Are you prepared for October changes?

There have been plenty of changes to insolvency legislation this year. The following are the latest coming into effect on 1 October 2015.

1. Insolvency (Protection of Essential Suppliers) Order 2015 – inserts new s.233A into the Insolvency Act 1986 which expands the list of essential suppliers who cannot make supply conditional upon the payment of pre-insolvency invoices to include most IT businesses.
2.  Insolvency Act 1986 (Amendment) Order 2015 - increases minimum level of debt needed for creditors to commence bankruptcy proceedings from £750 to £5000 for petitions presented on or after 1 October 2015.
3. Deregulation Act 2015 – several changes, including:

• A new regime for partial authorisation of Insolvency Practitioners.
• Authorisation of IPs by recognised professional bodies.
• Repeal of the Deeds of Arrangement Act 1914.
• The SoS may require information directly from any person in relation to the conduct of a potentially unfit director.

4. Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 – several changes including:

• Power for administrators to bring a claim for fraudulent or wrongful trading.
• Power for liquidator or administrator to assign causes of action.
• Application of proceeds of office-holder claims.

5. Statement of Insolvency Practice 1 – new SIP1

6. Insolvency Practitioners (Amendment) Regulations 2015 – Insolvency Practitioners' record keeping simplified.

7. Insolvency (Amendment) Rules 2015 – Approved fee estimates required where seeking to charge on a time cost basis.

For further information, help or advice please contact Andrew Cawkwell on 0191 211 7957 or [email protected].