thedebtadvisor's Bev Budsworth eyes up back-to-back awards

Manchester-based insolvency practitioner, Bev Budsworth, has again been shortlisted for the ‘Personal Insolvency Practitioner of the Year 2009’ award at the national ‘Insolvency & Rescue Awards 2009’ just 12 months after winning the prestigious title.

This is only the second time that Credit Today has run these awards, aimed specifically at the personal and corporate insolvency and rescue sectors. The awards aim to honour the industry's high achievers, and celebrate best practice and the raising of standards across the entire rescue industry.

Commenting on her shortlist for the award, Bev said: “It’s a great to see that the fantastic work we are doing at The Debt Advisor has been recognised for the second year running - this nomination is a real achievement in itself. All the heavyweights from the insolvency and rescue world will be in attendance; Delloite, KPMG, PwC – so we’ll certainly have some tough competition!

“The nomination in the personal insolvency category is testament to the incredible effort that my team and I have put in over the last few years. We won the award last year and, since then, have been tenacious in our crusade to promote an innovative approach to personal insolvency whilst continually aiding the rescue process.

“We have managed to establish ourselves as a major, ethical player within the debt management industry through our commitment to fully understanding the root cause of the debt problem and helping our customers through it.

“We are all looking forward to the awards evening and are keeping our fingers crossed!”

Bev Budsworth is the managing director of IVA & Debt management firm The Debt Advisor and, for a number of years, has been an active campaigner for a more innovative and holistic approach to debt. She is a staunch supporter of the rescue culture, believing that everyone deserves access to professional advice to help them become debt-free. Her membership of the influential Personal Insolvency Committee (PIC) and the Debt Resolution Forum (DRF) further allow her to help develop a debt management industry that is based on ethics and transparency.

The 2009 Insolvency & Rescue award ceremony will take place on Wednesday 21 October at the Tower Hotel in London and is expected to attract over 500 insolvency and rescue professionals. The ceremony will be hosted by comedian, Ed Byrne.

Signs of economic recovery

The Bank of England has announced that it will keep interest rates at the record low level of 0.5% for the sixth month in a row. The rate was 3% in December 2008 but was brought down steeply to it's current level in the first quarter of 2009. Since then the rate has held steady during the worst months of the economic downturn. The Bank Of England has also said it would continue with it's program of quantitative easing by pumping around £175bn into the economy as well as the planned purchase of £50bn worth of gilts over the next three months.

The news comes against a back drop of more optimistice financial news that is suggesting theed that the UK economy is beginning to crawl out of recession.

Gross domestic product (GDP) has been revised to a fall of 0.7% from 0.8% compared with the previous quarter.

The Bank of England has however warned recovery will be a "slow and protracted" one.

As if to underline this an article in the FT today reports criticism of quantitative easing programme because it appears to have failed prompt banks resume lend to households and businesses.

The article highlight several signs that that credit is still not easily available. This month the Bank of England released data showing that the level of outstanding loans declined at a record pace in July.

Despite these reservations we are seeing more and more signs that gradually the economy is picking up. This week the National Institute of Economic and Social Research announces it's seen a return to UK economic growth in the three months to July. Official manufacturing figures suggested the sector has shown strong growth during July and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation said it has found "marginal increases" in both permanent and temporary job appointments in August.Office for National Statistics has revealed that the rate of contraction of the UK economy in the three months from April to June has been reduced by the.

Whilst it would seem that recovery is underway the effect of the recession will be felt for a long time however and with credit still difficult to come by the numbers of people visiting IVA and debt consolidation websites such as debtcare.co.uk & debtcounsellors.co.uk is still high levels.