Companies House has called for company directors and accountants to file their annual accounts due by the end of December early to avoid delay and to enable more time for the processing of accounts filed on paper for the 2020/21 financial year. 

Top Service director Emma Miller has the following advice:

“December is always a busy month, so It is important you allow extra time for the processing of your company accounts for your own peace of mind. As a director of a limited company, you need to ensure that you are getting your company’s annual accounts signed off well before the filing deadline.  You then need to communicate with your accountant to ensure that the financial statements are being filed at least five working days before the filing date.  Some accountants may be in a routine of ‘just in time’ filing so don’t assume that the accounts will be filed as soon as you’ve signed them off.  Ask your accountant for a specific date that they will be filed and be aware that weekends and bank holidays will have an effect on when Companies House will actually upload the information to the system and pass it onto the credit reference agencies for analysis. Communication is key here.”

All UK limited companies are required to keep accounting records regardless of whether they are trading or not.  Every year a limited company is required to file a set of accounts with Companies House, with the details of the information depending on the size of the company.  Even non-trading companies must file ‘dormant accounts’ unless they have a special exemption.  Private limited companies have nine months after their year-end to file while public limited companies must file within six months.  Credit reference agencies then use sophisticated computer programs to analyse this financial information and suggest a suitable credit limit, but everything hinges on ‘current financial information’.  Once the filing deadline has passed the previous year’s accounts are too old for analysis.

Top Service has previously reported occasions when companies have filed their accounts at the last minute, for example, accounts are filed on the last day of the month which happens to be a Friday.  It’s a bank holiday weekend so Companies House doesn’t upload the information until Tuesday, so the accounts didn’t make the filing deadline and the credit reference computers may temporarily reduce the suggested credit limit to zero until the new accounts can be analysed.  Most limited companies engage a firm of qualified accountants to prepare and file their financial statements and they may routinely be filing very close to the deadline without considering the wider implications.

 “This problem seems to apply to very large companies as well as smaller companies. We have seen companies with suggested credit limits of £10m whose accountant is filing on the very last day of their filing deadline and risking their client’s credit limit temporarily being reduced to zero.  The only answer is for company directors to take responsibility for when their information is actually being submitted to Companies House,” Emma Miller.

For further information and to read the full Companies House guidance please click here

The terms and conditions document for any business is the contract between the business and the customer for your supply of goods or services, and which regulates the business relationship.

The same document could be called many other names, such as “business terms”, “terms of sale” or “T&C’s”.

To many businesses, “terms and conditions” presents an image of lengthy, legal jargon. However, it is a crucial point of reference when issues arise.  Terms and conditions need to be valid in law and in court. 

Why use Terms and Conditions?

The purpose of a set of terms and conditions is to confirm what you have agreed, or to present the terms under which your business will accept business, including those that:

• define the contract
• set out business procedures
• protect your business and your rights
• limit your liability

If you are paid upfront, it still matters that you should have a record of your contract. Quite simply, that you have been paid for the goods or services already does not always protect your business from issues arising later. 

Litigation can be stressful and takes key focus away from the business. Defending or pursing a claim can also be costly. It is far easier to have good set of terms and conditions in place to help avoid problems and litigation. 

What should the Terms and Conditions document include?

A well-drawn terms and conditions document should include, amongst many others, the following main provisions.

• Definition of the contract

Your terms should make clear what you are selling/supplying.  The goods and services could be described in detail or by reference to another document, such as a sales brochure or your business web site.

• The price

This should include all variations and circumstances as well as provisions for increase.

• Method and timing of payment acceptable to you

Your contract should include late payment provisions. In cases where an ongoing service is provided, these should include default and penalty provisions.

• Provisions relating to carriage, delivery, risk and insurance

Every business selling goods should have their own terms to cover these areas of activity.

• Limitation of your liability

These terms limit the damages that you have to pay to your customer if your goods or services fail.

• Termination provisions

Some contracts are effectively terminated when the transaction is complete, but others can be ongoing or cover a period of time.  Consideration is needed to establish what can cause termination of the agreement/contract.  Situations regarding payment and delivery of goods can cause termination if this is contained within the terms and conditions.  

• Data protection and privacy

The Data Protection Act imposes strict duties. It is necessary to tell customers how you intend to comply by telling them what data you hold and why.  If you trade online, you may refer to your privacy notice as displayed on your website.

It is essential that your customer agrees to the terms bound to them.  The terms and conditions can clearly state the situation the parties are bound by the terms of the contract. 

