Douglas & Gordon administrator waiting on HMRC for preferential payouts

Agency staff owed money from the collapse of Douglas & Gordon last year will be repaid, the brand’s administrator has said, but it is waiting for HMRC to finalise its own claim.

Douglas & Gordon called in Grant Thornton as administrator in April after failing to attract much-needed investment.

Since then, the lettings book and brand has been purchased by former Douglas & Gordon chief executive James Evans through his Brewham Holdings brand.

Douglas & Gordon is now a trading name for Brewham Holdings Ltd but the administration of the old collapsed business continues.

At the time of the collapse, 50 employees were made redundant while 15 within the lettings business transferred to Evans’ new venture.

Six employees were retained to help with the administration process but they have since been made redundant. 

The latest update from the administrator confirmed an estimated £73,195 is set to be owed to former staff classed as preferential creditors, which includes wages, holiday pay and pension contributions.

However, Grant Thornton said this has been delayed until HMRC provides information on the relevant tax deductions.

The taxman has also made a claim worth £862,861, which it says will cover both preferential and unsecured claims. This covers owed money such as VAT and national insurance.

While Grant Thornton said it anticipates a return for preferential creditors, there are also 154 unsecured creditors with claims worth £412,379, that are unlikely to get payouts.