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A husband and wife who ran a care recruitment company have been banned from running businesses after they failed to pay more than £30m in tax.

Raja Usman and Khair Un Nisa were both directors of Umbrella Care Ltd, based in Derby, when they under declared about £33m in tax to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) between 2017 and 2020.

The company was wound up in 2020, the government's Insolvency Service said, with liquidators recovering more than £12m in assets from the pair since.

Usman, 38, was disqualified from setting up and running a business for 14-and-a-half years following a hearing at the High Court, in London, from Tuesday.

He was also ordered to pay costs of £5,399.10.

The Insolvency Service said an 11-year disqualification for Un Nisa, 41, began in September 2023.

The pair, whose company supplied NHS workers to the care sector, both "knowingly" submitted inaccurate VAT, PAYE and NIC returns to HMRC, the agency added.

The company owed more than £35m to HMRC when it was shut down.

Lawrence Zussman, deputy head of company investigations at the Insolvency Service, said: "This was money that should have been used to provide vital public services and investment in areas such as schools, hospitals and roads.

"The disqualifications ban Usman and Nisa from being company directors until 2034 and 2039 respectively and the liquidators continue to recover millions in pounds in assets worldwide."

Liquidators working with HMRC have traced missing funds to "numerous bank accounts" and to 14 properties, which have since been recovered and sold.

Further property sales and investigations into funds transferred overseas and to third parties is expected to recover more funding, the government agency said.

The disqualifications prevent the couple, of Stenson Road in Derby, from being "involved in the promotion, formation or management" of a company without the permission of the court.

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