EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Background to the Restructuring Plan

The UK has introduced the Restructuring Plan; a new, flexible court supervised restructuring tool. The Restructuring Plan draws upon features of the existing Companies Act 2006 scheme of arrangement procedure (which remains available) but includes features which are new to the UK but similar to those under U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Pre-packs sales are an important arrangement within Administrations and insolvency law. However, their usage has sometimes been considered “controversial”. In response to criticism and following a recent review of existing industry measures, the Government introduced The Administration (Restrictions on Disposal etc. to Connected Persons) Regulations 2021 (“the Regulations”). Coming into force on 30 April 2021, the Regulations will provide a new legal framework for pre-packs.

An appellate court judgment will bring comfort to liquidators of insolvent companies in respect of the limitation periods applicable in cases of fraud or deliberate concealment

In brief

Duty of care in tort not established in favour of main contractor from third party sub consultant

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 introduced a number of temporary changes to UK insolvency laws last year. Those changes, together with other measures such as the moratorium on forfeiture proceedings have recently been extended, we assume, to avoid the perceived cliff edge of insolvencies that might follow if such measures are brought to an end abruptly.

The interesting times of the last 14 months were preceded by the interesting times of the financial crisis of 2008/2009. The reverberations of that financial crisis had a profound effect upon governments’ presumptions as to the financial stability of economies generally but also the financial stability of sectors such as financial services.

Last year, temporary changes to the bankruptcy process were brought in by the Scottish Government, to help individuals financially impacted by the pandemic. Scottish ministers have now introduced the Bankruptcy (Miscellaneous amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, to make some of those changes permanent.

The main purpose of these measures is to improve access to minimal asset process bankruptcy ( "MAP" a form of bankruptcy typically aimed at people with low income and few assets) and to reduce the cost for debtors seeking bankruptcy more widely.

Following the end of the flexibilities afforded by The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA) in relation to the conduct of general meetings and following the publication of guidance by The Chartered Governance Institute (ICSA) we have reviewed notices of Annual General Meetings (AGMs) to be held after 30 March 2021. We set out some common themes around how companies are organising their AGMs in light of the guidance issued and the current restrictions in place.