In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, on 28 March 2020, the Government announced the suspension of s.214 of the Insolvency Act 1986. This section imposes personal liability on directors found to have over-traded while a company was insolvent (so-called ‘wrongful trading’). By removing the risk of personal liability, the Government is providing directors with the personal protection they need to allow their businesses to continue trading through the pandemic. There are, however, likely to be negative consequences arising from the suspension, including for creditors.

In 2013 as part of the so called “Jackson reforms” to civil litigation, the ability to recover Conditional Fee Arrangement (“CFA”) success fees and After The Event (“ATE”) insurance premiums from other parties in litigation was removed. Insolvency practitioners bringing claims on behalf of insolvent companies were exempt from the application of these new provisions; however the Ministry of Justice announced in December 2015 that the exemption would be lifted in April 2016.