Tag Archives: HM Government

Intelligence gathered by the Claims Management Regulator (CMR) officers revealed that Lancashire based Allsure Ltd had encouraged holiday-goers to fabricate or embellish symptoms of gastric illness to get compensation. Further evidence showed the firm had used deceptive sales scripts – exaggerating expected pay-outs to entice consumers.

This conduct has led to the firm’s licence being cancelled. This means that it can no longer offer regulated claims management services to new or existing clients.

Kevin Rousell, Head of the Claims Management Regulator said:

We will take firm action against claims businesses which engage in serious misconduct.

Seeking to encourage false claims will not be tolerated.

CMR, based at the Ministry of Justice, regulates companies that offer to help people claim compensation for issues such as personal injury and mis-sold financial products.

The action taken against Allsure Ltd is the latest in a series of moves by government to crackdown on fake sickness claims, following concerns from the travel industry of a surge in insurance claims for gastric illnesses like food poisoning being brought by British holidaymakers.

In July ministers stepped in to reduce cash incentives in bringing spurious claims against package holiday tour operators. Under these proposals tour operators would pay a prescribed sum depending on the value of the claim, making the cost of defending a claim predictable.

Notes

• during an audit, CMR identified potential systematic failings in Allsure Ltd’s sales scripts and call recordings
• following an investigation which commenced in February, Allsure Ltd was found to have breached the conduct rules when making marketing calls to consumer for holiday sickness claims by:
  • making false or unsubstantiated claims and misleading statements about the amounts due to consumers
  • trying to coach consumers in providing the answers needed to meet the criteria for making a claim
• Allsure Ltd is based in Preston, Lancashire and has been operating in the personal injury claims sector since 22 April 2014.
• information on the cancellation is available on the Justice website
• the business can appeal the cancellation of their authorisation, and they have 28 days to make their representations to the First-Tier Tribunal.
• in July ministers announced a crackdown on fake holiday sickness claims
• further information on the action CMR is taking to tackle misconduct in holiday sickness claims can be found in the CMR quarterly enforcement update

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Mr Babar Khan, of Mylis Close, Sydenham, London was convicted on 24 August 2017 at Southwark Crown Court of providing unregulated immigration advice and services. On 25 August 2017, Mr Khan was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment suspended for two years. He was ordered to perform 200 hours of unpaid work and was disqualified from holding any company directorship for eight years. He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £500.

Mr Khan was employed as a trainee solicitor. However, at the time of these offences he was not suitably qualified or regulated as required by law. He introduced himself as a solicitor to three clients and submitted immigration applications on their behalf. He charged fees for his services without disclosing that he was not qualified to do so. His misconduct came to light when a complaint was lodged with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC).

Sentencing Mr Khan, Her Honour Judge Korner QC said:

“Evidence heard in this case shows that you had no qualification whatsoever during the period of your activities, which goes back to 2012. The fact that your company was named Prime Legal Solicitors demonstrates that you intended to deceive people as you deliberately held yourself out to be a solicitor. For vulnerable applicants the right to remain in the UK is extremely important to them and their families. It is therefore equally important that they are represented by suitably qualified people. Immigration Tribunals in the UK are struggling to cope with the number of unmeritorious appeals because of illegal advisers like you. You took advantage of the desperation and vulnerability of these applicants. This is a seriously dishonest offence that crosses the custody threshold. There are no mitigating factors other than your hitherto good character.”

Speaking about the decision, the Immigration Services Deputy Commissioner Commissioner, Dr Ian Leigh said:

“The OISC is here to ensure that people seeking immigration advice are treated fairly by qualified people they can trust. Babar Khan chose to operate outside the law, and without regard for the protection of his clients. I am delighted with the outcome of this case, and I hope it sends a clear message to anyone considering providing unregulated immigration advice and services.”

