Appointing administrators out of court has been thrown into complete disarray following Sir Andrew Morritt’s comments in Minmar. In that case, he said a directors’ out of court appointment would have been invalid if the company had not been given notice of the intention to appoint administrators.

The cuts revealed in the Comprehensive Spending Review have not been quite as bad as the construction industry had apparently been expecting (£3.5 billion not as bad). Nevertheless there have still been billions of pounds shaved off various departmental budgets which will affect the construction industry. Where public spending has in the past been a reliable source of income, some companies are inevitably now going to feel the effect of the cuts.