National law firm Clarke Willmott LLP has become the first client-servicing solicitor firm to gain a CICMQ quality accreditation from the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM).

The CICMQ is the credit management industry’s accreditation for Best Practice, providing formal recognition for commitment to quality, continuous improvement and best practice in all things credit.

The firm’s leading debt recovery team has been working with CICM for the past 12 months to demonstrate that they meet a high standard of practice which must be maintained during the three years the accreditation is in place.

Clarke Willmott is one of only 59 organisations across the UK to be awarded the accreditation by the CICM, the largest recognised professional body in the world for the credit management community.

Phil Roberts, head of the debt recovery team at Clarke Willmott, said:

“We are proud and honoured to have achieved CICMQ accreditation. The accreditation demonstrates our high standards and the results we achieve on behalf of our clients. The journey has been both educational and rewarding and we are extremely grateful to everyone involved at CICM whose expertise has helped us reach this goal.

“The process has been coordinated by our operations and compliance supervisor Kate Huish with support from team manager Anna O’Reilly. Ultimately however, it has been a team led project that has brought about collaboration and some fundamental improvements within our business.

“We see this as the first of many steps working in partnership with the CICM who brilliantly promote and uphold standards and integrity within our industry.”

The CICMQ accreditation covers six specific areas; credit policy, compliance, customer service, personal and professional development, performance measurement, stakeholder management and roadmap.

The accreditation is valid for three years and in that time the team will undertake regular reviews to ensure standards are maintained and built upon.

Sue Chapple, Chief Executive of the CICM, says that the team is thoroughly deserving of their accreditation:

“CICMQ is the benchmark for best practice credit management in which companies have to demonstrate excellence in their people, their plans and processes, and in their collaboration and engagement with business partners. The Clarke Willmott Debt Recovery Team have evidenced this in spades and are to be congratulated for their achievement, and in their determination to succeed in the context of a challenging trading environment.”

Clarke Willmott’s industry leading debt recovery team has been operating for over 25 years. The team works with organisations of all sizes including commercial businesses, insurance and utility companies and offers services ranging from high-volume, pre-legal debt collection through to every aspect of litigation and insolvency action.

Clarke Willmott is a national law firm with offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton.

For more information please visit www.clarkewillmott.com