A recent case considered whether a tax avoidance scheme could constitute a transaction defrauding creditors under section 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986). The decision hinged on whether the transactions were made for a "prohibited purpose" under s423(3)(a).

Facts of Purkiss v Kennedy

The Supreme Court recently considered whether administrators of a company can be prosecuted for a failure to provide notice to the Secretary of State, using form HR1, of proposed collective redundancies.

They found that for the purposes of interpreting the relevant section of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 ("TULRCA"), administrators were not an "officer" and so were not subject to the obligation to file an HR1. This decision, however, has the potential to impact much wider than the world of redundancies.