PPP update: March 2022

14 April 2022

As we move into the spring season, the news and public affairs agenda continues to be full, with the submission of R3’s response to the Government’s insolvency regulation consultation, the launch of a new paper to tackle insolvency fee misconceptions and a new guide for people in Scotland worried about their finances just some of the areas the Press, Policy and Public Affairs team has worked on this month.

These, coupled with continued work to give the profession a voice on key issues in the media has meant March was a busy month for the Press, Policy and Public Affair’s team.

R3 responds to The Future of Insolvency Regulation consultation

The Government’s ‘Future of Insolvency Regulation’ consultation sets out proposals to radically reform the regulatory framework of the insolvency and restructuring profession. Following its announcement in late December 2021, we have connected with R3 members across the UK to gather views from the profession.

Last month, we consolidated all the feedback we received into a 26-page consultation response which we submitted ahead of the 25^th March 2022 deadline.

In our response, we highlighted our concerns with a number of areas of the Government’s proposals – most notably, the plans for single regulator for the profession to operate from within the Insolvency Service, and the fact that the consultation contains little detail about how each aspect of the reforms would operate in practice.

We would like to thank all the R3 members who contributed to the drafting of this response, which you can read in full here.

Key policy issues raised at Fraud Conference

At the end of March, R3 held its very first hybrid Fraud Conference at which more than 20 world-class speakers provided insights into fraud topics including global economic crime, cryptocurrency, company fraud, and more.

We were pleased to see key issues with the current legislation in relation to fraud raised by a few of the keynote speakers. In particular, it was great to hear the recent Economic Crime Act discussed by Daniel Lewis, Barrister for Wilberforce Chambers in his session ‘Chasing ghosts: taking pre-emptive action to prevent company fraud’, and to hear Dame Margaret Hodge call for Companies House reform, which we have lobbied for extensively.

The sessions were extremely informative and we will be using what we learnt as food for thought as we continue with our fraud work later this year.

Fee paper launched

Last month the Public Affairs team launched a new report, ‘Insolvency fees and the cost of regulation: the detail behind the headlines’, which addresses the most common misconceptions about insolvency fees.

The paper explains how insolvency fees are charged and regulated, and how the fees reported in the media often do not reflect the amount insolvency practitioners actually get paid.

Every R3 member has received a link to the report via email, and we are now working to promote the guide to journalists, parliamentarians, and key stakeholders to help provide more context around the issue of insolvency fees.

R3 in the media

In addition to our work promoting the fees paper, our Scottish consumer debt advice resource, ‘Dealing with money worries – A guide to your options’, which we launched in March, has also been featured in a number of stories including Scottish Financial News and Annandale Herald.

R3 President Colin Haig was quoted in Accounting Web about the impact of lockdowns on insolvency levels in the business and leisure travel industry, while news of a new chair for the North East region was picked up by a range of local outlets including Insider, Business Live and Newcastle Journal.

Our commentary on insolvency trends continues to be popular with national, trade and regional media, with our responses to the February England and Wales insolvency statistics quoted in stories in the Independent, the Daily Express, Credit Connect, and Business News Wales to name a few.