Hollyoaks Jamie Lomas forced to shut down his acting school company with debts of £92k
HOLLYOAKS actor Jamie Lomas has been forced to shut down his acting school company with debts of £92,000.
Two of three of the soap star's firms went bust last month, business filings have revealed.
Jamie Lomas Associates was set up in 2016, for "motion picture, television and other theatrical casting activities".
While his other business, First Take School of Acting, was set up in June 2018 - two years before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
First Take Acting owes £73,449 while Jamie Lomas Associates owes £18,945.
Neither firm has any assets with which to help pay off their debts.
It follows an excruciatingly tough time for the industry, with theatres and schools up and down the country close because of Covid restrictions.
Jamie - who used to be married to Coronation Street star Kym Marsh - has been starring on Hollyoaks since 2006.
Most read in TV
He took a five-year break in 2011, going on to join EastEnders as alcoholic Jake Stone between 2013 and 2014.
He got caught up in the Lucy Beale murder storyline when her blood was found in his house.
Jamie - whose sister Charley Webb stars in Emmerdale - returned to Hollyoaks in 2016.
The dad-of-three set up three businesses to earn extra cash alongside his acting.
Both of the 46-year-old's businesses have gone under owing money to HMRC in PAYE employment taxes as well as monies to NatWest Bank.
Jamie Lomas Associates owing £1,147 to HMRC and £14,986 to NatWest; while First Take owes £35,319 to HMRC and £38,128 to Nat West.
On top of these debts staff at Jamie Lomas are owed £2,810 under ‘employee notice’.
The liquidations follow claims for government support in 2020 and 2021.
Both firms are on the claimed staff costs through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – more commonly known as furlough.
Paperwork from HMRC reporting First Take School of Acting claimed as much as £90,000 under the scheme, while Jamie Lomas Associates pocketed as much as £70,000.
With claims reported in the £0-10,000 band for First Take in December 2020; Janaury, February, March, April June, July, August, and September.
Jamie Lomas Associates, also in the £0-10,000 band, were made in December 2020; as well as Janaury, April, June, July, August, and September.
Its nature of businesses reported on Companies House as ‘media representation services.’
It held £1,373 as at 31 august 2019, according to accounts; while Jamie Lomas Associates was £23,335 in the red in February 2020.
Lomas’s third business is called Jamie Lomas 21 and was set up in 2017.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
It made two claims for furlough in band £0-10,000 in December 2020 and Janaury 2021.
It held £90,708 for Lomas as at 31 October 2020.
