How will it impact on pensions?

Under the Bankruptcy Act 1988, the general rule is that all property “belonging” to a person adjudicated bankrupt on the date of adjudication vested in the Official Assignee. The extent to which this rule extended to pension assets depended on the type of pension vehicle the person being declared bankrupt participated in and the actual terms of the pension scheme or policy.

The 1988 Act has now been amended to include detailed and prescriptive provisions relating to the treatment of pension assets on bankruptcy.

There have been a number of recent developments regarding the current system of examinership and the legislation governing repossession and other lender’s rights. Norman Fitzgerald, Partner and Head of Eversheds’ Insolvency Group, discusses the proposed amendments and their likely impact.

Circuit Court Provisions for Examinership

As highlighted by the 2008-2009 crisis, the insolvency of sub-suppliers raises important challenges. Automotive parts suppliers may need to find an alternative sub-supplier at short notice or may have to take over the production of certain parts themselves, which often requires a recovery of the tools that were provided to the sub-supplier. Both scenarios raise difficult legal issues.

In a recent landmark ruling, the UK Supreme Court deliberated on the question of whether an overseas defendant had to have submitted to the jurisdiction under common law before a foreign bankruptcy order would be recognised and enforced in England. Richard Keady and Jay Qin of Bird & Bird consider the practical implications of the decision and the significance it may have on practitioners going forward.

Azevedo and another v Imcopa Importacao, Exportaacao E Industria De Oleos Ltda and others [2012] EWHC 1849 (Comm)

Summary

The recent TCC decision in Brit Inns Ltd (in liquidation) v. BDW Trading Ltd (Costs) [2012] EWHC 2489 (TCC) is a useful summary of the costs principles that will be applied where Claimants pursue inflated claims – either deliberately or through lack of sufficient care. The relevant principles will be:

Government’s plan to boost UK house building

Recently the Prime Minister announced a new housing and planning package that is intended to stimulate:

During the current economic slowdown businesses in many industries, including some in the industrial engineering sector, are struggling to make payments to suppliers; some have even gone into bankruptcy. However, under Polish law it is possible for a creditor to achieve some protection even if specific provisions are absent from the contract.

Financial support directions and insolvency: the Regulator's statement

Natural England makes geographic information datasets available under the Open Government licence  

This means that datasets about areas of significance for the natural environment such as protected site boundaries, are now made available under a perpetual licence for commercial and non-commercial use. See link to natural England website for further information.

Squatting criminalised