D-Day for Debt Ridden Public Firm: As its Claimed Directors Allegedly Knew The Business Was 'In Trouble' Months Ago....

Cleveland Fire Brigade's directors face calls to be investigated over CIC collapse...

Court Date Looms for Debt Laden Public Company, as its claimed Cleveland Fire Brigade Directors in charge of the failed Community Interest Business could now face investigation by authorities, after astonishing revelations over the firms practices come to light...

18th June 2025

A company underpinned by Public Funds is set to appear before the High Court in London this morning after Creditors petitioned for its bankruptcy following persistent unpaid debts being left outstanding. The shocking revelations have emerged this week surrounding the directors of a debt-laden community interest company (CIC) tied to Cleveland Fire Brigade, which is now said to be facing insolvency proceedings in the High Court, following claims the bosses of Cleveland Fire Brigade Risk Management Services CIC reportedly knew the public interest company was going under even as late as February this year— however, rather than salvage the business, Directors quietly set up a new company under a near-identical name, with the timing of the new incorporation sparking calls for an urgent investigation into what some are calling “an orchestrated taxpayer swindle.”

The business was incorporated at Companies House just months before HMRC filled a petition at the high court for Cleveland Fire Brigade Risk Management Services CIC to be placed into insolvency, raising speculation directors actually knew the business was heading for insolvency...

The original company — Cleveland Fire Brigade Risk Management Services CIC — is scheduled for a High Court appearance on the 18th June 2025, where a winding-up petition was lodged by HM Revenue & Customs who are said to be owed around £680,000 in unpaid debts..

Read our follow up report from here https://www.hartlepooltoday.org/post/follow-up-fire-brigade-backed-hartlepool-company-owes-1-2m-in-debts-as-insolvency-looms-ex-hbc-o

Yet, its claimed in February 2025, just months before HMRC filled for bankruptcy on the struggling company, directors of Cleveland Fire Brigade Risk Management CIC then established a brand new firm — 'CFB Risk Management Group Ltd' (Company No. 16251984), ironically just three months before the taxman petitioned the High Court for insolvency on the first business. This has led to questions over whether the directors of the business deliberately intended to shift operations — and any future profits — to the new company whilst leaving the public purse and local businesses to absorb the huge financial losses.

Cleveland Fire Brigade Risk Management Services CIC which is underpinned by Cleveland Fire Authority is said to be 'heavily in debt', with numerous creditors said to be owed approximately £1.2 million Pounds in total, however its claimed a liquidators report could reveal even more owed to creditors in the months ahead, with the business supposedly employing 25 members of staff...

"They Knew — And They Ran"

Former Chief Solicitor to Hartlepool Borough Council Peter Devlin was said to have 'quickly resigned' from the business just. month before HMRC issued a petition to to the court seeking insolvency on the company...

Adding a twist to the already deepening scandal is said to have been the circumstances regarding the 'swift' resignation of Peter Devlin, the former Chief Solicitor of Hartlepool Borough Council and reported to have been one of the failed CIC’s directors. Its claimed Devlin left his directorship post of Cleveland Fire Brigade Risk Management Services CIC just a month before HMRC’s petition went to the High Court, a move some are calling 'strategic' to avoid an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) over his role in the failed community business...

Sources close to HBC Exposed claim that Devlin, along with Chris Little — Hartlepool Council’s former Chief Finance Officer and now the current Part Time Finance Director at Cleveland Fire Authority reportedly 'had full knowledge' of the companies impending failure for at least a year before it was petitioned by one of its creditors for insolvency...

“Devlin's said to have seen the collapse of the community interest company coming and bailed before the wreckage hit the headlines,” with one source telling us. “He knew it was coming—, he knew they're would be questions and he ran.”

Public Funds, Private Failings

One of the directors of both the new & the failed previous company was none other than Ian Hayton, who supposedly 'retired' from the fire brigade in 2024

Another familiar name on both the failed companies' books & the new one is Ian Hayton, the former Chief Fire Officer of Cleveland Fire Brigade who supposedly “retired” in 2024. His continued involvement raises further alarm over whether public sector officials are recycling failed ventures for private gain — at the expense of taxpayers.

Originally formed in 2011 under the Local Government (Power to Trade) Order 2009, the now-collapsing CIC was supposedly designed to support public safety initiatives through commercial services, with any profits generated from that venture then put back into the local community. Instead, it’s become a case study in how supposed “community interest corporations” can be twisted into private interest — and massive public losses, with no community benefit seen from the firms operations as its continually made a financial loss to the local tax payer for years...

“Too Convenient to Ignore”

There's calls for authorities to investigate the directors of both firms to assess whether they had any foreknowledge of the community interest businesses apparent 'failure' to repay its debts.

Legal analysts suggest the case now warrants full inquiries at the very least by Companies House, The Insolvency Service, and potentially the police — especially if there’s evidence that the directors planned the failure of the business in advance, only to then rebrand and relaunch under a new (very similar) corporate identity.

Further eyebrows have been raised over the company’s most recent published accounts, where despite reportedly having around £190k in the bank for the 2023 financial year, the next reported financial year seen the business lumbered with over a million pounds worth of debt. Meanwhile, its claimed directors publicly stated that they were supposedly 'negotiating new long-term contracts' for the failing company, despite already being overwhelmed by mounting unpaid debts that the business had no reasonable prospects of ever repaying...

Taxpayers Will be Left Holding the Bag — Again

It seems not even Cleveland Fire Brigade can dampen the flames of this scandal

For many Hartlepool residents, this scandal is a grim confirmation of long-held suspicions: public bodies are being misused as financial springboards for former council insiders to feather their caps, & then walk away unscathed whilst the public are then left to pick up the financial pieces when those firms collapse.

With a court date looming, and tensions rising, the question now is not just how was this all allowed to happen? — but how many more times will it be allowed to happen ?