Azets, an international business and advisory firm, has promoted three individuals within its UK Payroll Services team to newly established roles.

Claire Brown has been named director of Payroll North, Christopher Waterson has been appointed director of Payroll South, and Julie Gunnell has taken on the position of associate director of Growth for Payroll.

The company said that these advancements reflect the ongoing development of its Payroll Services, which has expanded to a team of 160 professionals across the UK in the last five years.

Azets UK Payroll Services director Stephen Abbotts said: “These promotions highlight the quality of our people and our culture of rewarding high performers, and our continued growth and the emphasis we place on planning for the future.  

“We’ve created these three new senior roles to help us build on the momentum we’ve built to date and ensure we continue to support to our clients in every sector of the economy and every part of the UK. We plan to create more senior roles in the team as we continue to grow. 

“Businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of Payroll as part of strategic planning and risk management, and we are determined to remain the largest provider of it in the UK while preserving the quality of service that has been the driver of our growth to date.”  

In a separate development, Colin Haig, a restructuring partner at Azets, recently commented on the company insolvency statistics for July 2025.

Company insolvencies in July 2025 increased by 1.4% compared to June 2025 and were up by 0.1% compared to July 2024.

Haig said: “While the monthly and yearly increases in corporate insolvencies are small, the figures for July 2025 remain well above pre-pandemic levels and are the highest we’ve seen for the month of July in more than five years.”

“Having said that, the monthly and yearly increase shown in the figures published today is largely driven by a rise in the number of firms entering an Administration, which is potentially positive news as it suggests that there are more businesses facing the prospect of a sale out of Administration – the outcome the profession will always seek to achieve wherever possible.”

“There remain a number of options open to distressed firms to address their financial issues – but the sooner they seek advice about their situation, the greater chance they have of the full range of solutions and processes being open to them, and of turning their situation around.

“Talking about the problems your business has is one of the hardest things to do but speaking to an advisor when the signs of financial distress first emerge is the most sensible and most impactful action you can take – for you and for your business,” Haig concluded.