As 2019 draws to a close, we reflect on some of our news and articles that we shared with you this year and add a brief perspective on the year ahead. We'd like to send special thanks to those who have worked with us or referred clients to us this year.
We have seen a large increase in the number of Insolvencies in the construction industry recently. The number of construction firms falling into administration leapt by over half during the third quarter of 2019.
If your company had been placed into liquidation, you may be preparing for the future and considering whether your company name can be reused following this process. Section 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986 places restrictions on the use of a liquidated company’s name – a law put in place to address the issues of ‘phoenixing’ (which you can find out more detail about here), in which a company may rack up debts before becoming insolvent and then returning as a new company with the same name, leaving third parties none the wiser. By law, a director may not be [...]
Stephen Wainwright, Partner, comments on HMRC becoming the preferred creditor.
Following our blog last year detailing avoiding Directors Disqualification, there has been a recent update from the Insolvency Service.
According to The Money Saving Expert’s guide to mental health and debt 40% of people who have had mental health problems also have severe or crisis debts. Often, the reason that people get into debt is not due to careless spending, it is due to lifestyle reasons such as not having enough income to cover outgoings, struggling to organise finances, and major life changes such as losing your job or losing a loved one. Although very common, the link between debt and mental health is not often discussed. Just as debt can lead to issues with mental health, existing mental health [...]
It is a familiar feeling for many business owners, discovering a tax bill is due and realising you don’t have enough working capital set aside to pay for it. Lack of working capital is a good reason to borrow money, but only if it can help you grow your business.
What is an Insolvency Practitioner (IP)? An Insolvency Practitioner (IP) is someone who is licensed and authorised to act on behalf of and provide advice to companies, organisations and individuals when they are facing financial difficulties. An IP is more often than not approached directly by a company Director (sometimes at the introduction of another professional advisor such as an Accountant) seeking help in dealing with their distressed company. Alternatively, in a compulsory liquidation by the Courts brought about when an unpaid creditor presents a winding-up petition, the Official Receiver first acts as the liquidator after which an IP may [...]
According to recent research carried out by the SME advice service, Business Debtline, small business owners and those self-employed are experiencing high levels of debt. There is an increasing concern for this, as these people make up 15% of the country’s total employed population and the tendency for more and more workers to become self-employed is leaving thousands of people in debt.
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and in the last 5 years, the amount owed to smaller businesses in late payment has more than halved but we want to see payment practices improve even further. Research carried out by R3 earlier this year found that late payment of invoices was the most common sign of business distress among companies in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humberside, with more than a quarter (27%) of them saying they were owed payment on invoices that were 30 days past their due date. A 2016 R3 survey of the insolvency [...]
