Judy Andrea Roach (54), from Thamesmead, south London, ran JAR Training Consultancy. The 2015-founded firm worked with universities to educate apprentice sports instructors in Blackburn.
JAR Training Consultancy entered creditors voluntary liquidation in March 2021, triggering an Insolvency Service inquiry.
Judy Roach failed to guarantee that JAR Training Consultancy kept and/or retained proper accounting documents throughout the company’s existence.
Investigators couldn’t establish what happened to £2.5 million in ESFA money.
Unsubstantiated payments included $1.77 million to tutors and assessors, $171,000 to Judy Roach’s relatives, and $41,000 to a contractor who worked on her property.
Judy Roach did not contest that she failed to ensure JAR Training Consultancy kept and/or retained enough accounting records or failed to give acceptable documents to the liquidators. On 13 July 2022, the Secretary of State accepted her 7-year disqualification undertaking.
Judy Roach can’t promote, start, or run a firm without court authorization after 3 August 2022.
JAR Training Consultancy’s liquidator may collect cash.
Mark Bruce, Insolvency Service Chief Investigator:
Every limited company has a legal duty to maintain accounting records, especially those that receive millions of pounds worth of public funding. Judy Roach, however, totally disregarded her duties, which meant she was unable to explain exactly what happened to more than £2.5 million of income provided by the government.
Thanks to the joint working between the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the Insolvency Service, Judy Roach has been removed from the corporate arena for a substantial period. Her ban should serve as a stark warning to other rogue directors that action will be taken against those who misuse public funds and abuse the taxpayer.
Howard Tobias, Head of Enforcement at the Education and Skills Funding Agency, said:
I am pleased to note the success of this new joint working between the Insolvency Service and ESFA. Failing to keep or deliver up books and records will not preclude the directors of such companies from further scrutiny and sanction. This outcome demonstrates that the ESFA is prepared to take robust action and we will work with regulatory partners across government to hold them to account.
Notes to editors
Judy Andrea Roach was born in November 1967 in Thamesmead, London.
JAR Training Ltd. (Company Reg no. 09787821).
Disqualification undertakings are administrative disqualification orders without judicial procedures. Disqualified people have further constraints.
The Insolvency Service’s activities and ways to report financial malfeasance are explained.