The last couple of years have been very busy for us. We moved our office from my home in East Yorkshire over to our office here in, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. That move was achieved over a weekend to cause minimum disruption to our subscribers and clients. We also had our memorable visit to Buckingham Palace and, to round off 2008, Joanne and her husband presented my husband and I with a gorgeous baby Grandson.
Unfortunately the country has not enjoyed such happy times, with the former Labour Government struggling to cope with the banking crisis and, more recently, with the fiasco of MP’s expenses. We are also experiencing the worst world-wide recession for many decades which is resulting in us dealing with people coping with unmanageable debt, both here and abroad. The new Liberal Conservative Coalition Government is, as yet, untried and unproven. Each and every person I speak to has his or her own opinion about its future. Interesting times are ahead, although I fear that they will also bring a period of hardship for many.
Our negotiation/mediation services continue to be extremely popular and we have achieved some outstanding agreements for clients.
The Foreign Assistance Service, enabling clients to go into bankruptcy from abroad, which we started a little over 4 years ago, now means that we are dealing with people in just about every country in Europe, as well as America, China, Japan, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, South Africa and just about every other country you can think of. I could never have imagined, when I started the Bankruptcy Advisory Service in 1997, that in 2010 we had clients throughout the world!
Let us hope that the economic situation starts to improve soon. If I had one work-related wish, it would be that those in positions of authority over bankrupt people behaved fairly and correctly and did not take advantage of their position. It is time that the insolvency profession rid itself of those who bring it into disrepute and recognised that most IP’s do a reasonable job in often quite difficult circumstances. Their jobs and reputations are not made any easier or better by their few colleagues whose only thought is for themselves and their own fees.
As ever, we look forward to hearing from you.
Take care and kind regards.
Gill Hankey
Director