It’s been eight months since the Covid Corruption Commissioner, Tom Hayhoe, agreed that my idea was a good one, that being, allowing banks to write-off Bounce Back Loans for business owners who couldn’t afford to repay them.
By allowing Lenders to write them off, that debt would not exist any more and therefore no one could or would object to a Company Strike-Off, if that is the only debt a Company has.
That would allow genuine business owners whose businesses failed, through no fault of their own to finally draw a line under their business and the Bounce Back Loan.
Currently, any Company that applies for or heads towards a Strike-Off sees it blocked at lightning speed due to the Dissolution Objection Process, that was instigated by the Government to stop blaggers from simply Striking-Off a Company with an unpaid BBL.
The upshot of having a Strike-Off blocked is that such Companies are still classed as live and are required to submit accounts and confirmation statements etc to Companies House, which is often a cost the Director of a failed Company cannot afford.
Failing to submit such things on time results in late submission fees with can and do quickly mount up, resulting in such Companies risking not being allowed to be Struck-Off if and when the BBL gets written off as they owe those late submission fees.
A huge number of Directors are paying money out of their own pockets to their accountants to submit on time accounts etc, money they often do not have.
That is grotesquely unfair, given the Government have the solution to that problem and have adopted it but due to Jonathan Reynolds dragging his pathetic heels signing it off, many people are getting depressed or in worst case scenarios, having suicidal thoughts due to his delay.
For someone who proclaims he is very religious, Jonathan Reynolds should be ashamed he is putting people into such a position.
Bank bosses continue to tell me they want the power and mechanism to write-off Bounce Back Loans, as they know too that people are in a dire position and this saga is beginning to bring reputational risks to their banks, but until Jonathan Reynolds puts pen to paper and signs the initiative and makes the policy live people are going to suffer.
Before she got sacked, Rachel Reeves announced the Government had adopted the recommendation for the Write-Off and Strike-Off unblocking mechanism, even thanking me for my time and effort suggesting it to the Commissioner.
So, all eyes are now on Jonathan Reynolds and the hard of thinking, slow dinosaurs in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade to get their act together.
I Continue to Badger the Powers That Be
I am in constant contact with the Government and different Government Departments and bank bosses and I am hounding them to get their fingers out, and will let you know when the sorry saga comes to a close and the mechanism goes live.
The one thing the Government are petrified of is allowing a Company to have its BBL written off and the Company Struck-Off if the Director blagged the BBL in the first place.
However, they already know who did blag a BBL due to data-matching exercises performed over the last few years and also even have a process to bring back to life Companies that have been struck off when it is discovered the Director had an unpaid back and blagged BBL, recent court cases prove that fact.
For reference many Directors have been jailed or given suspended sentences when found guilty of taking the Strike-Off route (before the Government blocked Strike-Off attempts) with a blagged BBL, much more so when they didn’t tell the Lender they were taking that route.
Call Me if You Need a Chat
I will keep you updated and when Jonathan Reynolds finally pulls his finger out I will let you know and what you need to do, but that could be any time, as his Department which is now called the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade having been renamed from the Department for Business and Trade are not renowned for doing anything quickly.
Keep the faith it is coming, but seemingly not as quickly as it could be.
Let’s hope Jonathan keeps that in mind, when next in Church repenting his sins of which this scandal is one.
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