As the dust begins to settle after the EU referendum and the potential ramifications of Brexit continue to be digested, we examine the potential impact of Brexit on the UK cross-border restructuring and insolvency regime and its consequences for the UK’s reputation as a leading creditor-friendly restructuring jurisdiction.

The Insolvency Service has issued a call for evidence inviting comments on the issues with, and improvements that could be made to, the collective redundancy consultation requirements for employers faced with insolvency. 

CMS has succeeded in its application on behalf of HSBC to overturn the High Court’s decision inRe Tambrook Jersey Limited. The ruling will be welcomed by creditors and practitioners alike as the Court of Appeal has confirmed the UK courts have jurisdiction to grant assistance to a foreign court under the cross-border assistance provisions of section 426 of the Insolvency Act 1986 even where formal insolvency proceedings have not been opened in the foreign jurisdiction.

To no great surprise, the Global Corporate v Hale appeal decision has gone against the director. The Court of Appeal handed down the eagerly awaited judgment on 27 November 2018.

The new Insolvency Practice Direction came into force on 25 April 2018. Some of the key changes to the Practice Direction include: 

The saga of Carillion's collapse continued this month, as it transpired that accountancy giants EY had prepared plans to restructure the troubled construction firm as early as mid-December 2017.

The Facts

Stevensdrake Limited, a law firm, made a claim against a Liquidator for fees owing under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) made between the two on 10 April 2008. The parties had worked together on various insolvency matters for many years.

This article was first published in The Gazette, and the original article can be found online here.

The implementation of the Insolvency Rules 2016 has introduced a number of changes to the procedures in insolvency regimes.

The rules relating to income payment orders ("IPO") and income payment agreements ("IPA") are largely unchanged. The time periods dictated in the old rules for IPOs and IPAs remain the same, however there are some added requirements in the new rules, particularly in relation to the contents of notices and orders.

Rule 10.109 Application for income payments order (section 310)

[…]

(4) the notice to the bankrupt must be authenticated and dated by the trustee.

Rule 10.110 Order for income payments order

Disclaimer - Rules 19.1 - 19.11

The Rules relating to Disclaimer remain largely unchanged, except for bankruptcy and liquidation being included in the same section and some minor updates to the Act. The deadlines for all actions remain unchanged.

19.8 - Application for permission to disclaim in bankruptcy (section 315(4))

The notes in this section refer to changes within the Act as amended by the Deregulation Act 2015 and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.