The following list provides new contact details and dates for Insolvency Service offices that have moved location or merged with other offices.

Up to date Official Receiver contact information)

Southend office moved on 28 October 2022

The Southend office closed on Friday 28 October 2022.

Colleagues have moved to our London office](https://intranet.insolvency.gov.uk/London%20office) in Stratford

16th Floor, 1 Westfield Ave
London
E20 1HZ
United Kingdom

Contact telephone numbers remain unchanged

Reading office moved on 7 August 2017

The Reading office moved to new premises on 7 August 2017.

The new address is:

DX 327001 Reading 34

The telephone and fax numbers remain unchanged

Norwich office closes and merges with Ipswich office on 28 November 2014

OR Norwich will close on Friday 28 November 2014 at 12.00pm and will merge with OR Ipswich. The contact details of OR Ipswich will remain the same. The Norwich main line will be diverted to Ipswich from 5pm Thursday 27 November 2014. The line will remain live and the divert in place for the following three months. OR Ipswich contact details are as follows:

Telephone: 01473 217565 Fax: 01473 230430 DX 3242 Ipswich 1 DX Email: Ipswich.OR@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk

Hull office closes 14 November 2014

With effect from Friday 14th November 2014 the Hull office will be closing. After this date all enquiries should be directed to the Leeds office, the address is :

Telephone Number: 0113 200 6000 Fax Number: 0113 200 6099 e-mail: Leeds.OR@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk

Gloucester office closing 31 October 2014

With effect from midday on Friday 31st October 2014 the Gloucester office will be closing. After this date all enquiries should be directed to the Bristol office, the address of which is:

Telephone No 0117 9279515 Fax No 0117 9275299 e-mail: Bristol.OR@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk

Sheffield office relocating (October 2014)

On the 6 October 2014, the Official Receiver’s office at 5th Floor, The Balance, Pinfold Street, Sheffield S1 2GU will relocate.

Post is being redirected to OR Leeds. Telephone numbers have been updated on the staff directory.

The switchboard number is 0113 200 6000.

The new address is:

OR St Albans closing and moving to the London office (September 2014)

The Official Receiver’s office at St Albans will close on 19 September at 12:00 midday. Its staff and business will transfer to the London office.

The St Albans office currently deals with insolvencies from the County Courts at St Albans, Luton and Aylesbury and this work will be now dealt with at the London office.

In readiness for the closure, the office will be operating an answerphone only service from Wednesday 17 September.

To contact the Official Receiver from 22 September, the address will be:

Telephone 020 7637 1110 and ask for the person dealing with the case.

Stoke office closes and merges with Manchester office. July 2014

OR Stoke will close on Friday 4 July 2014 and will merge with OR Manchester on the following Monday, 7 July.

The contact details of OR Manchester will remain the same. The Stoke main line will be diverted to Manchester from 13:00 Friday 04 July 2014. The line will remain live and the divert in place for the following three months. Manchester OR contact details are as follows:

Telephone: 0161 234 8500

LTADT Stoke will move to Manchester on the same day. The switchboard number is the same as for OR Manchester.

IES in Stoke will also relocate on 07 July 2014 to the Midlands & West IES unit based on the 3rd Floor of Cannon House, Birmingham, B4 6FD. Tel: 0121 698 4000.

Leicester office closes and merges with Nottingham office. June 2014

OR Leicester will close on Friday 6 June 2014 and will merge with OR Nottingham on the following Monday, 9 June.

The contact details of OR Nottingham will remain the same. The Leicester main line will be diverted to Nottingham from 13:00 Friday 6 June 2014. The line will remain live and the divert in place for the following three months.

Telephone: 0115 852 5000

LTADT Swansea office and South Wales in Swansea office move. May 2014

Our LTADT Swansea and Official Receiver South Wales in Swansea moved to Companies House Cardiff on 23 May 2014 and has been operational since Tuesday 27 May 2014. The Swansea site closed at 12.00 noon and the Cardiff office at 3pm.

LTADT Swansea’s new address is:

Tel: 02920 380178

OR South Wales is now at one location:

Tel. 029 2038 1300

Northampton office closes and merges with Birmingham office. April 2014

The telephone numbers for Northampton have been terminated and all callers will be directed to Birmingham.

From Monday 14 April, the work previously carried out at Northampton will be dealt with at our Birmingham office. This will generally include all bankruptcy and compulsory liquidation work arising from the Northampton, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Banbury County Courts.

Any queries relating to former Northampton insolvencies can be referred to BirminghamB.OR@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk or to the switchboard at Birmingham: 0121 698 4000.

