Several provisions of the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, which will come into force on 1 October 2015, are likely to have an impact on directors and their D&O insurers. The first key change is that administrators and liquidators will be able to assign insolvency claims, such as claims for wrongful trading, fraudulent trading and transactions at an undervalue, to third parties.

On 14 September 2015, judgment was handed down in the case of Re SSRL Realisations Limited (In Administration), in which a landlord was granted permission to forfeit a lease by peaceable re-entry. The case will be of interest to insolvency practitioners and landlords alike – but for very different reasons.

The UK Insolvency Service has powers to investigate directors' conduct, to commence directors' disqualification proceedings and to enter into disqualification undertakings.

FMLC has written two letters to Treasury regarding bank recovery and resolution:

A recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the transfer of undertakings and the “retention of identity” of part of a business is instructive to practitioners in advising on the transfer (or potential transfer) of employees.

Synopsis:

CMS today publishes a White Paper examining whether there is a case for a special insolvency regime in the oil and gas industry.

According to recent press reports, Dave Forsey, Chief Executive of Sports Direct, is the latest (and most high-profile) executive to be hit by court proceedings concerning alleged failure to comply with redundancy notification procedures - in his case in his former position at fashion retailer, USC. As these and other reports confirm, there is clear evidence that the Insolvency Service is increasingly proactive in pursuing organisations, their senior personnel and insolvency practitioners who fail to file the requisite redundancy notification form (HR1) on time.

The Insolvency (Amendment) Rules 2015 (the “2015 Rules”) came into force on 1 October 2015. They amended the 1986 Insolvency Rules to introduce a new approach to the approval and payment of insolvency office holders (“IOH”s)’ fees and disbursements.

As of 1 October 2015, a number of changes have been introduced to insolvency law in the UK with more to follow on 10 October 2015 and then in April 2016.  The key developments implemented in October 2015 will affect both companies and individuals.

From 1 October 2015

Personal Insolvency

Further to the review of pre-pack administration sales (“pre-packs”) by Teresa Graham CBE last year (the findings of which were published in the “Graham Report” and discussed in one of our earlier blogs,Change in Sight for UK Pre-pack Administration Regulation), the key recommendations have now been implemented in order to improve fairness and transparency especially where a pre-pack sale occurs to a connected party.