A GP practice in the West Midlands closed down after its manager deducted contributions from staff but ‘failed to pay’ more than £75,000 into their pension funds, a government agency has said.
Sonia Simkins, 54, of Foxglove Way, Dudley, ran Hawes Lane Surgery in Rowley Regis as a sole trader, but the practice had to close in July last year after a bankruptcy order was made against her.
The Insolvency Service, a government agency tackling financial wrongdoing, said that following the order, an investigation found that Simkins had deducted pension contributions from staff wages, but failed to pay the money into the NHS Pension Scheme.
Investigations by the Official Receiver have been ‘unable to confirm exactly what happened to the money’.
Simkins will now face seven years of bankruptcy restrictions, preventing her from managing and starting companies or working in some senior health service roles, the agency said.
At the time of the closure, the practice employed 10 members of staff including a GP and employees in receptionist and administrative roles.
The Insolvency Service found that between August 2019 and December 2020, and June 2023 and June 2024, Simkins should have paid £76,868 into the NHS pension fund for her staff, but only £1,722 was contributed.
During this period, she deducted more than £25,000 from her employees’ salaries as pension contributions and failed to pay more than £50,000 of employer contributions, the agency said.
On 3 April Simkins agreed a Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking (BRU), which prevents her from managing a limited company for the next seven years, taking out a loan of more than £500 without disclosing the restriction or working in some senior health service roles.
A BRU allows a bankrupt person suspected of misconduct to accept restrictions without needing to go to court.
Senior official receiver at the Insolvency Service David Chapman said: ‘Sonia Simkins deducted pension contributions from her staff’s wages, but failed to pay more than £75,000 into the NHS pension fund – while the closure of Hawes Lane Surgery had an immediate impact on staff and patients in Rowley Regis.
‘Following an Insolvency Service investigation by the Official Receiver, Simkins accepted her misconduct. The BRU will prevent her from acting as a company director or starting a new company until April 2032.’
Pulse has contacted Black Country ICB for comment.
