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Late payments continue to challenge small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the UK, as outlined in the 2023 Prompt Payment and Cashflow Review. The report reveals that 62% of small businesses experience delayed payments on a regular basis, severely...
Though we are now four years on from the height of the covid pandemic, the Insolvency Service has been diligent in bringing justice to those directors who took advantage of government support schemes for their own financial gain. With 831 directors...
When a company incurs a debt, it is only the company, as a discrete legal personality, which is liable to pay it. This means that the company’s owners, shareholders and directors are not personally liable to pay the debt, these individuals are...
In October 2022, we reported on the Supreme Court’s decision in the ‘Sequana’ case regarding the duties of directors to creditors of a company in circumstances where the company later becomes insolvent. The court determined the...
From 1 October 2023, new rules came into force which fix the amount of costs recoverable in commercial litigation claims. This means that from that date, any claims issued at court will be subject to the new fixed costs regime. The new costs regime will...
What is the difference between an owner and a director? An owner of a limited company owns shares in it, and they receive dividend payments in return for their investment, but these shareholders will not be involved in the day to day...
Figures released earlier this week by The Office for National Statistics (ONS) show company insolvencies in England and Wales have hit their highest level since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The ONS reported that in England and Wales,...
On 5 October 2022 the 18 month wait for the Supreme Court to deliver its judgment in ‘BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA and others [2022] UKSA 25’ came to an end, with the court delivering a lengthy judgment in which it examined the nature and extent of...
The pandemic has been a very difficult time for most businesses and while the latest set of restrictions have now largely been lifted in England and Wales, the financial impact of the last two years is likely to last for some time. In such difficult...
On 15 December 2021 The Ratings (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Act 2021 gained royal assent. Under this new legislation, directors of dissolved companies which received financial assistance during the pandemic face...
As the previous restrictions preventing any creditor from presenting a winding up petition to the court expired on 30 September 2021, new legislation has now been put in place, in a further effort to reduce the number of companies being wound up by the...
As we reported in earlier blogs, part of the package of measures implemented by the government in efforts to protect companies from creditor enforcement, was to impose a prohibition on the presentation of winding up petitions and the making of winding up...
As expected, the government has further extended the temporary protections given to companies by the Corporate Insolvency & Governance Act 2020, by extending the moratorium on serving statutory demands and presenting winding up petitions to 30 June...
The measures put in place by the government earlier this year to protect businesses against the threat of insolvency and those protecting directors against wrongful trading claims by a liquidator have been extended to 31 December 2020, to give companies...
On 15 May 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that it would bring a test case against eight insurance companies aimed at resolving contractual uncertainty around the validity of claims made by business owners with business interruption...
An administration order could be a way to deal with debt if you have a county court or High Court judgment against you and you cannot pay in full. But who qualifies for an administration order and which debts are included? An administration order is an...
Following the widespread criticism of the requirement for directors to give their personal guarantees to secure lending under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), the government has announced that personal guarantees can now only be...
The government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (BIL) went live on 23 March 2020 and is intended to support SMEs by providing access to loans, overdrafts, invoice and asset finance which they cannot otherwise obtain, of up to £5m...
The government continues to issues briefings on their measures to ease the regulatory burden on companies during the current crisis. Further measures to assist directors and SMEs are expected over the coming weeks, and we will continue to update our advice...
Many businesses are facing challenging times. The economic impact of the current climate may last up to 12 months. Sadly, some businesses already in distress will not survive and insolvency is inevitable. For others, the possibility of insolvency is ever...
The outbreak of the coronavirus disease, COVID-19 continues to pose a significant threat to businesses in the UK. The impact on supply chains, transport and international travel is causing businesses to consider the impact of coronavirus on their current...
