UK recruiter emerges from insolvency for third time, avoiding millions owed in tax

The Guardian - World NewsEN 3 min read 100% complete by Simon GoodleyMarch 7, 2026 at 02:00 PM

AI Summary

medium article 3 min

A UK recruitment business, involving Sert Group and Sert Training, has entered administration for the third time in four years, raising concerns about "phoenixism." The company was acquired by Meraki 6, an unconnected buyer, who insisted the previous management, including CEO Mark Edwards and CFO Ben Knight, remain in place. Edwards and Knight were also directors of two previous iterations of the business, 3R Global and Sert Workforce Solutions, which also went into administration. These insolvencies have left creditors, including HMRC, approximately £7.6 million out of pocket, with about £4.5 million owed to HMRC. The administrator's report indicates that other potential buyers withdrew their offers when the existing management insisted on working only with Meraki 6.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Tech City Labs 40% Meraki 6 40% Hampshire 50% 3R Global 60% United Kingdom ×270% Sert Group 70% Sert Workforce Solutions ×270% Ben Knight ×380% Mark Edwards ×380% HM Revenue and Customs ×280% Sert Training ×490%

Keywords

insolvency 90% phoenixism 80% recruitment business 70% hmrc 70% tax losses 60% administration 60% management 50% creditors 50% debts 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Very Negative

Score: -0.70

Source Transparency

Source

The Guardian - World News

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

United Kingdom

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis.

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

insolvency phoenixism recruitment business hmrc tax losses administration management creditors debts

Explore Full Topic Graph

Find Similar Articles

AI-Powered

Discover articles with similar content using semantic similarity analysis.