Situl Raithatha, Director of Springfields Business Recovery & Insolvency Limited and Paul Clark of MCR were appointed as Joint Administrators of Medicentres (UK) Limited on 25 July 2011. On appointment, a sale for the business and assets of the Company was completed simultaneously to General Medical Clinics PLC.

Medicentres (UK) Ltd operates in the private health sector providing occupational health services and walk-in medical services based out of six leasehold premises in London. With over 50% of its clients consisting of walk-ins, the remainder of its client base comprised of around 50 corporate customers, it was one of the best-known brands in the market.

At the time of its Administration, Medicentres (UK) Ltd had around 50 employees including 10 qualified doctors and 5 nurses.

General Medical Clinics PLC is a well-established provider of primary care in the City of London and the West End specialising in providing general practice, health screening services, occupational health programmes, physiotherapy, and nurse-led functions such as travel vaccinations.

Paul Clark of MCR, stated: “Medicentres is a very well known brand in London delivering walk-in healthcare services including primary care, occupational health services, STD advice, travel vaccinations and health assessments. Its six sites are all based in and around major travel hubs including Liverpool Street, Paddington and Victoria stations. Given this profile, and its foothold in the West End and mainline stations it made an ideal acquisition for General Medical Clinics PLC.

Situl Raithatha of Springfields Business Recovery and Insolvency Limited, added: “The sale of Medicentres (UK) Ltd to General Medical Clinics PLC delivered the best outcome for employees and customers alike.  The purchase included all six leasehold premises and therefore secures the future delivery of walk-in medical services throughout the capital, while ensuring that there is no break in service or treatments.

Jerry Appleyard, CEO General Medical Clinics PLC stated: “Following this acquisition we will now operate from 10 locations based in the City, West End and Waterloo, with pro forma annual turnover of £9.4 million,”

“We believe that the joining of the two companies together makes General Medical Clinics PLC the largest independent private primary care medical company offering services to patients in the Greater London area,” he concluded.

The Payments Council has been consulting on the proposed phasing out of cheques. This exercise was originally expected to be completed by 2018.

However, the timetable was thrown into doubt in the light of concerns expressed by the Treasury Select Committee in June 2011. In a major change of policy, the Payments Council has now announced that cheques will continue after all. In a statement issued on 12 July, the Payments Council said:

‘Given the continued confusion and alarm that the target date on cheques is causing customers and organisations alike, the Payments Council has decided that cheques should continue for as long as customers need them and the target for possible closure of the cheque clearing in 2018 has been cancelled.’

Increases in the amounts payable under the Employment Rights Act came into effect on 1 February 2011.

The following changes to the limits to payments made under the insolvency provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996 came into effect on 1 February 2011:

• The limit on the weekly amount payable under the insolvency provisions of the Act is increased to £400.
• The limit on the statutory guarantee payment payable to employees laid off work is increased to £22.20 a day.
• The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal is increased to £68,400.
• The maximum amount of a week’s pay for calculating the basic or additional award for unfair dismissal or for redundancy payment is increased to £400.

For details see the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2010 (SI 2010/2926), which is available here:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/3055/made