On June 26, 2017, the recast EU regulation on insolvency proceedings1 (the Recast Insolvency Regulation) came into force.

Existing Legislation

During the UK government’s daily COVID-19 press conference on 28 March 2020, Business Secretary Alok Sharma announced that changes to insolvency laws are to be introduced at the “earliest opportunity,” to provide businesses with greater flexibility and support to “weather the storm.”

Proposed changes

The new restructuring tools include:

The new Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (SI 2016/1024) came into force on April 6, 2017 (the 2016 Rules). The 2016 Rules replace the Insolvency Rules 1986 (SI 1986/1925) and their 28 subsequent amendments (the 1986 Rules) and represent a continuation of the Insolvency Service’s recent efforts to modernize and implement policy changes under various pieces of primary legislation.