Reform councillor's defunct companies owed millions to creditors
BBCFresh allegations have been made about a Reform UK councillor who, before he was elected, shut down companies with debts in the millions. Since three retired couples told the BBC they were still owed a combined £140,000, others have come forward to say they too have lost large sums of money.
Rebecca Brown says Barry Elliott's Northumberland care home business owes her almost £20,000.
The company was ordered by a court to pay her the money after overcharging her grandparents, who lived in the home, for their care fees. But, before she was reimbursed, the business was placed into voluntary liquidation.
"He does this constantly, it should be illegal," she said. "It feels illegal, but it just isn't.
"It's really frustrating that he can get away with this doing this."
Elliott has been approached for comment but did not respond to specific allegations. In a statement, he said he had been advised not to speak to the BBC because of police investigations into allegations he had reported to them. The BBC has found no evidence of any live proceedings that would prevent him from answering questions.
Documents on Companies House show he has owned or run nine businesses - including building firms, a bar and a care home - that are in liquidation or have been dissolved since 2011. They owed a combined £6m, including approximately £3m to Elliott himself.
According to the same documents, the firms owed HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) a combined £234,108. HMRC said it did not comment on individual cases due to taxpayer confidentiality law and Elliott did not say whether any of the money owed had been paid.
Elliott was elected to Northumberland County Council's Newsham ward in Blyth last May.
The allegations date before this but those affected said they had still not been reimbursed.
"In what way does he ever represent the people of Blyth?" Brown said.
"They're decent people, not like him."
Following the BBC's report in November, nine more people made allegations about Elliott's businesses, including eight who said they were owed a combined total of approximately £90,000. Of those, five provided evidence showing they were owed about £75,000 collectively.
In 2018, Brown's grandparents, Maurice and Velma, who had dementia, moved into Baedling Manor care home in Bedlington in Northumberland. Its operator, Alcyone Healthcare North East Limited, was owned by Elliott.
Brown said she was impressed with the care provided but, after her grandmother died suddenly from a stroke in 2019, the invoice was not amended for several months. She raised the £16,000 excess charge with Elliott but he refused to refund her and claimed she owed the company more money, she said.
A Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in January 2021 rated Baedling Manor inadequate and it was placed into special measures. The home has since been taken over by a new company and renamed and its most recent CQC inspection rated it good.
Rebecca BrownBrown's grandfather died from heart failure in April 2021 and, in November the following year, she took legal action against Alcyone Healthcare in an attempt to recoup the overpaid funds.
"My grandparents worked so hard for their money," she said. "To see that reduced to nothing by somebody who thought they could get away with charging whatever they wanted, making money out of a really vulnerable group of people, it makes me really angry."
A court ordered the company to pay her just over £19,100 for the overpaid care fees and extra costs.
In June 2023, with the money still unpaid, Elliott commenced the voluntary liquidation of the firm. Companies House documents show it had debts of almost £3.4m and that Elliott himself was among the creditors, owed £1.5m.
Brown wants Elliott to pay the money owed by his companies.
"I would say to him, why are you still doing this to people?" she said.
"Do you not have a conscience?
"You're just ruining lives."
'Jaw hit the floor'
Another individual to share concerns about Elliott with the BBC was Amy Cowie, who won an unfair dismissal case against his building firm Blenheim Homes North East in 2018.
She had been a personal assistant but, on her return from maternity leave, was told to work from a cabin on one of the building sites, where she said the site manager told her "I don't know why they've put you here, I haven't got anything for you to do".
She was also told to clean the toilets and was eventually sacked without being told why, she said. She was just 20 and the ordeal caused her sleepless nights and "a lot of emotional pain", she said.
Cowie was awarded just under £12,000 by an employment tribunal for emotional damages, loss of earnings and holiday pay, but this was not paid and she hired a debt enforcement company.
Elliott paid the debt to enforcement officers at his home but later phoned the company to say he was going to freeze the payment and would be contacting a solicitor. Months later he liquidated Blenheim Homes and Cowie "never got a penny", she said.
When Elliott became a councillor her "jaw hit the floor" and hearing others were owed thousands of pounds was the motivation to share her story, she said.
"I didn't get the money, but I showed him that people will do something about it," she said.
"Although, technically speaking, it's not illegal, he jumps through legal loopholes to harm people.
"Maybe he does think he's done nothing wrong but not all of these people can be liars."