From 1 January 2016, deposits made by private individuals and small businesses to any authorised firms are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to a limit of £75,000 (previously £85,000).

Last year, the Ministry of Justice published its statistics for judicial and court activity in England and Wales for 2014. In this note, we take a look at the 2014 figures and highlight emerging litigation trends.

Our own enquiries into professional negligence claims for the first three quarters of 2015 show that claims numbers are likely to be broadly similar to those for 2014 and 2013. We intend to follow this note with an update after the Ministry of Justice publishes its own figures for the whole of 2015 later this year.

Unless you have been living in a cave, you will have heard the very disappointing news that the current exemption to the Jackson reforms for insolvency claims under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (“LASPO”) will cease as of 1 April 2016.

If you are to avail yourself of the benefits of the Jackson exemption, which was one of the few pieces of legislation that levelled out the playing field between Insolvency Practitioners (“IPs”) and rogue directors – then read on.

The Insolvency Proceedings (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2015 (SI 2015/1819) which comes into force on 16 November 2015 is set to change the landscape on how creditors pursue debts.

The cost of presenting a bankruptcy or winding up petition will increase for petitions presented on or after 16 November 2015.  This is not welcome news to many creditors as the increase may result in smaller debts being harder to recover, forcing more claims to be issued through the Small Claims Court which can often be a lengthy process and not always cost effective.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) levy Determination for 2016/17 was published on 17 December 2015. It follows a consultation with PPF stakeholders which was launched in September this year. The levy Determination sets out the rules for calculating a scheme’s annual PPF levy. In our September Update we reported on the key changes which were being proposed as part of the 2016/17 consultation process.    

Nearly a third (30%) of South West retailers are at heightened risk of insolvency in the next 12 months, according to research by R3, the insolvency trade body. This is an increase of 5.5 percentage points  on the same time last year.

These figures are higher than the cross-sector percentage of businesses in the South West at higher than normal risk (26.5%). However, it is below the UK average insolvency risk for the retail sector (30.8%).

Alan Bennett, Chair of R3 in the South West and Partner at Ashfords LLP, comments:

The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) can provide very significant tax relief for investors in unlisted companies but a recent case in the First Tier Tribunal (“FTT”) shows how strictly the rules of the Scheme are interpreted.

One of the many conditions of EIS relief is that the shares issued to the investor must not have any preferential right to a company’s assets on a winding up. The requirement is included so that an investor cannot obtain the tax advantages of EIS relief while being shielded from the economic risk of the investment.

The facts

8 fathom . AUGUST 2015 Shipping Case Digest |by Andrew Chiew Ean Vooi and Jennifer James Ilango| MV “Sanko Mineral” With the current downturn in the shipping industry, shipowner insolvency is often a concern. In the MV “Sanko Mineral” (the Sanko Mineral),1 we find juxtaposition between in rem proceedings in the Admiralty court and cross-border insolvency proceedings. (i) Tokyo insolvency proceedings In July 2012, the owners of the Sanko Mineral, Sanko Holdings (“Sanko”) entered into reorganisation proceedings under the Corporate Reorganisation Act in Japan.

In March 2015 the coalition government issued a call for evidence to understand in more detail the employee consultation process when a company is facing insolvency. Last month the government issued its Response. This attracted 28 responses from organisations including law firms, trade unions, insolvency practitioners and professional bodies.

Real Estate Disputes Case Review 2015 In case you have missed the last 12 months’ most significant property cases, or would like a reminder, listed below is our monthly review of this year’s important cases. Briefing Real Estate December 2015 December 2014 Landlord protecting tenant’s deposits A landlord’s ability to seek possession of residential premises under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 was considered when the tenant’s deposit had not been protected in an authorised scheme at the time of service of the notice.