Safestyle UK owed £30m at time of collapse

Subsidiaries of Yorkshire-based window installation giant Safestyle UK owed more than £30m to customers, staff, suppliers and the taxman when the firm collapsed, The Yorkshire Post can reveal.

Around 700 jobs were lost as a result of three subsidiaries of the Bradford headquartered company being placed into administration at the end of October, with the intention of the business being wound down.

At the time Barnsley East MP Stephanie Peacock said it was “absolutely appalling” staff from its Wombwell manufacturing factory were told in the car park they had all lost their jobs. Union GMB blamed “mismanagement” for the firm’s failure.

More details about its collapse have now come to light.
Statement of affairs on the financial positions of the three Safestyle UK’s subsidiaries - HPAS Limited, Style Group Holdings Limited and Style Group UK Limited - have now been published, detailing the amounts owed to creditors.

Across the three subsidiaries, HMRC are owed £11.9m, trade creditors £11.8m and staff £4.2m. A further £1.6m debt to customers is also listed along with £3.9m to unspecified creditors. The total owed across those five groups comes to £33.6m, with further sums such as healthcare deductions and employee court orders also outstanding.

It is too early to say what return, if any, those owed money will get back but further reports detailing proposals by administrators Interpath are due to be filed in the coming weeks.

However, across the three subsidiaries the shortfall between realisable assets and what is owed stands at over £29m - meaning many creditors are unlikely to receive anything back at the end of the administration process.