The Insolvency Service is an executive agency of the United Kingdom's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS) which:
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There is an alternative to bankruptcy called an “Individual Voluntary Arrangement” (IVA). This is a formal arrangement through an insolvency practitioner to pay an agreed amount off your debts over a fixed period. This usually means paying a monthly installment usually over 5 years. The rest of the debts are written off.
Some IVAs are set up on the basis of using a lump sum (e.g. from a remortgage) to make offers to the creditors rather than make monthly payments. Some IVAs are a mixture of both. If a creditor is petitioning for bankruptcy the debtor can apply for an Interim Order which will stop all court action for 28 days[1]. Only one Interim Order can be applied for within 12 months. Since the Insolvency Act 1986 was updated in 2000 it is no longer obligatory to apply for an Interim Order before applying for an IVA.
The corporate version of an IVA is an CVA (Company Voluntary Arrangement), which would run in a similar line to that of an IVA with the agreement with creditors relating to periodical contributions, interest in assets, third party payments and would usually have the affect of paying creditors less than they are actually owed. [2].
The Insolvency Service operates under a statutory framework – mainly the Insolvency Act 1986, the Insolvency Act 2000, the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 and the Employment Rights Act 1996. Insolvency Service staff are based across the UK in a network of 38 Official Receiver offices throughout England and Wales;
Enforcement Directorate and Headquarters in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh; Banking Section in Birmingham; and its Redundancy Payments offices in Edinburgh, Birmingham and Watford. As of 1st April 2006 Companies Investigation Branch of BERR transferred to The Service and is based in offices in both London and Manchester. The new Debt Relief Orders which came into force on 6 April 2009 under the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 are not dealt with by Official Receivers Offices but at the Services Plymouth office.
The Inspector General and Agency Chief Executive is the Agency Accounting Officer and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Service. The current Inspector General is Stephen Speed.
Due to a decreasing case load over recent years the Isolvency Service has gone through major changes, mainly in personnel. 2010 saw the loss of the temporary/contract staff and by the spring of 2011 a large number of permanent staff had taken some form of redundancy. Further changes are being looked at by the Insolvency Service, which will include a further reduction in staffing levels and a movement of staff due to a reduction in the number of offices. [3]
The Insolvency Service website has moved from www.insolvency.gov.uk to www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency.[4]
|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/freedomofinformation/technical/technicalmanual/ch49-60/Chapter56/Part5/part5.htm.|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". The Insolvency Service. http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/bispartners/insolvency/docs/publication-pdfs/corporateplan%202011-15.pdf. Retrieved 16 September 2011.