Member survey – Corporate Civil Enforcement Reform Consultation

IPA Insolvency Practitioner newsletter, April 2026

The Insolvency Service has published the Corporate Civil Enforcement Reform Consultation (‘Consultation’), which seeks views on a number of options that would update the existing corporate civil enforcement regime administered by the Insolvency Service and add new flexibilities for dealing with varying degrees of corporate abuse.

The closing date for responses to this Consultation is 17 June 2026.

Member Survey

To help shape our response to the Consultation and have a real opportunity to shape government policy that directly affects the restructuring and insolvency profession, we kindly ask that you complete a survey.

Please note that the questions in our survey (15 in total) are specifically selected and phrased to address the interests of Insolvency Practitioners. While they correspond to the themes in the Annex B section of the Consultation, they may not follow the same numerical order or verbatim phrasing as the forty-nine questions in the original document.

Summary of Consultation

The Consultation sets out a range of proposals that fall into three main categories:  
 
(1) Structural reforms: Modernising the existing enforcement framework by introducing additional tools to enhance flexibility and improve efficiency. These measures would enable government to address a broader range of corporate abuse while supporting more proportionate and targeted responses to lower-level misconduct. They also aim to accelerate enforcement processes, speeding up the removal of individuals responsible for corporate abuse and strengthening protections for the public and the marketplace.

• Tailored restrictions: Instead of a total ban from being a director, the government proposes restricted responsibilities. This is intended for cases where misconduct was caused by ignorance or a lack of skill rather than “dishonesty or intent.”

• Faster disqualification: A streamlined process to quickly and automatically remove directors from companies that have been liquidated on “public interest grounds” or failed to comply with HMRC securities legislation to prevent further harm to the marketplace.

• Tribunal model: Shifting defended disqualification cases from the traditional court system to a tribunal model to simplify and speed up proceedings.

(2) Information gathering powers: Strengthening powers to seek and gather the information necessary to support effective and efficient investigations into corporate abuse. This ensures the regime is fit for purpose, particularly considering new powers introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. This includes:

• Updating powers to keep pace with modern business structures and digital record-keeping.

• Ensuring the government can effectively investigate corporate abuse even when companies have been dissolved or have complex offshore layers.

(3) Procedural changes: Improving and modernising the current director disqualification process to make it more efficient and responsive. 

• Modernising procedures: Updating 40-year-old rules to align with current business practices.

• Fairness and clarity: Providing clearer guidelines on how the Insolvency Service decides to take enforcement action, ensuring transparency for businesses and creditors.

• Protection for the public: Enhancing the focus on protecting the wider marketplace from “phoenixism” (where a company is liquidated to avoid debts only for the same business to reappear under a new name).

Completing the survey should take no more than 30 minutes. Your contribution will directly strengthen our submission. 

The deadline for your responses to be provided to the IPA is Friday 15 May 2026. 

If you have additional comments or would like to discuss any aspect of the Consultation in more detail, please do get in touch.