DIY Terms & Conditions

It is important to mention that a business should have its own unique set of terms and conditions. Each company has its own obligations, as well as where and how they do business. Copying terms meant for another business, or indeed attempting to draft their own without proper legal advice, is not advisable.

Why should you review your existing Terms and Conditions?

It is important to review your terms and conditions on a regular basis. An annual review from a specialist solicitor is advisable.  

There may have been a change within your business or the market in which you trade. There could even have been a change in the law. 

As a minimum, most SMEs should consider the following at each review:

• Current customer base and Consumer Protection laws
• Business structure and size, affecting the areas in which you operate, factoring in expansion or reduction of your business
• Changes in relevant law and legislation
• Implication of Brexit 
• Implications of trade deals
• Legal jurisdiction, where you trade geographically and who with
• Protection from payment issues arising

Terms and conditions are a useful recovery method available to creditors/lenders, hence, the drafting and updating of terms and conditions needs careful consideration and covers all possible scenarios. 

We work with trusted partner Silverback Law, specialists in both debt recovery and commercial litigation, making them the ideal choice for you to set out strong terms and conditions.

By enlisting the help of professionals, you can gain absolute peace-of-mind that should the worst happen and a debtor default, both your investments and your business itself are protected. Silverback Law can oversee every stage of drafting/updating your terms and conditions so you can focus on day-to-day business, knowing that from a legal standpoint you’re covered and, if you need it, the debt recovery process will be simple. 

What makes Top Service Ltd different? 

As the only credit reference and debt recovery agency specific to the construction industry, we make it our mission to ensure our members receive the most up to date, credit information and company trading experiences which can make a real difference between company profit and painful write-offs. 

Are you struggling to recover the money you are owed?

Top Service members have access to an exclusive combination of no collection, no fee recovery services.

“We welcome the opportunity to talk to you about any bespoke changes you would like to make to our debt recovery procedures to fit the culture you have for maintaining customer relationships, whilst addressing the need to keep cash flow as fluid as possible for your business. Please contact our collections team to talk through any individual cases or to explore how else we can support you,” Emma Miller, Company Director Top service.

Contact our helpdesk team today on 01527 518800 to discuss how Top Service can support and help you protect your business.

Now the economy has fully opened and the financial support is needed to be repaid and / or coming to an end it is important that credit management stays on top of the priority list. We urge our members and the wider construction industry to focus on understanding their customers and suppliers to manage business relationships whilst keeping cash flowing and actively monitoring trading experiences to act upon early warning signs.  Above all, ensure your credit control team has the tools and support to be able to be proactive and use an industry specific service that can spot changes in payment patterns resulting in regular, more in-depth, and up to date checks being carried out to pick up information quickly.

Information is key!

Information is key so they say, the more information you can acquire on a potential customer the greater your chances of securing payment on work carried out or supplied. Using a credit application form is the easiest way to ensure relevant and appropriate details of the potential customer are being taken. It doesn’t have to be long winded or lengthy, simply take the basic details you need to open a credit account and protect yourself:

Company Name AND Registration No

The entity of business if not Limited

Names of key people in the business

Contact numbers & email addresses

Using a credit application form is one thing but the key to protecting yourself is in the detail and checking the form and information provided for any anomalies is where you will be able to protect yourself the most.

Check?

• Use a credit reference agency to check you have been approached by a bona-fide company.
• Check the Directors of the Limited company and see if they have a lot of either active Directorships, resignations or insolvent companies.
• Use your credit reference agency to look at the trading history of the business, have other suppliers experienced non-payment or made enquiries about potential fraudulent applications.

Research and Monitor Company Trading History

We urge our members and the wider construction industry to protect their businesses by actively monitoring trading experiences and acting upon early warning signs.  Don’t wait for the information to come to you, use an industry specific service that can spot changes in payment patterns resulting in regular, more in-depth and up to date checks being carried out to pick up information quickly.

If you already have a trading history with the business, look at the orders that have previously been placed. Some companies will establish a good line of credit with suppliers, placing small, regular orders to give the appearance of a good customer. However, once an order pattern starts to change, ask questions to establish the reason for the change.

At Top Service we encourage members to actively monitor company directors.

What you should look out for:

New directors being appointed can have a positive effect on a company for up to 6 months as they are bringing in potential new business.

Directors resigning can have a negative impact on the business for up to 6 months as the director could be taking business and knowledge away from the company.

If a director has any insolvent companies this can have a negative impact on their current company’s score.

Directors/personal guarantee what to consider? 

A personal/directors guarantee is a promise bound in law. It’s a contract that says if the principal individual or company accessing credit (in the form of goods, money, or services) is unable to meet their financial obligations to the lender, then the guarantor will step up and do it on their behalf. 

