ICAS ICAS logo

Quicklinks

  1. About Us

    Find out about who we are and what we do here at ICAS.

  2. Find a CA

    Search our directory of individual CAs and Member organisations by name, location and professional criteria.

  3. CA Magazine

    View the latest issues of the dedicated magazine for ICAS Chartered Accountants.

  4. Contact Us

    Get in touch with ICAS by phone, email or post, with dedicated contacts for Members, Students and firms.

Login
  • Annual renewal
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Find a CA
  1. About us
    1. Governance
  2. Members
    1. Become a member
    2. Newly qualified
    3. Manage my membership
    4. Benefits of membership
    5. Careers support
    6. Mentoring
    7. CA Wellbeing
    8. More for Members
    9. Area networks
    10. International communities
    11. Get involved
    12. Top Young CAs
    13. Career breaks
    14. ICAS podcast
    15. Newly admitted members 2022
    16. Newly admitted members 2023
  3. CA Students
    1. Student information
    2. Student resources
    3. Learning requirements
    4. Learning updates
    5. Learning blog
    6. Totum Pro | Student discount card
    7. CA Student wellbeing
  4. Become a CA
    1. How to become a CA
    2. Routes to becoming a CA
    3. CA Stories
    4. Find a training agreement
    5. Why become a CA
    6. Qualification information
    7. University exemptions
  5. Employers
    1. Become an Authorised Training Office
    2. Resources for Authorised Training Offices
    3. Professional entry
    4. Apprenticeships
  6. Find a CA
  7. ICAS events
    1. CA Summit
  8. CA magazine
  9. Insight
    1. Finance + Trust
    2. Finance + Technology
    3. Finance + EDI
    4. Finance + Mental Fitness
    5. Finance + Leadership
    6. Finance + Sustainability
  10. Professional resources
    1. Anti-money laundering
    2. Audit and assurance
    3. Brexit
    4. Business and governance
    5. Charities
    6. Coronavirus
    7. Corporate and financial reporting
    8. Cyber security
    9. Ethics
    10. Insolvency
    11. ICAS Research
    12. Pensions
    13. Practice
    14. Public sector
    15. Sustainability
    16. Tax
  11. CPD - professional development
    1. CPD courses and qualifications
    2. CPD news and updates
    3. CPD support and advice
  12. Regulation
    1. Complaints and sanctions
    2. Regulatory authorisations
    3. Guidance and help sheets
    4. Regulatory monitoring
  13. CA jobs
    1. CA jobs partner: Rutherford Cross
    2. Resources for your job search
    3. Advertise with CA jobs
    4. Hays | A Trusted ICAS CA Jobs Partner
    5. Azets | What's your ambition?
  14. Work at ICAS
    1. Business centres
    2. Meet our team
    3. Benefits
    4. Vacancies
    5. Imagine your career at ICAS
  15. Contact us
    1. Technical and regulation queries
    2. ICAS logo request

Scottish Insolvency Rules are changing

Edinburgh
  • LinkedIn (opens new window)
  • Twitter (opens new window)
david-menzies By David Menzies, Director of Practice

16 October 2018

Key points:

  • Revised insolvency Rules will apply in Scotland from 6 April 2019

  • IPs and their firms need to start planning now for the changes

  • The new Rules will align Scottish insolvency procedures with changes brought into effect in England and Wales in 2017.

Significant changes to the way corporate insolvency procedures are conducted in Scotland will come into effect in April 2019. Find out what action needs to be taken now to be prepared.

The long-awaited publication of The Insolvency (Scotland) (Company Voluntary Arrangement and Administration) Rules 2018 has finally taken place. With that, the starting gun has been fired for IPs and their firms to commence preparing for what some have described as the biggest change in insolvency working practice in Scotland in over 30 years.

The above new rules, together with The Insolvency (Scotland) (Receivership and Winding Up) Rules 2018 which also have been laid will replace The Insolvency (Scotland) Rules 1986 and their numerous subsequent amendments.

With over 300 pages of legislation split over two sets of Rules, getting to grips with the new rules is not an easy task. Add in that the structure of the 2018 Rules is different, the language has been modernised and there have been significant changes from new legislation incorporated, getting up to speed with the new Rules will take some time.

