The Environment Agency (EA) has today launched a roadmap setting out practical actions to be taken over the next four years to tackle the growing threat of flooding from rivers, the sea, and surface water as well as coastal erosion.

The FCERM Strategy Roadmap builds on existing progress and sets out how we can be better prepared for the unavoidable impacts of climate change by ensuring the country is resilient and ready to respond and adapt to flooding and coastal change. The Environment Agency will be delivering the Roadmap with many partners including local authorities, local drainage boards, farmers, environmental groups, infrastructure providers and the insurance sector.

Delivery of the actions in the Roadmap will:

• Ensure that new homes will be safe from flooding.
• Maximise the use of nature to enhance flood and coastal resilience while aiding nature recovery.
• Improve the flood resilience of our roads, railways, and other vital national infrastructure.
• Ensure the delivery of environmental improvements and sustainable growth as part of flood and coastal projects.
• Enhance our flood forecasting and warning services to help people be better prepared to respond to flood events.
• Support building back better to reduce the damage and disruption caused by flooding.
• Work with communities and local partners to develop long term plans to manage future flooding and coastal change and adapt to future hazards.

This Roadmap has been launched today by Environment Agency Chief Executive Sir James Bevan and Floods Minister Rebecca Pow at the Flood and Coast Conference. It directly supports the implementation of the £5.2 billion capital investment programme which will better protect many hundreds of thousands of properties from flooding and coastal erosion by 2027.

Floods Minister Rebecca Pow said:

This roadmap sets out how we can build a more resilient nation. It will work alongside our record investment of £5.2 billion in flood and coastal defences between 2021 and 2027 to help better protect communities.

Climate change will only bring more extreme weather and this roadmap will spur on the timely action required to manage flood and coastal risk, help reduce the costly impacts and manage the risks to people’s homes and businesses across the country.

Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, said:

Climate change is happening now, and its impacts will continue to worsen. Rainfall patterns are changing, causing more frequent flooding, and while we continue to protect and prepare coastal communities from rising sea levels, it is inevitable that at some point some of our communities will have to move back from the coast.

We all need to adapt and become more resilient to these challenges, and this roadmap sets out actions that will be taken to do this over the next four years.

It will ensure that we make our communities more resilient to flooding and coastal change, so that when it does happen, it causes much less harm to people, does much less damage, and ensures life can get back to normal much quicker.

Key actions from the roadmap include:

• Developing a new national assessment of flood risk from rivers, the sea and surface water that will provide better data and mapping to inform future risk and investment decisions.
• Working with coastal groups to update the policies and actions in Shoreline Management Plans so they reflect adaptation to a changing climate.
• Working with national infrastructure providers, including National Highways and Network Rail, on joint investment opportunities to ensure national infrastructure is resilient to future flooding and coastal change.
• Working with Ofwat to ensure that water company assets are resilient and contribute to better flood risk outcomes.
• Working with Natural England, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, and other partners to collate evidence and case studies to help mainstream nature-based solutions that enhance flood and coastal resilience and nature recovery.
• Working with Flood Re and the insurance sector to develop a communications programme for homeowners to signpost advice and support on the benefits of property flood resilience.
• Developing new training materials with the Town and Country Planning Association to help improve skills and capabilities on flood risk and development planning.
• Working with the Environment Agency’s supply chain to ensure all flood and coastal projects adopt low carbon technologies that contribute to zero carbon targets.
• Continuing to improve the Environment Agency’s digital tools for people to check their flood risk and sign up to flood warnings.
• Working with Department for Education, schools, and children’s charities to improve young people’s knowledge of flood risk and climate change.

The publication of the Roadmap comes after the Environment Agency announced that it had exceeded its target in delivering the government’s £2.6 billion investment in flood and coastal defence schemes since 2015, better protecting more than 314,000 homes.

The Environment Agency is now working alongside partners to deliver on the government’s record investment of £5.2 billion in flood and coastal defences between 2021 and 2027, which will better protect hundreds of thousands more properties as well as avoid £32 billion of wider economic damages.

Adrian Benedict Sacco, 55 and originally from Malta, has been disqualified after running an umbrella payroll services company with links to the Isle of Man, potentially costing the public purse millions in unpaid income tax, National Insurance Contributions and Corporation Tax.

Sacco was sole director of Best Employment Services (BES), which was incorporated in March 2015 and provided umbrella payroll services to senior or specialist high-earning contractors across various sectors, such as engineering, IT or HR, who were often working on short-term projects or fixed contracts.

Its website advised contractors that, based on an income of £100,000, they could retain £90,000, compared to £75,000 if they declared earnings through a limited company, or £55,000 if they were taxed as a standard employee through Pay As You Earn (PAYE). Contractors paid a fee to BES for providing this service.

