Government to introduce new sanctions on IPs this summer

THE GOVERNMENT has suggested that reforms to streamline sanctions against insolvency practitioners could be introduced as early as this summer.

The announcement is in response to a report published by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) which looked at the Insolvency Service as well as practitioner sanctions and reforms to pre-pack administrations.

The government response to the report said that in future all complaints would go through the Insolvency Service. It hopes that the change will see “virtually” all complaints sent to the Insolvency Service which would make an initial assessment and send them to the practitioner’s regulator.

A common sanctions guidance on practitioners across all the regulating bodies (of which there are seven) as well as increased transparency in appeals are also due to be implemented this summer.

“The creation of a single gateway for complaints, common standards and a common appeals process would be an important step in this regard,” a parliamentary statement said.

“Often complainants are simply dissatisfied with an insolvency and the financial loss they have suffered. A simplified complaints system, which included greater publicity about the operation and scope of the current system, signposting of disciplinary outcomes and expectation management of potential complainants, could go some way to providing a clearer picture of the work of insolvency practitioners.”

The government also said it intends to “strengthen the powers of the Insolvency Service as oversight regulator when legislative time permits”.

A copy of the BIS report can be found here.