PRESIDENT

Neil Jinks FCICM IRRV
Brand Ambassador
Controlaccount

Neil is a Corporate Member of the IRRV based on his extensive work in the public sector, particularly in relation to local government sundry debts, revenues and
recoveries through pre-legal debt collection, litigation, and judgment enforcement. He is a debt litigation and enforcement specialist who has been involved in the
management and development of legal debt recovery operations for several leading legal businesses in a career spanning over 36 years. He has also worked for a
number of the largest companies in the High Court Enforcement sector and HMCTS.

Neil is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) and Chair of CICM’s Executive Board and Advisory Council. He is also Vice Chair of the Civil
Court Users Association (CCUA). Recommended for Debt Recovery in the Legal 500 across several regions with experience across all sectors. Also recognised by the
Credit 500 Index as one of the most influential people working in consumer and commercial credit.

He is the Brand Ambassador for Controlaccount, a business founded over 45 years ago and a member of the Broadriver group of companies. A trusted partner to central and local government, global brands, SMEs, and not-for-profit companies. The group delivers a wide range of debt recovery, order to cash, business process outsourcing and other ancillary services such as conducting trace enquiries and supplying business information.

 

 

VICE-PRESIDENT

Clare McCormick IRRV MBA
Partner
Cushman & Wakefield

Clare joined the rating team at Cushman & Wakefield in 2014 as a Senior Business Rates Manager. Prior to this, she spent 18 years working for a number of local authorities in Northamptonshire dealing with all aspects of revenues, including non-domestic rates and council tax, providing an insight to local authority policies and procedures and the challenges faced by both local authorities and ratepayers.

Currently responsible for the Business Rates Finance Team in the Birmingham office as well as the account management of key investor and occupier clients, historic rates audit service, advising and implement mitigation strategies, and identifying and developing new business opportunities.

Consistently one of the department's highest fee earners generating income through audit, mitigation, discretionary relief applications and identifying CCA opportunities.

Successfully led Cushman & Wakefield’s submission and presentation in winning the 2019 IRRV Excellence in Non-Domestic Rates.

 

 

SECRETARY

Andrew Ludwig BA (Hons) FIRRV AIoL

Andrew’s first job in local government was working in Leicester City Council’s benefits office in 1983. He studied modern history at Keble College, Oxford between 1983 and 1986, and after a brief sojourn in Hertfordshire he and his partner (now wife) Catherine moved to the Black Country so she could take up a trainee accountant post at Dudley MBC. Found a temporary job in revenues to ease her move, he ended up staying a further 14 years, working his way from the rates office through a variety of roles, including research officer, council tax project co-ordinator and committals team leader.

In 2002 he moved to Birmingham City Council as a court officer, representing the council in liability order and committal proceedings in the magistrates’ court and at the valuation tribunal. In 2007 he broadened his experience and understanding by becoming involved in developing the use of bankruptcy and charging order as alternatives to committal as enforcement tools.

In April 2011 he became part of the Revenues Client Team at Birmingham, carrying out the retained functions of representing the council in committal proceedings and tribunal cases while expanding his role into the assessment of applications for rate reliefs, drafting and reviewing procedures, researching and providing briefing notes on a broad range of issues, and dealing with complex complaints, MP/councillor enquiries and information requests. Following his appointment as team manager in 2015 his main focus became monitoring the contract with Service Birmingham, the council’s joint venture with Capita. The operation was brought back in-house in February 2017, and Andrew was a Section Manager working on a number of projects to improve the service from 2017 to 2021.

From May 2021 to December 2022 he was Income Team Manager at Solihull MBC, where he led the team responsible for the billing, collection and recovery of council tax, business rates, sundry debt and overpaid housing benefit.

He retired from full-time local government work in January 2023 and is currently taking a break before considering possible future roles. He remains active within the IRRV as a member of the Local Taxation & Revenues faculty board, a regular contributor to Insight, Secretary of the Association Representatives group and an attender and speaker at conferences and other events. He is also digitising the Association's archive.

A member of the West Midlands Executive Committee in the early 2000s, he rejoined in 2009 and has served as Secretary from 2010 to date, except during his Presidential year in 2014-15.

 

TREASURER & EDUCATION LIAISON OFFICER

Allan Traynor FCCA IRRV (Hons)

Allan is a qualified accountant and spent 39 years in Scottish local government during which he was responsible for a range of finance functions including revenues and benefits services. On his retiral from local government in 2008 he became self-employed based in the Midlands delivering consultancy and training.

He joined the Institute in 1987 and was a member of the Institute Council from 1989 until 2022. He was national President in 2006/07 and is a past President of both the Scottish and West Midlands Associations. He is currently the Institute’s Honorary Treasurer and Education Liaison Officer.

He has a particular interest in education and training and has for many years been a distance learning tutor, currently covering Revenues Administration at Honours level. He also continues to deliver training for the Institute specialising in debt management.

