association. His team at Walsall have recently won IRRV Performance Awards in Excellence In Innovation (Operational) in partnership with Eastbourne Borough Council and Lewes District Council working in conjunction with Ascendant; and the Revenues Team of the Year. Walsall were also highly commended in the Excellence in Partnership Working category.

Daniel has worked for Telsolutions Ltd for over 13 years and provides a number of digital strategies to local authorities and enforcement agents.

Together, Mark and Daniel will provide some ideas for innovative and digital engagement strategies that can be used by local authorities. In addtion there will be an opportunity to ask questions and discuss experience with colleagues from other local authorities.

The meetingwill be held virtually, via Microsoft Teams.Please register for the meeting by getting in touch with Gary Clarke who will  forward you a calendar invite when acknowledging your registration.

The meeting will start at 10:30 and is scheduled to finish at 13:00.

The meeting is free to IRRV members. If you are not a member of the IRRV, there will be a charge of £25.00 payable for your attendance at this meeting. If you are not a member of the IRRV, please provide a purchase order number when you make your booking for this meeting.

If you are interested in becoming an IRRV member, please click here.

In order to assist with arrangements and bookings, please contact Gary and advise who will be attending from your organisation.

Don’t forget you can follow the IRRV East Midlands Association on Twitter and LinkedIn.