Personal/directors guarantees are used in all sorts of credit situations. When a bank loan or overdraft application is made, there’s sometimes a third party acting as guarantor to the borrowed money. This individual or business gives the lender more confidence; should the primary borrower find themselves unable to make repayments, the guarantor will step in. In some situations, a guarantee is the difference between a deal falling through and a deal taking place. 

What could go wrong? 

A well-written, carefully considered personal guarantee can push your business, and its financial success, forward. By giving you extra security to trade more freely, they can let you expand in new directions with minimal risk.However, this value is lost if the contract is flawed, and you’re left as vulnerable as if you’d had no personal guarantee in place at all. These are just some of the ways personal guarantees can lose their intrinsic value: 

• The agreement hasn’t had the benefit of being seen and signed off by a specialist solicitor. 
• The wording of the agreement is unclear. 
• The guarantor hasn’t been given the opportunity to seek legal advice or properly understand what they’re signing.  
• An original copy of the agreement hasn’t been received or the identity of the guarantor hasn’t been validated. 

How to avoid the pitfalls of personal/director guarantees 

Personal/directors guarantees can be a very useful route to recover your money but the way they’re written needs to be watertight. There should be no grey areas, all key clauses should be included, and a specialist solicitor should lead the way. Without these a signed guarantee can be discharged by the courts, leaving you powerless and out of pocket. 

The most failsafe way to avoid a useless personal guarantee and protect your money is to use a specialist solicitor. 

By enlisting the help of professionals, you can gain absolute peace-of-mind that should the worst happen and a debtor default, both your investments and your business itself are protected. Silverback Law can oversee every stage of the personal guarantee drafting, creating contracts that let you focus on day-to-day business, knowing that from a legal standpoint you’re covered and, if you need it, the debt recovery process will be simple. 

We work with trusted partner Silverback Law specialists in both debt recovery and commercial litigation, making them the ideal choice for you to set out the terms of a strong personal/director guarantee. 

Personal/directors guarantee service

 What we offer:

1. Free consultation on Personal/directors guarantees
2. Reduced fixed fee for drafting a stand-alone deed of guarantee
3. Reduced fee for advising and drafting on incorporating guarantees to account opening forms
4. Reduced fees for advice and drafting of terms of business

For more information and help with personal/directors guarantees or to discuss how we can support your credit control and debt recovery processes please contact our helpdesk team today on 01527 518800 or email helpddesk@top-service.co.uk

National Insolvency figures published (16 November 2021) by the Government’s Insolvency Service have indicated that the number of registered company insolvencies in October 2021 was 1,405:

• 63% higher than the number registered in the same month in the previous year (864 in October 2020), but
• 5% lower than the number registered two years previously (pre-pandemic; 1,480 in October 2019).
• The report also notes that in ‘October 2021 there were 1,248 Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidations (CVLs), which is slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels.’

(Statistics published in https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-insolvency-statistics-october-2021)

Temporary Insolvency Restriction Protections put in place to support businesses during the pandemic started phasing out from 1st October 2021. New targeted measures to support small business and commercial tenants will come into force until March 2022 and will include:

1. Protect businesses from creditors insisting on repayment of relatively small debts by temporarily raising the current debt threshold for a winding up petition to £10,000 or more.
2. Require creditors to seek proposals for payment from a debtor business, giving them 21 days for a response before they can proceed with winding up action.

“The true picture of the impact of company and individual insolvencies to the construction industry is likely not to be fully understood until the 12 months ending 2021. With the threshold for issuing a petition being increased we advise our members to look at their options for collection and take advice from their collections service provider on the best course of action.”  Emma Miller, Company Director Top Service Ltd

Post Insolvency Debt Collection Service

We provide Insolvency Practitioners with a tailored end to end Post-Insolvency Debt Collection Service. We provide our service in collaboration with Silverback Commercial Law who offer competitive rates if legal action is required to recover monies owed. 

What we offer

• Free of Charge Ledger Consultation
• Collections Process with online access to live information on all cases
• Retention & Contract Collections
• Legal Action to Recover monies owed
• Dispute resolution

What makes us different?

