Consultation on revising Statement of Insolvency Practice 14

The Joint Insolvency Committee (JIC) has commenced a consultation exercise on proposed changes to Statement of Insolvency Practice (SIP) 14 - A Receiver’s Responsibility to Preferential Creditors.

SIP 14 was last updated in 1999, and since that time, there have been considerable changes in insolvency legislation and practice. These changes have transformed not only receiverships, rendering administrative receivership (and receivership in Scotland) almost redundant. In addition, the nature of preferential creditors has also changed, first with the removal of Crown preference in 2003 and then, to an extent, its restoration, in the form of secondary preferential status for certain HMRC claims, in 2020.

Consequently, while SIP 14 had largely fallen into disuse, the JIC decided that it should be updated not only to reflect the most recent legislative changes to the status of preferential creditors but also renamed to clarify that it applies to all types of insolvency appointment, not just receiverships.  

The proposed updates are also intended to harmonise the SIP across the UK jurisdictions.

A working group of the Joint Insolvency Committee (JIC) was established to review SIP 14. The working group comprised of insolvency professionals, representatives of the Recognised Professional Bodies, a leading academic and HMRC.

The principal proposed changes to the SIP are:

• Revisions to clarify that the scope of the SIP covered all types of insolvency appointment, not just Administrative Receivers.
• Revised opening paragraphs and introduction.
• Inclusion of a table of contents.
• Introduction of the modern structure of a SIP including sections for Principles, Key Compliance Standards and Provisions of General Application.
• Removal of the summaries of statutory provisions.
• Rewording to apply to cases in all UK legal jurisdictions.

The Working Group proposed a revised SIP 14 and the JIC has approved its circulation to the profession and other stakeholders for consultation.

Any revised amended SIP will only be introduced after careful consideration of the responses received and any plan to introduce changes will consider any continuing challenges faced by the insolvency profession. 

The consultation period opens on 12 June 2025 and will be open for a period of twelve weeks, closing on 5 September 2025. 

Consultation response form

 

Download draft revised SIP 14

 

Download comparison