IF Forum: Howard Kennedy
Our thanks to Howard Kennedy, for hosting our meeting on 14 November 2019 at their magnificent offices at 1 London Bridge, which boast spectacular views across the Thames to the City, and are only a stone’s throw from iconic landmarks like the Shard, Southwark Cathedral and Borough market. Howard Kennedy is a full-service law firm, specialising in providing straightforward advice to entrepreneurial businesses and individuals on domestic and international matters. Based in London, but with 25% of its business international, its services span banking and finance, capital markets, Immigration, family law commercial and IP, in sectors that include energy, media and entertainment, retail, sports and leisure, private wealth and real estate.
Alan Kaufman is a Consultant at Howard Kennedy. He is a collaborative lawyer and mediator who specialises in heavy weight family law disputes. He was a Partner and Head of Family Law at Finers Stephens and Innocent before their merger with Howard Kennedy and was previously Managing Partner at Forsythe Saunders Kerman.
He has many years’ experience acting in multi-million pound matrimonial settlements, for wealthy business people, and high profile media, entertainment and sports personalities, and their spouses. He recounted that he has acted for every member of Dire Straits, but if you really want high profile, he is 'the man who might have brought down the monarchy'. He had, he told us, been only hours from filing on behalf of Julia Carling in her divorce proceedings with English rugby captain Will, which named Lady Diana, as co-respondent. While no pressure was brought upon him not to do so, we can only wonder how things might have turned out had the suit been filed?
Dominic Sears is the Managing Director of Suttongate Consulting, a West Midlands based Finance and Business management service which sets out to help companies de-mystify their finances and achieve long-term, sustainable growth and profitability. Working mostly with SME’s he has a wide range of experience in business finance, management, strategic planning and leadership in a variety of sectors. Through robust financial management and control he delivers the clarity needed to support confident decision making thus freeing up the managers and owners' time, to focus on growing and developing their business.
He set out how his practice has grown through the recommendations of banks, solicitors, private equity firms, and corporate finance specialists, recalling recent examples of how he had sourced finance for a Birmingham law firm to fund expansion; for an engineering company in West Bromwich to fund an MBO, and for an entrepreneurial MOT centre, parts and peripheral sales businesses to fund a hefty HMRC tax assessment. In addition he outlined how he has advised on IVA's, CVA's and bankruptcy, and gave us his views on the financial controls and reporting needed to help prevent such situations.
Before setting up his practice, Dominic had over 20 years' experience in a variety of senior financial management positions, including seven years as a finance director. This experience, and his many years as a company director could not be a sounder basis from which to provide commercial and pragmatic advice to his clients.
Emma Revie is Chief Executive of The Trussell Trust which partners with local communities to sustain a nationwide network of food banks to provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty, and campaigns for change to end the need for food banks in the UK.
Emma has worked in the charity sector for over 20 years and told us how her passion and compassion has been shaped entirely by her parents. She spoke movingly of how her father had experienced hunger and abuse as a young person but had always stepped up to right a wrong; and of her mother's ability always to show compassion while raising a large family.
More than 14 million people including 4.5 million children are living in poverty in the UK. The Trust supports more than 1,200 food bank centres across the country to provide a minimum of three days’ nutritionally-balanced emergency food to people who have been referred in crisis. The Trust's aim is to end hunger and poverty in the UK, and as Emma says "You get up each day trying to put yourself out of business”.
Sadly, that goal has become increasingly challenging. Between April 2018 and March 2019, the Trust's food banks provided a record 1.6 million food parcels to people in crisis - a 19% increase on the previous year, and an increase of from 61,000 only 8 years ago. The Trusts estimates that up to 2% of UK households used a food bank in 2018/2019. The risk of food insecurity is higher amongst those on a low income, the unemployed, younger people, single parent families, households which rent and people affected by ill health. It is estimated 94% of those using a food bank meet the definition for being destitute with a weekly income of around £50 p.w.
Evidence suggests that the demand for food parcels has mainly resulted from:-
The inadequacy of benefits; gaps and reductions. For example: drops In benefit income due to the “bedroom tax” and the five week wait for Universal Credit; being sanctioned; being turned down for disability benefit, and having money taken off benefits to repay debt.
Challenging life experiences or ill health. For example: eviction, divorce, loss of job or disability.
Lack of informal Support. The vast majority of people referred to food banks had exhausted support from family or friends, had a resource poor network, or could not access support due to social isolation.
The Trussell Trust has engaged in a significant campaign to end the five week wait for Universal Credit. Now Emma says, “very effective communications channels” are in place, and the Trust has had recent success – alongside many other organisations – in demonstrating how the flawed design and implementation of Universal Credit has been driving debt, hunger, ill-health and eviction among the poorest claimants. That forced the government to introduce a few relatively minor tweaks to the system. It is too early however, to tell whether these have had any effect on food bank use.
It would be hard not to feel shame that in our twenty first century society, hunger is the cause for so many people to be thrown upon the charity of others; nor to feel humble at the compassion and commitment of people such as Emma and the many others who seek to eliminate it.