The good news, however, is that anyone who has already taken the time to familiarise themselves with The Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 will have a significant head start as the majority of the practical changes mirror the changes brought in in England and Wales on 6 April 2017.

What is different?

The rules have been recast to reflect modern business practice and to commence various changes brought in through the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 and Deregulation Act 2015. Changes include:

  • enabling electronic communications with creditors
  • removing the automatic requirement to hold physical creditors meetings, although creditors will be able to request meetings
  • enabling creditors to opt out of further correspondence and for small dividends to be paid by the office holder without requiring a formal claim from creditors

The new Receivership and Winding Up Rules have taken the approach of treating many more areas as common parts rather than duplicating the provisions within the rules for each insolvency procedure. Areas included as common parts include, for example, remuneration, decision making, claims by and distributions to creditors, proxies and corporate representation and creditors’ and liquidation committees.

The same approach has not been taken in the CVA and Administration Rules as many of the ‘common part’ rules don’t apply in CVAs and therefore there would have been a ‘common part’ in those rules which would only have applied in Administrations.

The new Receivership and Winding Up Rules have also separated the three types of liquidation into dedicated parts (Parts 3, 4 and 5 of the Receivership and Winding Up Rules) to aid clarity. The new Rules will also align accounting periods and reporting periods and provide for flexibility for an office-holder to defer claims for remuneration at an accounting period without the need for Court or Committee intervention.

In general, the transitional provisions require that the new rules will apply to all cases and not just new cases after 6 April 2019. There are some saving provisions so that for instance meetings called before the commencement of the new rules will still take place under the old rules and provisions in relation to electronic communication will only apply to new cases.

Start preparing for change

The changes introduced by the new rules will have significant implications for the way IPs conduct and administer insolvency cases, both old and new. The new rules have removed all prescribed forms which are currently used and instead only prescribe the content of notices.

IPs and their firms will require to have updated checklists, diaries, template letters and new forms created over the next few months to be ready for the new rules commencing on 6 April 2019.

Over the coming weeks, ICAS will provide further information and guidance on the main changes and the implications of the new rules and will support IPs through the changes through courses and presentations. We would encourage all IPs to ensure they take every opportunity to gain a detailed working knowledge of the new rules and to ensure that staff are appropriately engaged in the process also.

Preparing for the Scottish Insolvency Rules 2018

By David Menzies, Director of Practice

26 February 2019

Edinburgh_Skyline

Insolvency Technical Update - September 2018

By David Menzies, Director of Practice

11 October 2018

2022-11-mitigo 2022-11-mitigo
ICAS logo

Footer links

  • Contact us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • CA magazine

Connect with ICAS

  • Facebook (opens new window) Facebook Icon
  • Twitter (opens new window) Twitter Icon
  • LinkedIn (opens new window) LinkedIn Icon
  • Instagram (opens new window) Instagram Icon

ICAS is a member of the following bodies

  • Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (opens new window) Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies logo
  • Chartered Accountants Worldwide (opens new window) Chartered Accountants Worldwide logo
  • Global Accounting Alliance (opens new window) Global Accounting Alliance
  • International Federation of Accountants (opens new window) IFAC
  • Access Accountancy (opens new window) Access Acountancy

Charities

  • ICAS Foundation (opens new window) ICAS Foundation
  • SCABA (opens new window) scaba

Accreditations

  • ISO 9001 - RGB (opens new window)
© ICAS 2022

The mark and designation “CA” is a registered trade mark of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and is available for use in the UK and EU only to members of ICAS. If you are not a member of ICAS, you should not use the “CA” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to accountancy, tax or insolvency services. The mark and designation “Chartered Accountant” is a registered trade mark of ICAS, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and Chartered Accountants Ireland. If you are not a member of one of these organisations, you should not use the “Chartered Accountant” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to these services. Further restrictions on the use of these marks also apply where you are a member.

ICAS logo

Our cookie policy

ICAS.com uses cookies which are essential for our website to work. We would also like to use analytical cookies to help us improve our website and your user experience. Any data collected is anonymised. Please have a look at the further information in our cookie policy and confirm if you are happy for us to use analytical cookies: