R3’s Press, Policy and Public Affairs Update December 2019

05 December 2019

The General Election campaign has put official Government policy announcements on ice for the time being. A planned Budget on 6 November was cancelled, so there's been no update on the Government's plans to reintroduce Crown Preference. Meanwhile, 'purdah' means there will be no announcement from the Insolvency Service on reform projects relating to pre-packs and insolvency regulation, at least until early 2020 (once a new ministerial team has settled into place).

Insolvency has featured in both major parties' manifestos, with the Conservatives making reference to plans to "reform insolvency rules... so that customers and suppliers - and UK taxpayers - are better protected when firms like Thomas Cook go into administration." Meanwhile, the Labour party says it plans to "let struggling companies go into protective administration, so they can be sold as a going concern rather than collapsing into insolvency."

The R3 team will be in touch with our contacts to find out more details about both sets of proposals. The Government already has a number of insolvency policies in the pipeline - including a moratorium, a new restructuring tool, and airline insolvency reforms - and it's good to see these are firmly on ministers' radars.

Once a new Government is in office, we'll be working hard to make sure R3 members' views play a part in any developments in insolvency and restructuring policy.

Elsewhere, R3 recently submitted a response to an Ofgem consultation on energy suppliers: our members have flagged concerns with us about the rules regarding energy supplier insolvencies, and we've passed these on to the regulator. We'll be aiming to meet Ofgem to discuss these issues in person in the near future. You can see our consultation response here.

In the press, our commentary on the latest quarterly insolvency statistics was featured by Reuters, the Guardian, MailOnline, the Daily Telegraph, the BBC, the Press Association, the Sun, and the Mirror. In November, our guides to bankruptcy were used by the Daily Star and Daily Mirror as they reported on Katie Price's bankruptcy.

The Value of the Insolvency & Restructuring Profession 2020 – Your Input Needed

In 2020, we'll be carrying out a major piece of research into our members' contribution to the economy - and we'll need your help!

Early in the New Year, we'll be asking members for information about your teams and the cases you worked on in 2019: how many people you advised, how many jobs you rescued, how much money you returned to creditors, and more. You'll need details of some of your 2019 cases to hand - and we'll be asking one member to respond on behalf of each practice.

Please do keep your eyes peeled for more information next year!