Our new address:

DX 713901 BIRMINGHAM 37

Medway and Canterbury merge. December 2013

Our offices in Medway and Canterbury are merging and relocating. The Medway office closed on Friday 6 December and the Canterbury office and LTADT based at Canterbury close on Friday 13 December. Canterbury and LTADT can be contacted at the current numbers until Friday 13 December.

The new Medway office address is:

All staff will be operating from the new office from Monday 16 December.

The new switchboard number will be 01634 894700 but the current Medway number, 01634 895700, will continue to be operational.

The LTADT will have direct dial numbers but can be contacted via the office reception number which will then direct callers to LDADT.

DX numbers for the time being remain the same.

Cambridge office moves. Novemer 2013

Our Cambridge office moved on Friday 29th November 2013.

New office address:

The office telephone numbers remain the same.

Chester office merges with Liverpool office changing name to OR Birkenhead. November 2013

The Chester office leaves its current premises on Friday 29th November and moves in to its new premises on Monday 2nd December.

The new address is:

The office will have new telephone and fax numbers from 12pm on Friday 29th November:

Telephone 0151 666 0220 Fax: 0151 666 0290

The office will be closed from 12pm on Friday 29th November. Callers will be redirected to the Birkenhead office where the public can seek assistance.

Liverpool office changing name to OR Birkenhead. November 2013

The Liverpool office leaves its current premises on Friday 22nd November and moves in to its new premises on Monday 25th November.

The new address is:

The office will have new telephone and fax numbers from 12pm on Friday 22nd November:

Telephone 0151 666 0220 Fax: 0151 666 0290

The office will be closed from 12pm on Friday 22nd November. Telephones will be diverted to the Chester office switchboard where the public can seek assistance. If messages are left, Liverpool staff will pick up those messages on Monday or Tuesday the following week.

Brighton office. November 2013

The Brighton office leaves its current premises on Friday 8 November 2013 and moves in to its new premises on Monday 11 November 2013.

The new address is:

The office will have new telephone and fax numbers from Monday 11 November: Telephone 01273 224100 Fax: 01273 224135

The DX number remains unchanged.

Southend office. October 2013

On 14 October 2013, the Official Receiver’s office at Southend relocated.

Post is being redirected. Telephone numbers remain unchanged.

The new address is:

Stockton office moves and merges with Newcastle office. August 2013

On 19 August 2013 the Official Receiver’s office at Stockton relocated and merged with our Newcastle office. This follows a public consultation held between 27 March and 22 June 2012.

From 19 August 2013 the work previously carried out at Stockton will be dealt with at our Newcastle office. This will generally include all bankruptcy and compulsory liquidation work arising from the Darlington, Durham and Middlesbrough County Courts. Any queries relating to former Stockton insolvencies can be referred to Newcastle.OR@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk or to the switchboard at Newcastle: 0191 260 4600

Telephones and post are currently being redirected.

The Newcastle address is:

Bournemouth office relocated and merged with Southampton office. July 2013

On 12 July 2013 the Official Receiver’s office at Bournemouth relocated and merged with our Southampton office. This follows a public consultation held between 27 March and 22 June 2012.

From 15 July 2013 the work previously carried out at Bournemouth will be dealt with at our Southampton office. This will generally include all bankruptcy and compulsory liquidation work arising from the Bournemouth, Salisbury and Weymouth County Courts. Any queries relating to former Bournemouth insolvencies can be referred to Southampton.OR@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk or to the switchboard at Southampton: 0238 083 1600.

Telephones and post are currently being redirected.

The Southampton address is:

Shafique Uddin, also known as Sofiq Uddin, was the director of Kazitula Limited. The company traded as Shafiques, a restaurant and takeaway on Goring Road in Worthing, West Sussex.

The company behind the restaurant, however, went into liquidation in April 2017 but Kazitula Limited’s insolvency triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Investigators uncovered that for nearly 7 years between April 2010 and January 2017 Shafique Uddin caused Kazitula Limited to file inaccurate tax returns.

This meant the restaurant underdeclared and underpaid taxes in the region of £320,000.

On 14 October 2022 in the High Court of Justice, Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Mullen made an 8-year disqualification order against Shafique Uddin.

When making the order, Judge Mullen said that “Mr Uddin caused the company to file inaccurate tax returns over nearly 7 years. It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that this was for personal gain. No other reason for concealing sales is offered.”

Effective from 4 November 2022, Shafique Uddin is banned for 8 years from directly, or indirectly, becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

Lawrence Zussman, Deputy Head of Company Investigations at the Insolvency Service, said:

Considering that the suppression of the restaurant’s takings took place over 7 years, it is clear that Shafique Uddin knowingly caused the company to renege on the taxes it owed.

