Trade body warns over insolvency changes

THE government’s decision to prevent insolvency practitioners using no win no fee arrangements to pursue money owed to creditors could result in half a billion pounds a year remaining in the hands of rogue directors, the insolvency trade body R3 has warned.
Richard Wolff of R3Richard Wolff of R3
Richard Wolff of R3

R3’s North West Chair Richard Wolff (pictured) said he was ‘extremely disappointed’ by the announcement by the Ministry of Justice.

Insolvency professionals regularly use no win no fee arrangements to recover funds in cases of suspected wrongdoing or fraud. New research from the University of Wolverhampton shows that in 2014, this type of funding allowed the insolvency profession to pursue over £1bn owed to creditors and successfully retrieve around £480m, including £115m on behalf of HMRC.

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Richard Wolff, who is also Head of Corporate Recovery and Insolvency at law firm JMW, said: “The loss of the effective use of ‘no win no fee’ arrangements would seem to amount to a rogues’ charter.

“Fraudulent directors and others will now have an added incentive to withhold creditors’ money because it will be almost impossible to take them to court. It’s honest, ordinary businesses creditors and the taxpayer that will lose out.” No win no fee arrangements were banned under the 2012 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act although the insolvency profession was granted a temporary exemption, which was extended in February this year following pressure from industry bodies and North West MPs.

However R3 believes the government has not assessed the impact of any changes.

Richard Wolff added: “Conditional fee arrangements are often the only way to pay for legal action as there are often no funds left in an insolvency.”

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