 

COMMITTEE MEMBER

Dylan Pratt
Associate Director
Colliers

 

 

COMMITTEE MEMBER
Chris Lander IRRV (Hons)
Revenues Manager
South Staffordshire Council

Chris started at South Staffordshire Council in 2009 as a Revenues Assistant before progressing to a Revenues Officer in 2010. He successfully completed the IRRV (Tech) qualification and continued to excel at the council, becoming Revenues Team Leader in 2012 before progressing further to become Revenues Manager in 2015 with responsibility for all aspects of council tax and business rates.

 

 

COMMITTEE MEMBER

Michelle Kettles IRRV (Hons) ACMI
Welfare and Benefit Manager
South Staffordshire Council

Michelle has worked in local government since 1990 and is currently the Welfare and Benefit Team Manager at South Staffordshire Council, where she has been since 2007. She leads the Welfare Support and Benefit teams, providing essential assistance to vulnerable residents in the community. Michelle has successfully managed several “into work” programmes designed to help individuals overcome barriers, improve skills, and gain employment; these programmes have received national awards, including IRRV Excellence in Social Inclusion, Innovation and Partnership Working. With extensive experience, Michelle is passionate about her teams’ performance and remains focused on ensuring effective delivery of support and services to the community.

 

 

COMMITTEE MEMBER

Matt Eden
Client Relationship Manager
Dukes Bailiffs Limited

Matt joined Dukes in August 2022 as a Client Relationship Manager, bringing a fresh perspective to the industry while leveraging his decade of experience in client management. Enthusiastic and driven, Matt has quickly embraced his role and is eager to deepen his expertise in the industry.

Before joining Dukes, Matt spent eight successful years in Client Services with a fuel card provider based in Cheshire, where he honed his skills in building strong client relationships and delivering exceptional service.

In his current role, Matt is actively engaged with clients across the Midlands, North, and South of the UK. You’ll often find him at industry events and conferences nationwide, building connections and staying at the forefront of industry developments.

Committed to his professional growth and industry knowledge, Matt is set to complete the TCOG qualification in early 2025, further solidifying his expertise and dedication to the field.

 

 

COMMITTEE MEMBER

Darren Smith
Head Of Transformation
Liberata

A highly driven and energetic professional dedicated to driving positive change and fostering innovation, with a proven track record in leading transformative initiatives, Darren thrives when identifying opportunities for growth, streamlining processes, and implementing cutting-edge solutions. His passion lies in creating positive change whilst empowering teams to embrace change and achieve exceptional results.

 

 

 

 

AUDITOR
Catherine Ludwig MA (Oxon) IPFA
Finance Manager
Dudley MBC

 

The Association (Branch as it was originally) was established in 1933. Our records go back as far as 1935, but we do have a few gaps for the period 1999 to 2007 so any help filling them would be much appreciated!

Start year	Name
2021	Clare McCormick
2017	Neil Jinks
2016	Kelly Weaver
2015	Allan Traynor
2014	Andrew Ludwig
2012	Amrik Boghan
2011	Janice Evans
2009	Anne Bradbury
2007	Sue Williams-Lee
2006	Barry Powell
2004	Dee Bough
2002	Ian Ferguson
2001	Rob Wolfe
2000	Roger Burton
1999	Bob Trahern
1998	Rob Appleby BA IRRV
1997	Paul Russell IRRV
1996	Peter Clark ARICS IRRV
1995	John Hewitson BA IRRV
1994	Hazel Bridgewater IRRV
1993	Colin Vines IRRV
1992	David Airey IRRV
1991	Peter Slack IRRV
1990	Margaret Johnson IRRV
1989	Bob Dalby FRVA
1988	John Jones FRVA
1987	Richard Barker FRICS FRVA
1986	Peter Adley FRVA
1985	John Owen FRICS FRVA
1984	Reba Smith FRVA
1983	Jeff Swann ARICS ARVA
1982	Bernard Speakman FRVA
1981	Jim Barnfield FRVA
1980	Rupert Butterell ARICS ARVA
1979	Brian Belton FRVA
1978	J A Mackay FRVA
1977	D J Lambon FRVA
1976	Alan Causer FRICS FRVA
1975	J T Howe
1974	A W Lakins ARVA
1973	J Monkman FRICS FRVA
1972	P L Whitehouse
1971	Barry Wheeler
1970	S D Fletcher
1969	J R Burton
1968	L Hounsell FRICS FAI FRVA
1967	A R Hopkins
1966	Jim Barnfield
1965	W G H  Haigh
1964	H J Wright
1963	W J Titterton
1962	H Bewlay
1961	F H Stickley
1960	F H Pardoe
1959	A R Harvey
1958	W A F V Marston
1957	W Budd
1956	C D Bailey
1955	G F Linley
1954	G T A Nash
1953	W F Handley
1950	T H Fieldhouse
1949	F Gilbert
1946	J H Clark
1939	S R Wright
1935	D R Guest
1933	(not known)

This will be the third of our weekly lunchtime Teams drop-in sessions - hope you can join us!

