Renewal Frequently Asked Questions
We have put together these FAQs to help ensure a smooth renewal process. Navigate to each section via the links in the contents below.
Contents (click to jump to section)
Membership renewals
Firm Membership renewals
Registered Property Receiver (RPR) renewals
Insolvency Practitioner Licence renewals
Payment
Membership and Firm membership renewals
Registered Property Receiver (RPR) renewals
Q. Where can I find my IPA membership number/username?
A. Please email the Membership Team or call us on 020 8152 4980 if you do not know your membership number.
Q. How can I change my password?
A. You can change your password here. Alternatively, you can email the Membership Team or call us on 020 8152 4980.
Q. How can I log into my account?
A. You can log into your account here.
Q. Who should I contact if I am having issues with my renewal?
A. For any renewal queries, please email the Membership Team or call us on 020 8152 4980.
Q. I have submitted the form by mistake. Can I make amendments?
A. Unfortunately, once a form has been submitted it cannot be amended. Please take care to ensure that your form has been completed correctly before submitting. Please ensure you sign the form before submitting. Email the Membership Team or call us on 020 8152 4980 if you have a problem.
Q. Why do I keep receiving reminder emails even though I have renewed?
A. If you have completed your form but not paid your fee the renewal process is not complete. Please click on the renewal status button on your account page to check what stage of the process your renewal has reached.
If you have updated your email address during the renewal process, and you have completed the renewal form and paid any fees due, the system may not recognise that you have renewed. Please contact the Membership Team if this applies to you.
Q. Can I change/upgrade my membership or licence status on my renewal form?
A. No. If you wish to upgrade your membership or licence, please contact the Membership Team.
Q. I have moved to a Member Firm, how do I receive the reduced rates for my membership fee and licence fee?
A. If you update your firm details in your account profile before you start your renewal, you will automatically receive the reduced member firm rates. However, if you have already completed your renewal without amending your firm details first, please contact the Membership Team.
Q. Is there any guidance for Firm Membership renewals?
A. Yes, please click here.
Q. When is the deadline for renewals?
A. The renewals deadline for appointment takers is 30 November 2024; once we are in receipt of all your completed forms, fees, current enabling bond and professional indemnity insurance in force at 1 January 2025, the Secretariat will be able to issue you with your 2025 licence certificate. If you deliver all the required forms, fees and documents by 30 November 2024 and your application is granted then you will be issued with a licence certificate for the period 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2025.
The deadline to complete the online renewal for non licenced members (Student, Associate, Ordinary, Fellow, Retired & RPR) is 31 December 2024.
Q. I want to cancel my membership. What do I need to do?
A. Please email the Membership Team and we will be able to do this for you.
Insolvency Practitioner Licence renewals
Q. Why do you need to know my position within the firm?
A. Paragraph 380.2 of the Insolvency Code of Ethics recognises that where an insolvency practitioner is an employee of a firm, the insolvency practitioner might face particular threats to compliance with the fundamental principles. The IPA operates a risk based approach to monitoring and, therefore, it is important for us to understand your role within the firm and whether there are any potential threats to compliance with the fundamental principles.
Q. Can I change/upgrade my membership or licence status on my membership form?
A. No. If you wish to upgrade your membership or licence, please email the Membership Team or call us on 020 8152 4980.
Q. In what format do I need to upload the attachments?
A. You should not need to provide the following documents if the IPA already holds copies of your current and valid documents. Evidence of the following should be uploaded in PDF format:
- Professional Indemnity Insurance,
- enabling bond,
- firm’s latest accounts,
- continuity agreement, and
- AML firm wide Risk Assessment.
Please note that your Case List needs to be uploaded in Excel format.
Q. Can I upload more than one attachment at a time?
A. Yes, you are able to upload more than one document at a time. Click on the “select files” button to add further documents.
Q. I hold an appointment taking licence but wish to hold a non-appointment taking licence or I wish to stop holding any kind of licence. What do I need to do?
A. You must ensure that all cases are closed or transferred by 31 December 2024. If you will have one or more cases in your name after 31 December 2024, you must renew as an appointment taking licence holder for a full twelve months to 31 December 2025. Membership and licence fees are not pro rata and are non-refundable.
Q. What is considered a Principal?
A. A Principal is defined in Regulation 1.1 of the IPA’s Professional Indemnity Insurance Regulations and means,:
- a director of a company,
- a partner of a partnership,
- a member of a limited liability partnership, or
- a sole practitioner or
- any person within the company, firm or practice who is held out as being a director, partner, member or principal.
Q. One section of the renewal form asks about Suspicious Activity Reports / Defence Against
Money Laundering reports submitted this year. If the IP’s firm is not regulated by the IPA for AML matters, does this information still have to be
provided?
A. Yes.
Q. Why do I need to supply the Name(s) of the firm’s BOOMs (Beneficial Owner, Officer or Manager)
A. . Under Regulation 26 of MLR17, since 26 June 2018, the IPA must approve all BOOMs for its supervised firms and sole practitioners. If your firm or practice is not supervised by the IPA for AML purposes this information is not required. The MLR17 define BOOMs, and the Accountancy AML Supervisors Group AASG (which comprises all the accountancy professional body supervisors) has agreed further guidance to identify the relevant roles:
Beneficial owner
This should include:
- a sole practitioner;
- a partner, or LLP member, in a firm who:
– holds (directly or indirectly) more than 25% of the capital, or profits or voting rights; or
– exercises ultimate control; and
- a shareholder in a limited company who:
– holds (directly or indirectly) more than 25% of the shares or voting rights; or
– ultimately owns, or exercises ultimate control.