BES received payment from clients for its employees’ work as a normal supplier. However, instead of then paying its employees their wages with the appropriate tax deductions, it paid them a small amount through PAYE, and the remainder was paid out to them as a loan. Neither PAYE nor National Insurance was deducted and paid for the loan portion of employees remuneration as it should have been.

BES outsourced its administrative functions to a number of connected companies in the Isle of Man. BES’ profits from its fees were split between these companies on a monthly basis, meaning BES reduced its profits, and reduced its corporation tax liability. Sacco was also a co-owner of one of these companies, and received an income from it. The Insolvency Service investigation found a total of nearly £25 million paid to these companies by BES.

Some of the outstanding loans due from BES’ employees were transferred to Retentia Services Limited, a company registered in Anguilla, with a £20 million loan book being exchanged by BES for an indemnity agreement. This arrangement ensured BES retained fewer financial assets, and Sacco knew there were no claims for which the indemnity would ever have been liable. Retentia was dissolved before the loans fell due meaning the loans made by BES to its employees were never recovered, nor did BES ever pay the correct tax on its employees’ earnings.

Following the liquidation of BES in March 2019 after auditors flagged concerns regarding the 2017 accounts and which led to a claim by HMRC for £2.7m in relation to unpaid corporation tax, the High Court also approved the liquidators winding-up order for the company in Anguilla, and efforts are being made to recover funds.

At the point of liquidation, HMRC has outstanding claims of £4.1 million comprising corporation tax, PAYE, VAT and interest although this claim is expected to increase.

Adrian Sacco, who has previously been a director of several other payroll companies which have been dissolved or liquidated over this period, was aware that the business model was open to challenge from HMRC. In the subsequent Insolvency Service investigation, he confirmed that he had taken legal advice but not in specific relation to BES’ business model.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Adrian Sacco, after he admitted failing in his fiduciary duty as a director, and breaching the Companies Act 2006 by failing to act with reasonable care, skill and diligence by employing such a business model. His disqualification is effective from 24 May 2022 and lasts for eight years.

The disqualification undertaking prevents him from directly, or indirectly, becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

Mark Bruce, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service said:

Despite his awareness of the risks, Adrian Sacco has failed in his duties to his employees whilst wilfully abusing the tax system for his own personal benefit. He has shown complete contempt for taxpayers and to those his company was supposed to be providing a service to.

This disqualification should serve as a warning to any other company directors who may be tempted to operate similar business models and flout their obligations that they will be investigated and punished.

Notes to editors

Adrian Benedict Sacco is originally from Malta, and his date of birth is August 1966.

Best Employment Services Limited (Company number 09473810).

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions

Many umbrella companies are compliant with the tax rules but some use tax avoidance schemes. If you think the umbrella company you work for, or another employer, is not complying with the tax rules, you can report it to HMRC.

It is generally agreed that an umbrella company is a company that employs a temporary worker (an agency worker or contractor), often on behalf of an employment agency. The agency will then provide the services of the worker to their clients. Umbrella companies do not find work for the workers they employ. They can work differently but most umbrella companies employ workers using an employment contract which will set out your terms and conditions. This means the company must comply with employment law.

Further information about umbrella companies and tax avoidance is available through HMRC’s ‘Tax avoidance – don’t get caught out’ campaign, which helps contractors who are self-employed or employed through an agency or umbrella company to understand their pay arrangements, so they do not get an unexpected tax bill.

Information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct.

Contact Press Office

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson will bring together his Cabinet today and pledge to continue delivering on what matters to the British people.

He will call on Ministers to drive forward progress on the government’s priorities – easing financial pressures on families, making access to NHS care quicker and easier, making the streets safer and levelling up and uniting the country.

Speaking at Cabinet, he will set out his vision for the coming weeks, which will see government deliver new policy commitments that will continue to make a real difference to people’s lives. This will include measures to reduce childcare costs for parents and a renewed drive to get more people onto the housing ladder.

The Prime Minister will also thank dedicated NHS staff as he highlights the progress made by the biggest catch-up programme in the health service’s history.

The Health and Social Care Levy, announced by the government last year, promised £39 billion of investment over the next three years so the NHS has the funding it needs to recover from the pandemic, treat patients quickly and end spiralling social care costs.

This represents more funding for health and social care than any government has ever invested before.

This money is already making a difference, with the NHS confirming yesterday that 90 Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) are now open across the country and have delivered 1 million checks and tests on patients so far.

These centres are vital to clearing the Covid backlogs because by identifying and diagnosing problems as early as possible, patients can progress to treatment and care more quickly, which will reduce waiting lists.

Speaking ahead of Cabinet, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

“This is a government that delivers on what the people of this country care about most.

“We have pledged £37 billion to support households with their finances, made our communities safer through hiring 13,500 more police officers, and tackled the Covid backlogs in the NHS by opening nearly 100 Community Diagnostic Centres so people can access care closer to home.

“Today, I pledge to continue delivering on these priorities. We are on the side of hard-working British people, and we are going to get on with the job.”