External Affairs update: March 2024

11 April 2024

An event hosting MPs and Peers, a fresh Spring Budget and work on a new project to understand the evolving landscape of insolvency and restructuring meant another packed month for R3’s External Affairs team in March…

Spring Budget 2024

On the 6^th March, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt delivered his Spring Budget to the House of Commons.

Amongst other key points, the announcement included changes to Debt Relief Order (DRO) monetary thresholds, outlining that the £90 DRO administration fee will be scrapped from 6 April 2024.

The Government is also raising the DRO maximum debt value threshold from £30,000 to £50,000 and increasing the maximum value of motor vehicle that an individual can retain from £2,000 to £4,000, from 28 June 2024.

Parliamentary engagement

On the 11^th March, 9 MPs and Peers, along with 12 senior members and staff from R3 came together to break bread at the Cinnamon Club in Westminster for the annual R3 President’s Lunch.

This event provides an opportunity for members to share their views on the current economic landscape and build relationships with parliamentarians from across the political spectrum.

With the lunch coming only a week after the announcement of the Budget 2024, our keynote speaker Ben Chu focused on the changing role and purpose of Budgets in his talk, and highlighted how the details are no longer usually a surprise – most points are handed to the press in advance.

The looming recession was fresh on everyone’s minds round the table, as were rising cases of corporate insolvency and how directors could be encouraged to take advice earlier. And amid the fallout from the Post Office scandal, conversations also explored what went wrong, how former Post Office workers should be compensated and how bankruptcy plays into the equation.

Thank you to all members, MPs and Peers who attended the lunch, and to Ben Chu for his thought-provoking insights on the current economic landscape.

Understanding the evolving insolvency landscape

Before Christmas, our team launched a member survey ‘The Future of the Profession’, to understand how members feel that the insolvency and restructuring profession has evolved over the past few years, what current opportunities and challenges face the profession, and how changing legislation could impact IPs going forward.

The survey collected more than 220 responses, and we are currently analysing the data to understand how members feel about a wide variety of topics, from technology and AI to recruitment and retention, from trends in insolvency to government legislation.

We are hoping to unveil the results of the project at this year’s Annual Conference in May, and will also publish the findings on the R3 website for all members to see.

R3 in the media

In March, news of the story that Kelly Jordan has taken over as Chair of R3 in the North East region picked up coverage in a number of regional publications including Insider, Business Live and the Journal.

Media interest in insolvency statistics remained high, with R3 President Nicky Fisher’s comments on the February corporate and personal insolvency statistics featuring in articles in a range of national and trade publications including City A.M, TRI Strategy, and Credit Connect.

Stories on local business trends were also popular, with a story on a fall in insolvency-related activity in Yorkshire and Humberside featuring in articles in Insider, Business Up North and Business Link, while news of a rise in late payments in Scotland featured in stories in Credit Connect, Scottish Business Insider, and Scottish Business News.