Insolvency Technical Update - May 2019
By David Menzies, Director of Practice
3 June 2019
Insolvency technical update – Your round-up of recent developments in insolvency.
Accountant in Bankruptcy Notes for Guidance for trustees
Amendments have been made to the AiB’s Notes for Guidance for trustees. The changes are considered in more detail in an article on icas.com.
Common Financial Tools Notes for Guidance
The Accountant in Bankruptcy have updated the Common Financial Tool Notes for Guidance. The amendments are considered in an article published on icas.com.
DASH replacement project
The Accountant in Bankruptcy Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) system, DASH, will be decommissioned on 30 June 2019. The replacement system, eDEN, will go live on 1 July 2019. The new system will include the full case caseload migrated from DASH and an upload facility for payments distributors.
To assist with the migration of users, AiB will issue emails to all organisations requesting confirmation of users who should be added to eDEN. Any organisation which does not respond will not be migrated into the new system and will have to go through the registration process for each user when the system goes live.
The AiB have developed a money adviser guide to applying for DPP on eDEN and are working on further training packages which will be added to the AiB website as they are completed.
The training site for eDEN can be accessed now.
Redundancy payments guidance
Bankruptcy Restriction Orders and Undertakings
The Insolvency Service have updated the guidance schedule setting out the main consequences for individuals subject to a Bankruptcy Restriction Order or Undertaking.
Insolvency Service forms
The Insolvency Service have updated the form to appeal a decision of the Bankruptcy Adjudicator to refuse a bankruptcy order (r10.44 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016).
ICAS FAQ - Top ten questions when your client becomes insolvent
Queries are often received by ICAS from its members which reflect concerns when a client becomes insolvent and the officeholder seeks information or assistance from them. ICAS has published an article which seeks to set out responses to such frequently asked questions. While the article addresses the questions which a general practitioner may have, the article may serve as a useful reminder of the approach which would be expected of IPs in seeking information or assistance from an insolvent’s previous accountant and allow officeholders to pre-empt the responses from ICAS members.
Anti-Money Laundering
ICAS has entered into a partnership with Amiqus ID which provides firms with an effective solution to AML compliance. The arrangement provides ICAS firms with preferential terms, low cost access to a digital solution to reduce the regulatory burden and comply with risk assessment and identity requirements under AML regulations.
DAS consultation - returning funds to the free advice sector
The AiB’s 2018 Building a Better Debt Arrangement Scheme consultation contained proposals to improve DAS.
The changes include proposals that all debt payment programmes under the scheme will pay the same flat rate fee and that the AiB should be able to be a payments distributor. A summary of responses was recently published and the amendments proposed were previously considered in an article published on icas.com
It is proposed that where the AiB is nominated as payments distributor, it will charge the statutory administration fee for this function but will only seek to recover its costs. Any excess funds will be re-invested in the free money advice sector.
Opinion is sought on which of the options detailed in the consultation would work best and why. The consultation paper can be accessed on the Scottish Government Consultation Hub.
Legal Update
GP Cars (Herts) Limited [2018] EWHC 2639 (Ch) The recent case of GP Cars (Herts) Limited, concerned an application brought by an IP under section 236 of the Insolvency Act 1986 against the company’s former solicitors for delivery up of their books and records relating to the company.
Devon Commercial Property Ltd v Barnett A recent High Court case has provided welcome clarity for LPA and fixed charge receivers as to the scope of their duty of good faith and potential conflicts of interest. (via Lexology)
Wright v HMV Ecommerce Limited The court was asked to confirm whether administrators were validly appointed following the directors filing a notice of appointment after the court office was closed using electronic filing. (via Lexology)
Indigo Projects London Limited v Razin and another [2019] EWHC 1205 (TCC) The Technology and Construction Court has considered whether a Creditors Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) lead to a stay in the enforcement of an adjudicator's decision. (via Lexology)