Data cock-up costs Govt nearly £9m

Data checking may be one of the most mundane jobs in the world but it can also be one of the most expensive when you get it wrong, as Companies House has discovered to its cost after being landed with an £8.8m legal bill following a High Court ruling.
The case centres on a 124-year-old Welsh family business going by the name of Taylor & Sons Ltd, which Companies House erroneously recorded had been wound up. In fact it was another, entirely unconnected, company – Taylor & Son Ltd – which had actually gone bust.
But by the time Companies House tried to correct its mistake three days later, it was already too late for the Cardiff engineering firm.
“They [Companies House] had already sold the false information to the credit reference agencies,” said Philip Davison-Sebry, former managing director and co-owner of Taylor & Sons Ltd. “We lost all our credibility as all our suppliers thought we were in liquidation. It was like a snowball effect.”
Davison-Sebry said that within just three weeks, all of its 3,000 suppliers had terminated orders and credit facilities were withdrawn. And despite attempts to reassure customers and suppliers, the business, established in 1875, proved impossible to rescue.
But after a four-year legal battle, Davison-Sebry has emerged victorious after a High Court judge ruled this week that Companies House was legally responsible for the firm’s catastrophic collapse.
The amount of damages payable by Companies House has yet to be finally assessed but Mr Davison-Sebry’s lawyers have valued his claim at £8.8m.
A spokesman for Companies House said: “Companies House has recently received the judgement in this case and is currently considering the implications at this time. Until these considerations are complete we remain unable to comment further.”