Officer
This should include:
- a sole practitioner;
- a partner in a partnership (including a Scottish Limited Partnership (SLP));
- a member in a limited liability partnership (LLP);
- a director or company secretary in a limited company; and
- a member of the firm’s management board or equivalent.
Manager
This should include:
- the nominated officer (the MLRO);
- the member of the board of directors (or if there is no board, of its equivalent management body) or of its senior management as the officer responsible for the firm’s compliance with MLR17; and
- any other principal, senior manager, or member of a management committee who is responsible for setting, approving or ensuring the firm’s compliance with the firm’s Anti-Money Laundering policies and procedures in the following areas:
– client acceptance procedures;
– the firm’s risk management practices;
– internal controls, including employee screening and training for AML purposes;
– internal audit or the annual AML compliance review process;
– customer due diligence, including policies for reliance; and
– AML record keeping.
Q. Why do I need to confirm whether any of the BOOMs are subject to criminal convictions?
A. The BOOM approval process seeks to ensure that no BOOM has been convicted of a relevant offence as set out in Schedule 3 to the MLR17. Individuals seeking BOOM approval must provide information to enable the IPA (if your supervisory body) to determine whether the BOOM applicant has been convicted of a relevant offence. Any person who is a BOOM with relevant unspent convictions will be committing a criminal offence with the potential of up to two years imprisonment and/or a financial penalty.
Q. Do I need to supply the continuity agreement if I take joint appointments?
A. Yes, even if the remaining joint office holder has agreed to hold all appointments on a sole basis.
If your firm’s policy is that the appointments are to be held jointly, then your continuity agreement will need to identify a successor who is willing to take on your cases in a joint capacity. In any event the continuity agreement should be documented and periodically reviewed.
A copy of the continuity agreement should be provided with your renewal form.
Q. What information do you require on the case listing? Some of my cases are joint, do I include these?
A. Please include all appointments whether they are sole or joint. If appointments are jointly held, please indicate if you are the lead or second appointee. Please also include the appointment date and type (i.e. CVL).
Q. The renewal form asks ‘Number of staff directly employed who undertake work on appointments’. If the firm is a national practice, do you require this information in respect of the whole firm or just those directly employed in the relevant IP’s office?
A. Please confirm the number of staff (wherever located) who are directly involved in the management of your cases.
Q. For licence renewals, can we upload one document for everyone at our firm?
A. Yes, but in order to complete the renewal application, each individual appointment taker will need to upload a copy of that document. The system will not allow you to proceed without doing so.
Q. Why am I being charged for AML when my firm is monitored for AML elsewhere?
A. Even though we may not monitor your firm, we still have to monitor all individual licence holders for AML regardless of their firm’s arrangements.
Q. Why have I been charged for the Northern Ireland Levy for my licence renewal?
A. The Northern Ireland levy has always been charged by the IPA as required by the Insolvency Service. The Northern Ireland levy may not have been visible in previous years as it had been integrated with the other levy charges. We have amended our reporting to show members the breakdown of charges more clearly.
Q. I have submitted the form by mistake. Can I make amendments?
A. Unfortunately, once a form has been submitted it cannot be amended. Please take care to ensure that your form has been completed correctly before submitting. Please ensure you sign the form before submitting. Please email the Membership Team or call us on 020 8152 4980 if you have a problem.
Payment
Q. What methods of payment do you accept?
A. We accept payment by debit/credit card including American Express or by bank transfer. Depending on the payment method you prefer, there is a box at the end of the renewal form which allows you to select your preferred payment method. If you choose to pay by debit or credit card, then the renewal form will take you to the necessary page to complete the payment process.
Q. What are your bank details?
A. Our bank details are as follows.
Bank: Barclays Bank PLC
Account Name: Insolvency Practitioners Association
Sort Code: 20-37-83
Account Number: 40215066
Reference Number – Please ensure your bank payment includes the reference number shown on the payment page of your application in the following format M-XXXXXX-X-XX.
Q. Do I need to enter a particular reference number when I make a bank payment?
A. Yes you will need to enter the reference number that is given to you on the payment page of your application. The reference number starts with an M and is in the following format – M-XXXXXX-X-XX
Q. I need to make a bulk payment for various members. How do I do this?
A. You can make a bulk payment to the IPA’s bank account listed above (under the question “What are your bank details”). However, please ensure that you send a copy of the remittance to accounts@ipa.uk.com so that we can allocate the payment against the correct members. Individual licences will not be issued until payment has been allocated against them.
Q. What reference do I need to enter if I am making a bulk payment?
A. You can enter one of the M-XXXXXX-X-XX reference numbers and as long as we receive a remittance, then we can use that remittance to allocate the rest of the payment appropriately.
Q. I am having trouble making payment.
A. If you are having issues making payment, please email our accounts team or call us on 020 8152 4980 and we will be able to assist you.
Q. Where is my invoice?
A. Your invoice will be e-mailed to you automatically once you start the renewals process. If you cannot locate your invoice in your e-mail inbox, please check your spam/junk folder. If you still cannot locate the invoice in any of your e-mail folders, please email the accounts team or call us on 020 8152 4980.
Q. Where is my payment receipt?
A. Receipts for credit/debit card payments are e-mailed to you automatically once payment has been authorised. Receipts for bank transfers are e-mailed to you upon receipt of payment. Please allow up to 10 working days to receive a receipt for bank transfer payments.
Q. Can I change my billing address?
A. If you are logged into your account, you can update your address in your profile here. Once you have started your renewal, there will be an option for you to update your address if the current details that we hold on our finance system are out of date.