Insolvency technical update – May 2023
By Steven Wood, Practice Support Specialist (Insolvency)
7 June 2023
We share our latest insolvency technical update – your round-up of recent developments in insolvency.
The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill (‘the Bill’) - call for views
The Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 27 April 2023.
The Bill contains provisions that broadly fall into three categories:
- An enabling power that will provide the platform for future regulations to introduce a “mental health moratorium”.
- Minor and technical amendments to bankruptcy legislation to provide clarity and improve the operation of bankruptcy processes, as set out in the legislation.
- Diligence measures to modernise existing debt recovery mechanisms and allow for more streamlined and improved processes.
We have published an article looking at the Bill in more detail.
The Bill has now been referred to the Economy and Fair Work Committee, which has published a call for views in relation to the proposed changes. The call for views closes on 21 July 2023 and we will publish our submission in due course.
Stage one debate on the Bill is expected to follow later this year.
The Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill ('the Moveable Bill')
The Moveable Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 4 May 2023 and will now proceed to receive Royal Assent.
The Moveable Bill will modernise the law of Scotland in relation to moveable transactions, in implementation of the Scottish Law Commission report on moveable transactions published in December 2017.
The Moveable Bill reforms two elements of the law on moveable property:
- The assignation of claims
- The law of pledges
We have published an article looking at the Moveable Bill in more detail.
Consultation on statement of insolvency practice (SIP) 3.3 – trust deeds
A reminder that a working group of the Joint Insolvency Committee (JIC) has been reviewing SIP 3.3 – trust deeds and is now inviting comments on the revised SIP.
The consultation closes on 10 July 2023.
HMRC insolvency guidance – mailbox for VAT deregistration confirmation
HMRC has issued an update in connection with its trial of a dedicated mailbox for IPs to request VAT deregistration confirmation.
The trial is due to end on 30 May 2023, however, based on survey feedback, HMRC has decided to commit to the mailbox service “for the foreseeable future”.
Consultation on changes to Insolvency Service Official Statistics
The Insolvency Service is seeking views on proposed changes to statistics publications. The consultation closes at 17:00 BST on 30 June 2023 and responses should be sent to statistics@insolvency.gov.uk.
UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU)
UKFIU has published new guidance material on the new suspicious activity reports (SARs) portal. It has also published guidance materials on the NCA website.
AiB stakeholder events 2023
The AiB is hosting a series of one-day stakeholder events across Scotland in June focussing on key developments and discussions around the debt and insolvency sector.
Insolvency Service spring newsletter
The latest edition of the Insolvency Service newsletter has been published.
It includes articles on covid support abuse, compensation for postmasters as part the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry and the launch of the new Official Receiver Central Case Team and Aftercare Team.
Legal update
Re Avanti Communications Limited (in administration) [2023] EWHC 940 (Ch): a recent English High Court judgment that held that a charge was properly characterised as a fixed (and not floating) despite the chargor having some flexibility to dispose of assets without the consent of the charge holder.
Register for the ICAS Insolvency and Restructuring Conference 2023
