Six takeaways from SPG 2023

04 December 2023

This year’s SPG Forum saw more than 230 members of the profession come together at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield for three days of lectures, seminars and networking.

In this blog, we share six takeaways from the event…

1)    Tenacity will get you anywhere

“There’s nothing I like better than proving people wrong” was one key quote from this year’s keynote speaker Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, who regaled the audience with tales of his journey to the 1986 Calgary Winter Olympics – and the three and half decades which followed him becoming Team GB’s first ski jump competitor for more than half a century.

Despite breaking dozens of bones, having to sleep in an International Scout centre, and having to put his training kit together piece-by-piece from donations from international teams, Eddie never gave up on his dream of competing in the Winter Olympics – and became a national icon and the star of a film biopic after achieving it.

2)    Risk is changing, ethics isn’t

Since 2017, risk has been a big part of the inspection process, but with the arrival of the Covid support measures, it has become front and centre as the Government looks to recover as much of the money that was loaned out as possible, and prosecute those who applied for the measures for their own, rather than the company’s benefit.

That was the key takeaway from the session run jointly by Allison Broad of ICAEW and David Holland of the IPA outlining the best practices insolvency practitioners should follow to comply with regulatory requirements.

As part of the session, Allison and David outlined the key steps IPs need to take when it comes to documenting their work, what to record when using third party provides, and the role of SIPs and SARs in investigation work, and highlighted what the RPBs are looking for when it comes to visits and investigations.  

3)    Proving misuse of Bounce Back Loans isn’t always easy

Manolete Associate Director and R3 South West and Wales Chair Charlotte May used her day one afternoon slot to share some of the key learnings from some of her more recent cases.

And one key takeaway was the fact that misuse of Bounce Back Loans aren’t simple to prove, with Charlotte highlighting two instances where the act of taking out a BBL didn’t necessarily put the company at a disadvantage, as well as citing examples where pensions and properties were used as assets in cases.  

4)    Restructuring Plan stats don’t always tell the full story

Since the Restructuring Plan was launched in June 2022, 22 have been instigated. While that might seem like a small number, the plans have restructured around £8bn worth of debt, and saved more than 100,000 jobs, according to Insolvency Service CEO Dean Beale, who spoke on Day Two of the Forum.

Dean also provided an overview of the Service’s wins for the last year, and its plans for 2024, which include consultations on various areas of regulation review, personal insolvency and pilot project involving handing over 100 cases usually handled by the OR to members of the profession…

5)    The scope of Russian sanctions are widening

Day two of the Forum brought three breakout sessions for delegates – one of which was on the administration of Petropavlovsk PLC, a goldmine which was registered in the UK, and was led by Allister Manson and Nicholas Parton from Opus Business Advisory Group.

After highlighting the complexities of dealing with a case involving a company with a sanctioned product, sanctioned bank and potentially sanctioned creditors, Nick and Allister warned us that the sanctions against Russia weren’t going away soon – and, if anything, would be widening.

6)    2024 will be a bumper year for the profession – and for R3

Rising corporate insolvency and enquiry numbers show that demand for the profession’s support isn’t going away, and with the economy still turbulent and consultations due on a number of areas of regulation, as well as the personal insolvency framework and digital assets, next year is showing no signs of being any quieter for the profession.

Or for R3. In her Day One address to the Forum, R3 CEO Caroline Sumner looked back on R3’s achievements over the last year and outlined our plans for the next 12 months.

In addition to giving the profession a voice on the key policy areas mentioned above, plans are underway for a bigger events calendar, more training courses (including the launch of bitesized online training in early 2024), and a new project that will explore the future of the profession and the challenges members of it may face.

2024 is clearly going to be a busy year…