Recruiter Took Millions Before Firms Failed, Leaving £3M in Debts
Andrew Woosnam collected millions from recruitment businesses before creditors, including HMRC, went unpaid. A so-called phoenix revival follows.
A British recruitment executive drew millions of pounds in salary, dividends and loans from companies he controlled before those businesses collapsed, leaving creditors — including HM Revenue & Customs — short by approximately £3 million, according to a report by The Guardian.
Andrew Woosnam spent three decades in the recruitment sector, launching his own firm around the turn of the millennium. The proceeds funded a substantial personal estate, including a Berkshire property once owned by comedians Dawn French and Lenny Henry, the report says.
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Despite the creditor losses, Woosnam's business interests appear to have resurfaced through what industry observers call a "phoenix" arrangement — a practice in which a failed company's trade or assets are transferred into a new vehicle, allowing operations to continue while prior debts are extinguished. Critics argue such structures can leave suppliers, employees and public authorities bearing significant losses.
Research cited in the report underscores the systemic risk: companies revived through phoenix deals are statistically more likely to fail again than comparable businesses with clean histories, raising questions about whether creditors and regulators face repeated exposure from the same operators.
The case highlights ongoing tensions between insolvency law, creditor protections and the relative ease with which directors can resume trading after a company's failure. Regulatory scrutiny of repeat insolvency patterns has grown in the UK, though critics say enforcement remains inconsistent. Continue reading at Business | The Guardian.