• Our bespoke collection strategies mean that no case is treated the same. Our access to credit information and exclusive trading experiences enables us to change strategy quickly when our incoming intelligence is received, providing excellent results.
• Fast, effective collections. We know that speed is of the essence, so all collections are given top priority.  We don’t just go through the motions, our experienced and highly skilled team members are adept at tricky negotiations, dispute resolution, tracing absconded debtors and thinking outside of the box to achieve tangible results.
• Fully compliant.  We have been trading for 30 years and we have always taken compliance very seriously.  We are authorised by the FCA and Top Service Ltd is a corporate member of the Credit Services Association (CSA).  All senior Top Service staff are members of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management and collections professionals are hand-picked and trained to the highest standards. 
• We have 30 years of experience in collecting commercial and contract debts.

To discuss our Post Insolvency Collections Service with a member of our expert team please email insolvencycollections@top-service.co.uk.

Are you struggling to recover the money you are owed?

Contact our helpdesk team today on 01527 518800 to discuss how Top Service can support and help you protect your business.

With a personal guarantee in place, you may think you’ve got all bases covered should a customer begin to miss payments. However, construction industry creditors often find themselves in costly disputes with guarantors. Vague or badly drafted personal guarantees can leave you high and dry, with creditors questioning the legality or enforceability of a guarantee and ultimately, not paying what’s owed. 

What is a personal guarantee and when are they used? 

A personal guarantee is a promise bound in law. It’s a contract that says if the principal individual or company accessing credit (in the form of goods, money, or services) is unable to meet their financial obligations to the lender, then the guarantor will step up and do it on their behalf. 

Personal guarantees are used in all sorts of credit situations. When a bank loan or overdraft application is made, there’s sometimes a third party acting as guarantor to the borrowed money. This individual or business gives the lender more confidence; should the primary borrower find themselves unable to make repayments, the guarantor will step in. Landlords with tenants can use personal guarantees to insure their rental income. In some situations, a personal guarantee is the difference between a deal falling through and a deal taking place. 

What could go wrong? 

A well-written, carefully considered personal guarantee can push your business, and its financial success, forward. By giving you extra security to trade more freely, they can let you expand in new directions with minimal risk. However, this value is lost if the contract is flawed, and you’re left as vulnerable as if you’d had no personal guarantee in place at all. These are just some of the ways personal guarantees can lose their intrinsic value: 

• The agreement hasn’t had the benefit of being seen and signed off by a specialist solicitor. 
• The wording of the agreement is unclear. 
• The guarantor hasn’t been given the opportunity to seek legal advice or properly understand what they’re signing. 
• An original copy of the agreement hasn’t been received or the identity of the guarantor hasn’t been validated. 

How to avoid the pitfalls of personal guarantees 

Personal guarantees can be a very useful route to recover your money but the way they’re written needs to be absolutely watertight. There should be no grey areas, all key clauses should be included, and a specialist solicitor should lead the way. Without these a signed guarantee can be discharged by the courts, leaving you powerless and out of pocket. 

The most failsafe way to avoid a useless personal guarantee and protect your money is to use a specialist solicitor. We work with trusted partner Silverback Law specialists in both debt recovery and commercial litigation, making them the ideal choice for you to set out the terms of a strong personal guarantee. 

By enlisting the help of professionals, you can gain absolute peace-of-mind that should the worst happen and a debtor defaults, both your investments and your business itself are protected. Silverback Law can oversee every stage of the personal guarantee drafting, creating contracts that let you focus on day-to-day business, knowing that from a legal standpoint you’re covered and, if you need it, the debt recovery process will be simple. 

What makes Top Service Ltd different? 

As the only credit reference and debt recovery agency specific to the construction industry, we make it our mission to ensure our members receive the most up to date, credit information and company trading experiences which can make a real difference between company profit and painful write-offs. 

Are you struggling to recover the money you are owed?

Top Service members have access to an exclusive combination of no collection, no fee recovery services.

“We welcome the opportunity to talk to you about any bespoke changes you would like to make to our debt recovery procedures to fit the culture you have for maintaining customer relationships, whilst addressing the need to keep cash flow as fluid as possible for your business.Please contact our collections team to talk through any individual cases or to explore how else we can support you,” Emma Miller, Company Director Top service.

Contact our helpdesk team today on 01527 518800 to discuss how Top Service can support and help you protect your business.

National Insolvency figures published (15 October 2021) by the Government’s Insolvency Service have indicated that the number of registered company insolvencies in September 2021 was 1,446:

• 56% higher than the number registered in the same month in the previous year (928 in September 2020), but
• 4% lower than the number registered two years previously (pre-pandemic; 1,510 in September 2019).

*Statistics published in https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-insolvency-statistics-september-2021

On the 9th September 2021 the government announced the Temporary Insolvency Restriction Protections are to be lifted and new targeted measures to support small business and commercial tenants will be introduced.  Restrictions in place started phasing out from 1st October 2021. 

