On 23 April 2020 the UK Government announced that they will be introducing a temporary ban on the use of statutory demands and winding up petitions where the inability to pay has arisen because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is CBILS?

CBILS is a government backed loan scheme to provide financial support to small and medium businesses (SMEs) across the UK that are experiencing financial difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The scheme opened on 23 March 2020 and will run for an initial period of 6 months.

The scheme is delivered by accredited commercial lenders, backed by the government-owned British Business Bank (the BBB).

At the end of March, the Government introduced measures providing a moratorium on evictions for commercial tenants for non-payment of rent until 30 June 2020.

We have previously reported on the developing area of adjudication by insolvent companies, now the subject of another key judgment. In Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Limited and Astec Projects Limited (in liquidation) [2020] the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) has provided a further clear example of the type of strict conditions that will need to be satisfied to enable such adjudications to proceed.

It is a sad but inevitable fact that shutting down large sectors of the economy will lead to more insolvencies, both corporate and individual. The Insolvency and Companies Court certainly envisages that it is going to be busy, and this inevitably coincides with corresponding constraints on the Court’s ability to deal with the influx. Hence the need for the Temporary Insolvency Practice Direction (‘the Temporary IPD’), which came into force on 6 April 2020.1

A number of UK insolvency trade association bodies and professionals are advocating for the use of what is known as a light-touch administration for companies in financial distress as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Light Touch Administration – What Is It?

The troubles possibly faced by WeWork, the shared office space company, were well documented long before the global impact of COVID-19 was felt. WeWork, unlike other shared office companies, tends to use a more inherently risky business model, taking long leases and carving them up into short-term flexible letting arrangements. Whilst some shared office companies take on geared leases, passing up a percentage of revenue, and thus sharing the risk and reward, WeWork are understood to have a larger holding of fixed rent leases.

The latest news and developments in retail mortgage lending and regulation.

This month in summary:

News

Government updates on the pandemic

There have been a number of updates that will affect lenders in respect of the pandemic. The key stories are:

In the first litigation involving the Furlough scheme, the court in Re Carluccio's (in administration) ruled on how the administrators can lawfully give effect to furlough arrangements with the employees who have agreed to the variation of their employment contract.

Read on for our analysis of the case which gives an interesting insight into how the courts in the future might interpret the furlough scheme.

1. Background

Carluccio’s in administration

Status Of Crypto-Assets Under English Law

The definition of ‘property’ in section 436 of the Insolvency Act 1986 is considered by many to be wide enough to be inclusive of crypto-assets, and recent developments in this jurisdiction also support the position that crypto-assets constitute property under English law.