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Following the Secretary of State’s request for advice and clarification in light of representations received in relation to the proposed merger between 21st Century Fox and Sky, Ofcom have, today, submitted additional advice to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State will now carefully consider that advice before making her decision on referral on the basis of all the evidence before her, and will do so as soon as is reasonably practicable. The Secretary of State’s request to Ofcom will be published in due course. Ofcom intends to publish its advice at the same time.

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Plans to upgrade the Bean and Ebbsfeet junctions on the A2 were put to the public between January and March this year, and today Highways England has announced the preferred route. Both junctions will have their capacity increased by adding new lanes to their existing roundabouts and slip roads. At Bean, a new bridge will be built over the A2 dual carriageway.

The upgraded junctions will help to support the creation of more than 30,000 new jobs and 15,000 new homes in Kent.

The announcement has been welcomed by the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, who today confirmed a £45m funding contribution for the project.

Highways England Project Manager Hugh Coakley said:

It’s great to see that there is clear backing for improvements to the junctions at Bean and Ebbsfleet, and I would like to thank everyone who took part in our consultation. There will be another opportunity for anyone interested in the scheme to have their say next year, when we put the final designs to people for their views.

Paul Spooner, Interim Chief Executive of the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, said:

This is a major commitment by us to ensure the A2 continues to move. With up to 15,000 new homes in Ebbsfleet Garden City, we are well aware the strain that could place on local traffic, particularly at these two junctions, and this money enables that work to now go-ahead.

With these improvements and a commitment from us to improve public transport in the area with a new upgraded Fastrack service, we are helping address those concerns and ensure traffic continues to flow as we see 5,100 homes completed here by 2021.

Ebbsfleet Development Corporation will recover its investment from developer contributions established in planning agreements for the development sites in the Garden City.

The proposed Bean junction improvements will broadly follow the existing road layout but include an additional bridge over the A2 next to the existing bridge, and a new slip road onto the A2 for eastbound traffic. The current roundabouts will be enlarged and converted to traffic signal control. A new bridge over the A2 for southbound traffic will be provided to the east of the existing Bean Lane overbridge, which will be retained for northbound traffic.

The improvements which have been proposed for the Ebbsfleet junction will again closely follow the existing road layout, with the existing roundabouts being enlarged and controlled by traffic signals. The link road between the roundabouts will be widened to a dual carriageway. The eastbound and westbound slip roads to the A2 will also be widened.

The scheme will help to increase capacity on the road network to accommodate future growth, improve journey times and smooth traffic through the junctions, as well as provide better facilities to non-motorised users, such as pedestrians, cyclists and horses.

A public consultation on the options was held from Wednesday 18 January 2017 to Wednesday 1 March 2017. A total of 169 responses were received during this consultation. A copy of the consultation report can be found on the Highways England website and copies of the announcement flyer are available online or at a variety of locations in the local area.

Anyone interested in the scheme can sign up to receive updates via the project page on the Highways England website where they can also find an animated visualisation outlining the preferred route.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

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The RoSPA Health and Safety Awards are among the world’s most prestigious safety accolades. They recognise our safety performance in 2016/17, a year in which we made significant progress in the clean-up of four of the most hazardous buildings in Europe.

Retrievals Director, John Oliver, said: “We have installed the first retrievals machine that will remove waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo, removed more than 50 tonnes of nuclear fuel from the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond and removed the first drum of radioactive sludge from the Pile Fuel Storage Pond.

“Completing this technically difficult work while maintaining an unrelenting focus on safety is a credit to our teams and the supply chain”.

Safety Director, Euan Hutton, said: “We take these awards as a badge of pride in our safety performance and, while we want to improve our safety performance, we are proud of the work our people have done to deserve these awards.

RoSPA judges consider entrants’ overarching occupational health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.

Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of awards and events, said: “The RoSPA Awards are the most prestigious in the world of occupational health and safety, and held in high regard around the world, as winning one demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to maintaining an excellent health and safety record. Achieving the standard required is no mean feat.”

Find out more about the RoSPA Health and Safety Awards

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