New legislation will come into force until March 2022 and will include:

1. Protect businesses from creditors insisting on repayment of relatively small debts by temporarily raising the current debt threshold for a winding up petition to £10,000 or more.
2. Require creditors to seek proposals for payment from a debtor business, giving them 21 days for a response before they can proceed with winding up action.

“The true picture of the impact of company and individual insolvencies to the construction industry is likely not to be fully understood until the 12 months ending 2021. With the threshold for issuing a petition being increased we advise our members to look at their options for collection and take advice from their collections service provider on the best course of action.”  Emma Miller, Company Director Top Service Ltd

Post Insolvency Debt Collection Service

We provide Insolvency Practitioners with a tailored end to end Post-Insolvency Debt Collection Service. We provide our service in collaboration with Silverback Commercial Law who offer competitive rates if legal action is required to recover monies owed. 

What we offer

• Free of Charge Ledger Consultation
• Collections Process with online access to live information on all cases
• Retention & Contract Collections
• Legal Action to Recover monies owed
• Dispute resolution

What makes us different?

• Our bespoke collection strategies mean that no case is treated the same. Our access to credit information and exclusive trading experiences enables us to change strategy quickly when our incoming intelligence is received, providing excellent results.
• Fast, effective collections. We know that speed is of the essence, so all collections are given top priority.  We don’t just go through the motions, our experienced and highly skilled team members are adept at tricky negotiations, dispute resolution, tracing absconded debtors and thinking outside of the box to achieve tangible results.
• Fully compliant.  We have been trading for 30 years and we have always taken compliance very seriously.  We are authorised by the FCA and Top Service Ltd is a corporate member of the Credit Services Association (CSA).  All senior Top Service staff are members of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management and collections professionals are hand-picked and trained to the highest standards. 
• We have 30 years of experience in collecting commercial and contract debts.

To discuss our Post Insolvency Collections Service with a member of our expert team please email insolvencycollections@top-service.co.uk.

Are you struggling to recover the money you are owed?

Contact our helpdesk team today on 01527 518800 to discuss how Top Service can support and help you protect your business.

In our previous articles we have presented an overview of the most common type of insolvency that you are likely to face as an unsecured creditor, a Creditor’s Voluntary Liquidation. We have provided a high-level summary of the other processes that you may come across leading up to and including the initial meeting of creditors. We have also emphasised the importance of creditors participation in the process so they can have an influence on the insolvency. 

As with all insolvency processes it is crucial that as a creditor you participate in the process and where possible vote, but essentially ensure that you have submitted a claim. 

Within this article we provide an overview of retention of title (ROT), the benefits and the pitfalls and how it could help mitigate a supplier’s risk of being placed at the bottom of the payment hierarchy i.e. being an unsecured creditor. 

It is estimated that a quarter of UK businesses have experienced a client or customer entering insolvency. If you are waiting on payment for your goods, it can seriously impact your own ability to trade. 

Without a valid retention of title clause, it’s highly likely you will have to write off the majority or all of your debt.  Having a well drafted ROT clause could improve your position considerably.

If you have a valid ROT clause and your customer becomes insolvent, then the first thing you must do is find out whether or not they still have any of your products.  If so, then they may be recovered so that you can sell them to other customers. 

Retention of Title 

An ROT clause is a clause that is included in the terms and conditions of sale when goods are being sold. The clause protects the seller if the goods are not paid for. 

A straightforward ROT clause within a contract of sale essentially means that ownership of goods remains with the supplier until full payment for the goods has been received. There are a variety of ROT clauses which may be used depending on the circumstances. 

Simple’ Clause

This is a basic ROT clause that states title to specific goods that can be matched up to an outstanding invoice are retained by the supplier until payment has been received in full.

‘All monies’ clause

An ‘all monies’ clause allows for retention of title until all monies due from the debtor are paid to the supplier. This contrasts with the order-by-order basis of a simple ROT clause. An ‘all monies’ clause is often included separately, but also in addition to, the ‘simple’ retention of title clause within a contract. 

Proceeds of sale’ clause

This type of ROT clause addresses the problem of goods having already been sold on and may entitle the original supplier to the proceeds of sale. Unless the funds are held in a client account, these clauses are very difficult to enforce.

‘Mixed goods’ clause

If the goods supplied were used in the manufacturing process, and mixed with other goods, a ‘mixed goods’ clause may allow the supplier to claim right of ownership over the original raw materials. This type of clause can be problematic as it may not always be possible to separate the raw materials without causing damage to the third-party goods.

