In June 2019 the Government announced a plan to introduce a new “breathing space” scheme to protect individuals and families struggling with problem debt and to give those individuals and families extra help and time to get their finances under control.

The court has a limited discretion not to make a bankruptcy order where the debt is the subject of a statutory demand which has not been paid and is outstanding at the time of the bankruptcy petition hearing.

The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing. The benefits of a fully functional crystal ball to see the future would be much better. All pensions lawyers (and scheme actuaries) would add it to their gift list!

I will attempt to take a look at the pensions related announcements in Monday’s budget from a future (perhaps optimistic) vantage point.

So here we are, nearing the end of 2023…

1. Dashboards

The High Court has held that two director-shareholders of a company who were unsuccessfully prosecuted for fraud could not claim back the drop in the value of their shares when the company’s business failed.

What happened?

Care providers in the UK are under considerable financial strain. Costs of care continue to rise. The fees from local authorities have failed to keep pace with the actual cost of delivering care despite the growing demand for care and for such care to meet the expected fundamental standards. It is therefore not surprising that some care providers are buckling under the strain. What should the directors of a provider do if the provider is buckling under the strain?