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Insolvency reforms receive cautious welcome

Reforms to the way insolvency practitioners are regulated has received a cautious welcome from the Institute of Credit Management.

The Institute recently received a letter from the Minister for Employment Relations, Consumers and Postal Affairs, Ed Davey, who stated to he has not ruled out moving to a single regulator.

Philip King, chief executive of the Institute of Credit Management praised the idea of one overarching body controlling the sector, as well as plans to remove the Secretary of State from the direct authorisation of insolvency practitioners.

He commented: “We welcome the plan to see how best to strengthen and simplify processes for handling complaints.

“Restoring confidence in the insolvency regime is critical for creditors, and so plans to improve the transparency and disclosure of fee charging in the light of any new complaints regime will also go a long way to rebuilding trust between the two parties.”

Despite commending Mr Davey’s proposals to widen membership and improve the efficiency of the Joint Insolvency Council, Mr King believes that he should also have considered other areas.

He continued: “Although on face value the letter comprises considerable detail, below the surface there is little by way of any firm commitment to action beyond vague expressions of intent.

“When a government suggests that it might ‘explore’ issues further, we hope that this isn’t simply code for kicking those issues into the long grass.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .