The Insolvency Service has disqualified an Altrincham-based recruitment boss for 9 years after the regulator found him acting as a director while serving a previous ban.

Simon Anthony Charles Wooding received his second ban following the liquidation of Avante Recruitment Ltd, a recruitment agency specialising in the recruitment of candidates for finance, accountancy and insolvency roles.

Avante Recruitment failed to make adequate tax payments from mid-2016 and did not always file tax returns when due. This led to the company entering Creditors Voluntary Liquidation in September 2017.

While investigating the winding-up of Avante Recruitment, Insolvency Service investigators found that former director Simon Wooding, 52, had been acting as a director while disqualified.

The Altrincham-based recruitment boss was previously been banned for three-and-a-half years in May 2016 because of his conduct as the director of a separate company, AMS Search and Selection Limited.

On this occasion, Wooding signed a disqualification undertaking in which he did not dispute that he caused AMS Search and Selection to not pay appropriate taxes, mirroring conduct in the more recent case.

Although he officially resigned his role as director of Avante Recruitment in November 2016, investigators established that Simon Wooding still acted as a director up to the date of the company’s liquidation in September 2017.

Last month, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Simon Wooding for nine years after he did not dispute that he had acted in the management of Avante Recruitment while being a disqualified director. He also did not dispute that he caused the company to not pay appropriate taxes.

Tom Fox, Licensed Insolvency Practitioner at Umbrella Insolvency, said: “It’s a criminal offence to act as a director when banned, even if it’s done in the shadows.

“In this case, the director had resigned his official director post but still played a key role in the management of a new company, contravening his director ban.”

A disqualification undertaking means that a person cannot act as the director of the company. It also prevents them from taking part in the promotion, formation or management of a company or LLP or being a receiver of a company’s property.

Unlike disqualification orders, a disqualification undertaking does not involve court proceedings. A director that is subject to a disqualification order is bound by a range of additional restrictions.

The Insolvency Service will investigate all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies to establish why they became insolvent. They also have powers to investigate live limited companies in the UK.

If a director is guilty of financial misconduct, the Insolvency Service can apply to have the director disqualified.

Have a question about director bans or company insolvency? Speak to a member of our team today. Call: 0800 611 8888.