Summary
All but one member of Candidsky's workforce signed a collective protected disclosure on 28 November 2025 addressed to 5 Villages Group chairman Don Iro, raising concerns about payroll errors, missing pension contributions, supplier payments and group governance. The staff explicitly separated their concerns from the agency's internal leadership.
Employees reported incorrect tax deductions, inconsistent payslips, missing National Insurance information and employer pension contributions that had not reached NEST accounts for multiple months. They said the group's direct debit had been deliberately cancelled and warned of potential HMRC tax code changes affecting their finances.
Iro acknowledged the disclosure on 1 December 2025 and said issues were "already on course for resolution", but staff requested a full written response to establish an audit trail. After chasing again on 16 December, former employees told Prolific North they did not receive a comprehensive written outcome. 5 Villages Group did not respond to requests for comment.
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This is a summary written for the Manchester Business Services register. The full article belongs to Prolific North — read it at source.
Common questions
- What is this article about?
- Eleven staff at Manchester digital agency Candidsky signed a protected disclosure in November 2025 raising concerns about payroll, pensions and governance at parent company 5 Villages Group, months before the CEO's resignation in March 2026. The group's chairman acknowledged receipt but staff say they never received a comprehensive written response.
- When was this published?
- This article was published on 24 August 2026.
- Who published this article?
- This article was published by Prolific North.