In order to enforce an ROT clause it needs to be clearly defined and signed by both parties. A supplier can then put their case to the appointed Liquidator to prove that title should remain with the supplier and enforce the clause accordingly.

A customer should be made aware of any ROT clause before, or when a contract is agreed, for it to be enforceable. It is also advisable to include these clauses within the terms and conditions of trade and not simply documented on the back on an invoice.  

Ensure that you have evidence of the customer agreeing to the clause, whether in email form, a signature, or a note.

ROT clauses work best when they are specific and limited in scope. Too broad and non-specific, and they will prove useless when it comes to putting the clause into action following your customer’s insolvency.

Are there any limitations to enforcing a Retention of title Clause?

• If the supplier is aware their goods will go on to be used in the purchaser’s normal course of business i.e. sold on before payment has been made, then any ROT clause may well be unenforceable.  

• Where a company has entered administration unless permitted by the Administrator or by Court Order, a supplier will not be able to enforce a ROT clause due to the moratorium that’s in place.

• Common sense dictates that any perishable goods are, by their very nature, going to make an ROT clause unenforceable.

• Ensure that your ROT clause doesn’t try and represent itself as charge over the customers assets. Charges over companies must be registered with Companies House within 21 days of their creation. If you fail to do so, then the charge becomes void.

What should I do next if I think I have a valid retention of title clause? 

On the appointment of either the Official Receiver or a commercial Insolvency Practitioner you should notify them with the existence of your claim. Until this notification, the company, under the Office holders’ control, may continue to use your goods without payment to you. 

Additionally, the insolvency practitioner has the right to sell or dispose of any goods they reasonably believe belong to the insolvent company.

The appointed office holder will likely send a retention of title questionnaire to you on appointment, but if they haven’t, then be sure to request one and complete it as soon a practically possible. The questionnaire will give the appointed office holder a better understanding of the situation and establish whether the ROT clause meets the necessary requirements to be enforceable, it’s very important that you send any relevant documents to support your claim.

• Details of the Retention of Title Clause – Evidence of express acceptance of your terms and conditions by the insolvent company

• Details of the Supplied Goods – A schedule of the goods supplied by you to the insolvent company.

• Identification of Goods – Details of how you intend to identify goods e.g., packaging, serial numbers, or other markings. 

• Specific Goods Belonging to You – You will; need to specify which goods on the buyer’s property that are covered by the retention of title clause.

• Prove, without doubt, that the customer has not paid for goods – Always keep accurate records.

Following notification, you should arrange try to attend the company premises in order to identify your goods so that they can be put to one side and not mixed with other assets.

It is essential that when drafting your ROT clause, you seek the appropriate legal guidance to ensure that they are legally enforceable and commercially effective. 

It is often the case that suppliers will draft their own ROT clause then rely on it indefinitely. With the ever-changing development in case law, it is important that you regularly review your ROT clauses, and their ongoing enforceability and effectiveness. 

If challenged on the validity of your ROT clause you should always obtain professional advice and guidance as retention of title is a complex area of the law, this can be further complicated by the various scenarios that could occur during an insolvency process.

If you are unable to meet the requirements to enforce your ROT clause, then you may find yourself back in the payment hierarchy as an unsecured creditor. 

This brings us back to the importance of always filing a proof of debt, no matter how small your debt may be. If you are unsure on how to file a claim or have concerns about the content of any of the documents you have received, the team at Restart BTi are always on hand to lend free support and advice.

If you do intend to manage the process yourself, ensure that once you have lodged your proof of debt you seek acknowledgement of receipt from the insolvency Practitioner. It is also important to understand that that there are no issues or requirements for further documentation to be sent to support your claim.

It may be the case further down line that you are asked for further supporting documentation when the Insolvency Practitioner intends to make a distribution to creditors. Again, ensure that you respond to this request within the relevant time frames in the notice and if you have any concerns again the team at Restart BTi will be able to assist. 

Another useful tip is where you encounter an insolvency you may want to hold onto any invoicing or statement data that may deleted or archived because of the bad debt.  We often see this dealing with claim further down the line and without this supporting information the Insolvency Practitioner may not agree your claim.

Don’t be afraid to ask for updates on the progress of the insolvency and ensure that you take note of progress reports to understand what progress has been made and what the likely dividend prospects are. Ultimately, the insolvency practitioner is working to try and get your money back, so you are fully entitled to receive such information.  Also, you are also able to question the level of fees even though the basis may have been approved previously.

An unsecured creditor or several unsecured creditors with at least 5% of the unsecured claims can request additional information regarding the costs of the procedure.

