Section 141: Court sanction of insolvency practitioners in public interest cases
794.This section introduces new sections 391O, 391P, 391Q and 391R to the Insolvency Act 1986. These new sections introduce the power for the Secretary of State to apply to the court for a direct sanctions order against an IP when it is in the public interest for the Secretary of State to take such action.
795.New section 391O sets out the sanctions that the court may impose, if certain conditions set out in new section 391Q are satisfied (see below), which include requiring the relevant RPB to take the necessary steps to ensure that:
the IP is no longer authorised to act as such;
the IP is no longer fully authorised to act, but may be partially authorised to act as specified;
the IP’s authorisation is suspended;
other restrictions (as specified in the court order) are placed on the IP while so acting; and
the IP repays part of what he/she has received or expects to receive as remuneration from a particular case to particular creditor(s).
796.The Secretary of State will not be able to seek a direct sanctions order against an IP whose authorisation to act as an IP is or was granted by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland. This is because the Secretary of State is not responsible for overseeing the regulation of such IPs.
797.New section 391P sets out that the Secretary of State should only apply to the court for a direct sanctions order if it appears to the Secretary of State that it would be in the public interest for the order to be made. As part of its consideration of the application, the court will have regard to what, if any, disciplinary action the relevant RPB may have taken against the IP.
798.New section 391Q sets out the conditions that must be satisfied before a court will impose a direct sanctions order. Of these conditions the first must be satisfied (that is that the person acting as an IP has not complied with the rules of their profession) and at least one other. The other conditions include: that the person is not a fit and proper person to act as an IP; the person is not a fit and proper person to act as a fully authorised IP (but could be to partially act); that a loss has been suffered to creditors as a result of the IP’s failure to comply with the rules of their profession.
799.New section 391R allows the Secretary of State to give a direction to the relevant RPB, in relation to a person acting as an IP who is authorised by them, to impose any sanction available under a direct sanctions order, provided the IP has consented to this. This would occur instead of the Secretary of State applying to the court for a direct sanctions order. The conditions set out in 391Q also apply to a direct sanctions direction.