These sessions are open to all IRRV members, whether members of the West Midlands Association or not. If you have not already received an invitation, please email us at irrvwma@googlemail.com and we will add you to the group so you can join future sessions.

The invitation will run to the end of March as a recurring Wednesday lunchtime appointment, with individual sessions cancelled where appropriate/necessary.

We realise that not everyone works on Wednesday, so we are open to changing the day for some of the sessions - please let us know if you would like us to do this.

We are also looking to invite non-members to individual sessions to promote the Association and the Institute generally, so if you're not already on our mailing list and would like to be kept updated then just drop us an e-mail and we'll add you.

We had our second weekly Teams drop-in session on Wednesday, and it went really well!

We were joined by more than a dozen colleagues, and as advertised we talked about the recent case involving Trafford Council and their CTR scheme, and how the outcome could have been avoided.

We also discussed the pros and cons of working from home, local government reorganisation, smaller v larger authorities, the Valuation Office Agency, and the excellent IRRV technical query service.

Those who attended will be receiving a summary of our discussions via email, AI-generated by a clever Teams add-in called Teams Maestro that accompanied Richard Moore to the session.

These sessions are open to all IRRV members, whether members of the West Association or not. If you have not already received an invitation, please email us at irrvwma@googlemail.com and we will add you to the group so you can join future sessions.

The invitation will run to the end of March as a recurring Wednesday lunchtime appointment, with individual sessions cancelled where appropriate/necessary.

We realise that not everyone works on Wednesday, so we are open to changing the day for some of the sessions - please let us know if you would like us to do this.

We are also looking to invite non-members to individual sessions to promote the Association and the Institute generally, so if you're not already on our mailing list and would like to be kept updated then just drop us an e-mail and we'll add you.

The IRRV West Midlands Association is holding its first-ever online drop-in session in a couple of weeks' time, and we'd love you to join in!

The plan is for a series of hour-long weekly lunchtime sessions that will give members the opportunity to meet the Exec, catch up with each other, exchange ideas, find out what the Association is doing, and feed into our future activities. This is an idea we first had during lockdown, so we're pleased to finally be bringing it to you.

The first one will be pretty open-ended, but we're thinking that for future sessions we could dedicate some of the time to an issue of current interest - and one of the main things to come out of this first session can be ideas for topics.

We'd love to know your thoughts on this, including

• whether you can make the first session
• what you think of the idea in general
• whether you'd be likely attend regularly if you're available
• if so, whether this day/time slot is best for you
• suggested topics for discussion, including technical issues, practical problems, workplace scenarios etc.

If you do intend to join us, please let us know as soon as possible so we have an idea of numbers. Here's the link to join the meeting:

Click here to join the meeting

 

The Association's next event is a business rates day on Friday 1 August 2025 at the offices of WSP GL Hearn at the Mailbox in Birmingham, a short walk from Birmingham New Street station and city centre car parks.

Those attending will have an opportunity to hear from the Institute’s National President Simon Green and Chief Executive Gary Watson, WSP GL Hearn’s National Head of Business Rates and Valuations Richard Williamson, and Carla-Maria and Gordon Heath.

There is no charge for this event, which is open to members and non-members.

The first session will start at 10 a.m., and the event will close by mid-afternoon. Tea and coffee and lunch will be provided, and there will be plenty of time for networking before the event, during the breaks, over lunch and at the end.

The Association’s AGM will also take place during the day.

A full programme is available here.

To secure your place just drop an email to irrvwma@googlemail.com. 

The IRRV West Midlands Association’s next event is an all-day tech showcase on Thursday 21 November 2024 at the Birmingham & Midland Institute in central Birmingham, a short walk from Birmingham Snow Hill station and car park.

Those attending will have an opportunity to hear from speakers eager to demonstrate how using the latest technology can help local authorities collect council tax and business rates more effectively. Companies presenting at this event include:

Ascendant Solutions
Govtech Solutions/Sandwell MBC
Horsfields
JTR Collections
Sigma Connected Group
Telsolutions

with one more to be confirmed.

There is no charge for this event, which is open to members and non-members. Tea and coffee and a buffet lunch are provided, and there will be plenty of time for networking before the event, during the breaks, over lunch and at the end.

To secure your place just drop an email to irrvwma@googlemail.com. There should be plenty of room for everyone, but an early indication of numbers would be useful so please let us know as soon as you can if you would like to come.

Unbelievably it's almost 5 years since the Association held its last recovery day, but we're back and raring to go!

Our first event of 2024, this year's recovery day will take place on Tuesday 27 February at the offices of DWF at One Snowhill, Birmingham.

The speakers will cover the recovery and enforcement process from the perspective of a local authority, an enforcement agent, a law firm, a tech firm and an insolvency practitioner. IRRV National President Nick Rowe will also be attending, and our AGM will take place after the main event.
This event is currently fully subscribed, but if you would like to be placed on the reserve list please drop an email to irrvwma@googlemail.com