IPA exclusive industry update from Insolvency Insider
IPA Insolvency Practitioner newsletter, April 2026
A specially curated selection of the top stories for IPA members from Insolvency Insider Editor, Dina Kovacevic. More information on all the stories and the link to subscribe to the newsletter is here.
Recent Insolvencies
Fenchurch Legal, a litigation finance provider known for backing bulk consumer claims, has entered administration after a disputed court process, with Vincent Simmons of BV Corporate Recovery & Insolvency Services appointed on 1 April. The appointment follows an application by Lowry Trading that Fenchurch had opposed while continuing to trade. The company, which financed small-ticket ATE claims, disbursements and working capital, had positioned itself as an innovator in the sector, including a 2024 tokenisation partnership with South African platform Altify. Its collapse highlights the risks of exposure to struggling claimant firms, after earlier links to the failures of McDermott Smith and Nicholson Jones Sutton Solicitors.
National Car Parks, one of the UK’s largest private parking operators, entered administration on 16 March, with PwC partners Zelf Hussain, Rachael Wilkinson and Mark Banfield appointed as joint administrators. Years of post-pandemic demand erosion, inflexible lease obligations, and rising operating costs are believed to have contributed to the appointment, leaving nearly 700 jobs at risk and prompting an accelerated sale process to stabilise the business and preserve value for creditors.
Concept Capital Group has been placed into administration by the High Court, pausing enforcement proceedings brought by the FCA over an alleged £23 million unauthorised investment scheme involving static homes marketed to retail investors. Joanne Hammond and Jason Ainge of BTG were appointed administrators on 9 March and will now take control of the company’s affairs while assessing investor claims and potential recoveries for creditors. The FCA alleges the company promoted fixed return investments purportedly backed by government-supported social housing placements, claims the regulator says were false or misleading, and that the scheme breached multiple provisions of UK financial services legislation. While the administration stays the FCA’s case against the company itself, the regulator’s claims against several individuals and related entities connected to the scheme will continue.
Insights
Vernon Dennis of Howard Kennedy observes that – despite subdued headline insolvency numbers – tightening HMRC enforcement, constrained rescue finance, and a fragile macro backdrop are reshaping distress dynamics in the UK, with many businesses absorbing shocks for now, but weakening confidence, refinancing delays, and rising debt costs set to drive a gradual increase in failures, particularly among smaller and under-capitalised firms.
Lucy Trott of Stevens & Bolton argues that, as restructuring plans become more contested, costly and uncertain, CVAs are likely to regain prominence as a practical restructuring tool for SMEs and mid‑market businesses, with restructuring plans typically reserved for larger, international companies.
Milly Camley of The Institute for Turnaround talks to us about how a newly formed UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Turnaround and Business Improvement aims to shift policy focus upstream by promoting early engagement, practitioner insight, and sector-specific intervention to support distressed businesses before formal insolvency.