Much of the public service is funded by the correct amount of taxes being paid and that’s what makes Shafique Uddin’s misconduct all the more serious. The court recognised the severity of his actions and have removed Shafique Uddin from the corporate environment for a substantial amount of time.

Shafique Uddin is from Worthing and his date of birth is April 1959.

Kazitula Limited (Company Reg no. 04812053).

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.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

Primary-age children are referred to alternative provision when schools are unable to manage their physically or verbally violent behaviour, with negative effects on other children and staff. Around 7,000 primary-age children in England are currently known to be in AP. While this is a small proportion of all primary pupils, the number has risen by over a quarter in the last 5 years.

To understand this increase, Ofsted research explored the role that AP plays in the education system and the reasons primary-age children are referred there in the first place. It also looked at the challenges schools and APs face in supporting young children with additional needs, and how they work together to re-integrate them into mainstream education where possible.

Ofsted’s study, published today, found that most primary-age pupils only stayed in AP for a few weeks or months, and usually attended part time. However, some children with additional needs stay in AP for years while they wait for a special school place, and AP staff may be unable to meet their needs fully in the meantime. This absence of appropriate teaching and specialist support could have long-term consequences for these vulnerable children.

Primary school staff told Ofsted that the strain on specialist services nationally – exacerbated by the pandemic – has made it more difficult to support pupils with special educational needs. Limited access to professional help, such as speech and language therapists or educational psychology services, could be leading to more AP referrals and potentially more permanent exclusions.

Study participants also told Ofsted:

• Children were referred to an AP when their schools’ support strategies had not worked – either because of a lack of training, funding or facilities. Support strategies also became ineffective when relationships between parents and school staff broke down. In these cases, an AP referral was sometimes used as a ‘circuit breaker’ to repair relationships, with the AP acting as a mediator between the school and parents, while supporting the child.

• School staff believed pupils’ violent behaviour often stemmed from difficult home lives or undiagnosed SEND. A large majority of children in the study had social, emotional and /or health needs. This aligns with national statistics on pupils referred to AP.

• Staff had high expectations for pupils’ progress and outcomes, and most were expected to return to school. For other children, schools and APs worked together to identify the right future setting, such as a special school.

• Schools saw outreach work by APs to be important for the early identification of children’s needs, preventing an escalation in behaviour and helping retain pupils in mainstream education. However, AP staff said that funding arrangements affect the amount of outreach work they can do.

• Some APs had specialist teams on site, so that pupils’ needs could be understood and addressed quickly. APs may also extend help to families, because some parents of children in AP have their own emotional, cognitive or learning needs.

• All parents involved in the research said their child’s behaviour and academic work had improved since joining an AP, but some were unsure whether AP could substantially ‘change’ their child’s behaviour or lead to them have a happy and full life after leaving AP.

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman, said:

It seems shocking that primary age children, as young as five, could be taken out of school for violent behaviour. But, as our study shows, AP can be a positive choice for these children and play a transformative role in their young lives.

But limited access to external services, and lengthy waiting times for a special school place, mean some vulnerable children languish for years in APs that cannot provide the specialist support they need. And the consequences for these children may last well into their adult lives.

Today’s report states that a high-quality curriculum and high-quality teaching are crucial in preventing pupils’ needs from developing or worsening. Teachers would also benefit from improved access to appropriate external services, and opportunities to develop the right knowledge and skills. This could allow more mainstream schools to support pupils with additional needs, avoiding an AP referral or exclusion.

Notes to editors

1. AP can include state-funded pupil referral units and AP free schools or academies, or local authority commissioned AP provided by independent schools, further education colleges or tuition centres. It encompasses a variety of services, including off-site full or part-time provision, specialist provision within mainstream schools, and outreach work – where AP staff observe a pupil in a mainstream school and help the school put new strategies in place to support them.

2. For the research, Ofsted visited 10 primary schools, 8 APs, 1 SEMH school and 5 local authorities between September and November 2021. Interviews were held with staff in all these settings, as well as 8 parents of pupils in AP. Due to the small sample size, the findings are not representative of the experiences of all pupils, schools or APs in England.

3. Ofsted inspections show that most registered APs keep pupils safe and provide a good standard of education. However, not all APs are required to register with the Department for Education, meaning they are not subject to any direct oversight. And some APs that should be registered are not. Inspectors have found low standards of education in unregistered settings, along with a range of safeguarding concerns, including failures to carry out the required checks on staff.