20-year ban for couple who duped businesses to sponsor ‘educational’ materials

A husband and wife team have received directorship disqualifications totalling 20 years after they duped small businesses to sponsor unnecessary educational material.

In a two-year period the pair, from Congleton, Cheshire, secured more than £1.7m from businesses who were led to believe they were investing in books and DVDs about substance abuse in return for advertising in the books.

Child Protection UK Limited was incorporated in 2005 with Paula Ann Carson, nee Kasser, appointed a director at the same time.

Paula Carson would target businesses to sponsor the production and distribution of educational materials, including books and DVDs, concerning the dangers of drug and alcohol use to schools across the UK.

However, complaints were made and the Insolvency Service investigated Child Protection UK’s practices, culminating in a winding-up petition presented against the company in April 2010 by the Secretary of State for BEIS.

Paula Carson negotiated with the Secretary of State and got the winding-up petition dismissed in November 2010 by signing an undertaking committing her to amend the company’s trading practices.

Soon after, Paula met Paul Douglas Carson in 2011 and he became involved in the management of Child Protection UK. The pair then incorporated a second company also in 2011, called Child Guidance UK.

The two companies ran in tandem from the same office and followed exactly the same business model.

They would target small businesses to sponsor the production and delivery of books and DVDs to schools and, in return, the sponsor’s business would receive free advertising in the books. Businesses would then be targeted again for repeat business.

However, the Insolvency Service received fresh complaints about Child Protection UK, resulting in further investigations into the practices of both Child Protection UK and Child Guidance UK.

Investigators discovered that both companies followed a standard procedure for sales calls, where scripts contained potentially misleading statements which may have led to customers believing Child Protection UK and Child Guidance UK were charities, worked on behalf of charities, or were running a legitimate child safety campaign.

Further enquiries found that the trading practices of Child Protection UK and Child Guidance UK did not make clear to customers about their cancellation rights and while materials were sent out, there was no evidence that they either complied with national curriculum requirements or were of value to the schools who received them.

Between April 2015 and December 2017, Child Protection UK received £871,989 from its sponsors, while Child Guidance UK received £840,017 from its sponsors between April 2015 and December 2017.

Both companies were wound-up in the public interest in April 2018 after Paula Carson failed to fully adhere to the undertaking she had previously agreed with the courts.

And for their misconduct in the companies, both Paula and Paul Carson had their disqualification undertakings accepted by the Secretary of State on 8 January 2019.

Paula Carson is disqualified from being a company director for 11 years, while Paul Carson is banned for nine years.

Effective from 29 January 2019, the pair are banned from directly, or indirectly, becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Ken Beasley, official receiver, said: “Both Paula and Paul Carson purposefully targeted small businesses to part with their cash with the promise of helping to produce educational materials for schools, with the added bonus of advertising space.

“However, customers were duped as they failed to realise the two companies were not charities, the materials didn’t comply with national curriculum requirements, and very few schools found the materials of any value.

“Twenty years is a significant amount of time for the Carsons to be prevented from running companies and we want to remind businesses to be wary of any calls out of the blue asking to sponsor booklets, diaries or wall planners.”