The new Insolvency Rules (England & Wales) 2016 were introduced this month bringing the most significant changes in insolvency legislation for many years. There are substantial procedural changes within the…

Some 510,000 businesses have seen an increase in their business rates from the start of April, compared to 420,000 paying the same and 920,000 seeing a decrease, following the first…

It is never a good idea to sound alarmist but this firm is aware of a matter regarding the disqualification proceedings for a director resulting in a custodial sentence of…

The vast majority of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises are owner managed and often critically reliant on the expertise and knowledge of the owner. A recent case highlights the importance…

90,930 people became insolvent across England and Wales during 2016. This represents a rise of 13.1% from 2015 and the first annual increase since 2010. 49,745 of these insolvencies were…

Numbers from the London Gazette indicate that 1,174 companies or groups were placed into administration in the UK during 2016, compared with a 15 year low of 1,111 in 2015.…

Section 127 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (“The Act”) applies to transactions entered into by a company between the date of issue of a winding up petition and the date…

The introduction of the new Insolvency Rules on 6 April 2017 will bring significant protocol changes for creditors as well as for the Insolvency Profession. Creditors have long been used…

As the UK negotiates a deal for Brexit with Europe, this could have a negative effect on the restaurant trade. Recent reports suggest that as a result of the weak…

A number of businesses use the VAT Flat Rate Scheme (‘FRS’) because it is designed to simplify record keeping and make it easier to work out the VAT due. The…

Research has been carried out by Opus Restructuring, a restructuring and insolvency firm, using data provided by Company Watch, a financial analytics company, into the effectiveness of administration - the…

It has recently been reported that – continuing a trend that commenced in 2014 - young women made up the majority of personal insolvencies in 2015, across England and Wales.…

You may recall our news item in August providing a summary of the likely noteworthy changes anticipated in the forthcoming introduction of the new Insolvency Rules 2016. The overarching intention…

Economists are predicting that as the rising oil prices push up the price of petrol, inflation will increase sharply potentially as high as 3% in the next few months. Consumers…

The number of businesses that have had their assets seized by HMRC has more than doubled in the past year according to a recent study by Funding Options. The study…

We all know a registered office is a legal requirement for corporate bodies (typically limited companies and limited liability partnerships) in the UK. Its sole purpose is to provide Companies…

We have recently dealt with the liquidation of a company whose business model relied on customers pre-paying for the goods in advance. The circumstances highlight the dangers when trading becomes…

After persistent lobbying, the government has now published a set of rules on whether directors are required to be enrolled in company auto-enrolment schemes. The latest development has been the…

Recent studies have shown that more than a quarter of Small and Medium Enterprises (‘SMEs’) in the UK suffer from bad debt. Indeed, in the last financial year, a staggering…

As you may already be aware, the existing Insolvency Rules have been under review for some time as Insolvency was the subject of a government Red Tape Challenge initiative commencing…

The largest section of the British economy, the services industry, has recently endured a substantial monthly decline, the rate of which was the highest since 2009. The sector was down…

The Enterprise Act 2002 (‘EA’) brought in a number of changes for bankruptcy, most significantly that the typical duration of the restrictions on a bankrupt was reduced to 12 months,…

A review undertaken by the Law Commission has made recommendations on the way consumer deposits and retail vouchers should be treated following the insolvency of a business. Stephen Lewis, Law…

Timeline 24 June 2016 - The United Kingdom votes to leave the EU; the value of sterling falls to its lowest level since 1985, the FTSE suffers its biggest fall…

According to a poll conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, 4 out of 5 SMEs are not optimistic surrounding the future of the UK economy going forward.…

It has recently been reported that the raft of fees applied by the Insolvency Service, to personal and company insolvencies, are changing from 21 July 2016. The petition deposits (the…

Now that the news of the outcome of the Brexit vote has had time to sink in, urgent consideration should be given by senior management teams to the immediate implications…

The consequences of a vote for Britain to leave the European Union seems to have an immediate economic effect. The value of the pound has fallen to its lowest since…

The backbone of the economy of UK plc is supported by a large number of owner managed, small to medium, enterprises many of them limited companies. These limited companies need…

On 14 March 2016 a Winding-up Order was made by the High Court in England to put WSB Investment Ltd; a company which formerly traded under the name of “Binary…

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has launched proposals for changes to the insolvency regime, including a three-month moratorium from creditor action and a "cram-down" mechanism to stop the…

Weak productivity and increased costs such as; the national living wage, apprenticeship levy and pension auto-enrolment have curbed employers’ willingness to raise salaries. Even though employment is expected to rise,…

It was recently reported on this site that, in a bid to try and turn its financial fortunes around, British Home Stores (‘BHS’) was proposing a Company Voluntary Arrangement (or…

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) most recent Trade Credit Insurance survey has shown a 19% increase in the number of claims from the previous year to 11,000 with the…

The Insolvency Service recently reported on the circumstances resulting in a director disqualification of eight and a half years, a substantial period albeit by way of an undertaking from the…

Falling UK retail sales in recent months together with average store prices being lower in March than a year earlier indicate that inflation in the UK is continuing to remain…

The Insolvency Service has announced changes to the way Insolvency Practitioners submit conduct reports on directors. From 6 April 2016, they will be delivered to the Government via an online…

Workers retiring on the new state pension rate may expect to receive £155.65 per week but a study has predicted that 55% of claimants will receive less than this weekly…

The law has been changed so that, from 6th April, people will be able to go online to go bankrupt. The Government argues that “the decision to take bankruptcy out…

Are you compliant? What is it? From 06 April 2016, all UK corporations and LLPs must identify those who are their ultimate beneficial owners and controllers and file such information…

It has recently been reported that the department store chain BHS (British Home Stores) is in serious financial difficulties and that 40 of its 164 stores could potentially close, unless…

Not so long ago businesses only needed to concern themselves with preventing people from physically entering company premises and accessing important data from within the premises or even only in…

The potential exit of the UK from the EU, following the referendum in June, has led to economic uncertainty which would allegedly escalate after a vote to leave. The weakness…

Owner/ managers of SMEs are increasingly expected to grapple and come to terms with employment legislation…take the Auto-enrolment roll-out as a recent example…not to mention funding these ventures. We thought…

In a judgement on 11 February 2016, between the joint liquidators of Ralls Builders Limited and the former directors, Mr Justice Snowden reviewed the law of wrongful trading and previous,…

Time is of the essence if your clients wish to avoid having to deal with the new rules. Under the current rules, a distribution to shareholders from a solvent liquidation…

Figures have been released which show that 113,000 businesses, which represents about 6% of all UK companies, were creditors in an insolvency procedure during 2015. Medium-sized firms were the hardest…

It has recently been reported – following a poll of 1,000 business - that almost 23% of the UK’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) had suffered a potential financial crisis…

Auto-enrolment was first proposed by the Pension Commission to address the employee ‘under-saving’ issue as far back as 2005. At that time, it could never have been envisaged that as…

The 2012 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act served to abolish Conditional Fee Agreements (“CFA”), or ‘No Win, No Fee’ agreements as they are more commonly known.…