Any request must be made in writing within 21 days of receipt of the report and a response must be given within 14 days.  A creditor can then apply to Court within 21 days of receipt of the information or after expiry of 14 days from which the insolvency practitioner had to response.

An unsecured creditor or a number of unsecured creditors with at least 10% of the unsecured claims can make application to Court on the grounds that the costs are excessive.  Such an application should be made within 8 weeks of receipt of the report.

Whilst this is a useful tool it will involve a Court application so there will be additional costs.  It is therefore always better to deal with things such as costs at the outset of the procedure.

Creditor Services 

Dealing with insolvent debt can be difficult and, in some cases time-consuming. Having a business partner to support you through this process can make a huge difference to the success of your claim.

Our Creditor services team at Restart BTi can assist with the entire claims process no matter what type of insolvency you are dealing with. We will lodge your initial claim, deal with any queries, and make sure that important deadlines are met. We will oversee fee approvals on your behalf and call on our own licensed Insolvency Practitioner when we feel that an independent review or investigation may be required.

We can represent clients at meetings or on committees and will ensure that the difficult questions are asked to endeavour to get the best possible outcome for our clients. With our wide network of support, we can engage with other creditors and seek further support to guarantee that your voice is heard.

Our bespoke case management system, Divisi, ensures that we proactively monitor your insolvency portfolio, providing transparent reporting via our web-based portal.

This service is offered to our clients at no charge so if you want to remove the burden of managing your insolvency documentation and enhance your dividend prospects, then please contact Paul Hughes on 01246 959388 for further information.

What makes Top Service Ltd different? 

As the only credit reference and debt recovery agency specific to the construction industry, we make it our mission to ensure our members receive the most up to date, credit information and company trading experiences which can make a real difference between company profit and painful write-offs. 

Are you struggling to recover the money you are owed?

Top Service members have access to an exclusive combination of no collection, no fee recovery services.

“We welcome the opportunity to talk to you about any bespoke changes you would like to make to our debt recovery procedures to fit the culture you have for maintaining customer relationships, whilst addressing the need to keep cash flow as fluid as possible for your business.Please contact our collections team to talk through any individual cases or to explore how else we can support you,” Emma Miller, Company Director Top service.

Contact our helpdesk team today on 01527 518800 to discuss how Top Service can support and help you protect your business.

National Insolvency figures published (17 September 2021) by the Government’s Insolvency Service have indicated that the number of registered company insolvencies in August 2021 was 1,348:

• 71% higher than the number registered in the same month in the previous year (788 in August 2020), and
• similar to the number registered two years previously (pre-pandemic; 1,366 in August 2019).

(Statistics published in https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-insolvency-statistics-august-2021/commentary-monthly-insolvency-statistics-august-2021)

Since the start of the first UK lockdown as a response to the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, overall numbers of company and individual insolvencies have remained low when compared with pre-pandemic levels. As the Insolvency Service does not record whether an insolvency is directly related to the coronavirus pandemic, it is not possible to state the direct effect of the pandemic on insolvency volumes. Although, it is likely to be attributed to government measures put in place to help protect businesses from insolvency, under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act (2020) (Coronavirus) including the restriction of statutory demands and winding-up petitions which have previously been extended on several occasions up until 30^th September 2021. 

On the 9th September 2021 the government announced the Temporary Insolvency Restriction Protections are to be lifted and new targeted measures to support small business and commercial tenants will be introduced.  The current restrictions in place will now be phased out from the 1st October 2021. 

New legislation will come into force until March 2022 and will include:

1. Protect businesses from creditors insisting on repayment of relatively small debts by temporarily raising the current debt threshold for a winding up petition to £10,000 or more.
2. Require creditors to seek proposals for payment from a debtor business, giving them 21 days for a response before they can proceed with winding up action.

“The true picture of the impact of company and individual insolvencies to the construction industry is likely not to be fully understood until the 12 months ending 2021. With the threshold for issuing a petition being increased we advise our members to look at their options for collection and take advice from their collections service provider on the best course of action.”  Emma Miller, Company Director Top Service Ltd

Post Insolvency Debt Collection Service

We provide Insolvency Practitioners with a tailored end to end Post-Insolvency Debt Collection Service. We provide our service in collaboration with Silverback Commercial Law who offer competitive rates if legal action is required to recover monies owed. 

What we offer

• Free of Charge Ledger Consultation
• Collections Process with online access to live information on all cases
• Retention & Contract Collections
• Legal Action to Recover monies owed
• Dispute resolution

What makes us different?

