Following a recent government consultation, new draft legislation is expected this summer which will render HMRC as a “secondary preferential creditor” in insolvencies that commence on or after 6 April 2020. The government’s objective is to ensure that more tax which is collected on behalf of HMRC (circa £1.9bn) is actually paid to HMRC and used to fund public services, and is not distributed to pay other creditors.

Section 127 of the Insolvency Act renders void any disposition of property by a company made in the period between presentation of the winding up petition and the making of a winding up order on that petition unless the court orders otherwise. Guidance on applications for validation orders is given in the Insolvency Practice Direction (“PD”).

1 April 2016 will see the insolvency profession fall in line with other civil litigation as the exemption which enabled the recoverability of CFA success fees and After the Event (ATE) insurance premiums from the unsuccessful party to litigation comes to an end. This recoverability was abolished in other civil litigation in April 2013, principally as one of a number of changes intended to control and reduce the costs of civil litigation.

The British Property Federation has produced a document to codify CVA best practice with a view to giving guidance to insolvency practitioners on key items landlords will look for in a CVA proposal.

The document is available on the BPF's website and can be found here.

Recent cases we have been involved in have highlighted the need for Insolvency Practitioners to pay careful attention to the effect that block transfer orders have on administrations where the exit route is a creditors' voluntary liquidation ("CVL"). Failure to do so could risk the appointment of liquidators being invalid.

The statutory requirements