• Our bespoke collection strategies mean that no case is treated the same. Our access to credit information and exclusive trading experiences enables us to change strategy quickly when our incoming intelligence is received, providing excellent results.
• Fast, effective collections. We know that speed is of the essence, so all collections are given top priority.  We don’t just go through the motions, our experienced and highly skilled team members are adept at tricky negotiations, dispute resolution, tracing absconded debtors and thinking outside of the box to achieve tangible results.
• Fully compliant.  We have been trading for 30 years and we have always taken compliance very seriously.  We are authorised by the FCA and Top Service Ltd is a corporate member of the Credit Services Association (CSA).  All senior Top Service staff are members of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management and collections professionals are hand-picked and trained to the highest standards. 
• We have 30 years of experience in collecting commercial and contract debts.

To discuss our Post Insolvency Collections Service with a member of our expert team please email insolvencycollections@top-service.co.uk.

Are you struggling to recover the money you are owed?

Contact our helpdesk team today on 01527 518800 to discuss how Top Service can support and help you protect your business.

The Ministry of Justice UK has published its response to the consultation on ‘Increasing selected court fees and help with fees income thresholds by inflation’.

The Government has analysed the responses to the consultation and considered the impact of policy proposals and recurring themes raised by some of the respondents. The consultation invited comments on the proposal to increase some court fees in line with historical inflation dating back to August 2016, or the date the fee was last amended if later, to the start of the 2021/22 financial year. 

The Statutory Instrument to effect these changes will shortly be laid before Parliament and the changes will come into effect on 30 September 2021. The new fee structure is outlined below (provided by trusted partner Silverback Law)

Emma Miller, Top Service Company Director says:

“With court fee’s increasing coupled with the announcement that temporary insolvency restrictions brought in by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act (Coronavirus) to protect businesses from creditor action will be phased out from 1^st October 2021 we are seeing more and more customers reviewing their current collection methods and looking for alternatives to court action. We advise members to look at their options for collection and take advice from their collections service provider on the best course of action and consider all options.” 

• The temporary measures were introduced in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020
• The full Government response to the consultation can be viewed here

What makes Top Service Ltd different? 

As the only credit reference and debt recovery agency specific to the construction industry, we make it our mission to ensure our members receive the most up to date, credit information and company trading experiences which can make a real difference between company profit and painful write-offs. 

Are you struggling to recover the money you are owed?

Top Service members have access to an exclusive combination of no collection, no fee debt recovery services.

“We welcome the opportunity to talk to you about any bespoke changes you would like to make to our debt recovery procedures to fit the culture you have for maintaining customer relationships, whilst addressing the need to keep cash flow as fluid as possible for your business.Please contact our collections team to talk through any individual cases or to explore how else we can support you,” Emma Miller, Company Director Top service Ltd.

Contact our helpdesk team today on 01527 518800 to discuss how Top Service can support and help you protect your business.

The government has announced (9 September 2021) that the Temporary Insolvency Restriction Protections are being lifted^[1] and new targeted measures to support small business and commercial tenants will be introduced.  

To help protect businesses from insolvency a number of changes were introduced under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act (Coronavirus) to protect business from creditor action since June 2020, these restrictions will now be phased out from the 1^st October 2021. 

New legislation will come into force until March 2022 and will include:

1. Protect businesses from creditors insisting on repayment of relatively small debts by temporarily raising the current debt threshold for a winding up petition to £10,000 or more.
2. Require creditors to seek proposals for payment from a debtor business, giving them 21 days for a response before they can proceed with winding up action.

Emma Miller, Top Service Company Director says:

“With the threshold for issuing a petition being increased, we advise members to look at their options for collection, take advice from their collections service provider on the best course of action and consider all options.” 

The temporary measures were introduced in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020

What makes Top Service Ltd different? 

As the only credit reference and debt recovery agency specific to the construction industry, we make it our mission to ensure our members receive the most up to date, credit information and company trading experiences which can make a real difference between company profit and painful write-offs. 

Are you struggling to recover the money you are owed?

Top Service members have access to an exclusive combination of no collection, no fee debt recovery services.

“We welcome the opportunity to talk to you about any bespoke changes you would like to make to our debt recovery procedures to fit the culture you have for maintaining customer relationships, whilst addressing the need to keep cash flow as fluid as possible for your business.Please contact our collections team to talk through any individual cases or to explore how else we can support you,” Emma Miller, Company Director Top service Ltd.

Contact our helpdesk team today on 01527 518800 to discuss how Top Service can support and help you protect your business.

^[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/end-of-temporary-insolvency-measures [gov.uk]