‘By way of introduction to this topic it is worth recalling that by the time the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (“IR 2016”) came into force in April 2017 the Practice Direction on Insolvency Proceedings (“IPD”) had still not been updated to take account of the reforms introduced by IR 2016. Nor had it been updated to take account of the Electronic Working Pilot Scheme in CPR Practice Direction 51O (“EWPS”). In fact, there followed a significant period during which the IPD and IR 2016 were not compatible. The delay was at least in part caused by the reforms to the court system in England and Wales that resulted in the creation of the Business and Property Courts (“B&PC”). A new Practice Direction to govern the procedure in the B&PC came into effect in October 2017 and although subsequently supplemented by other changes, it was not until 25 April 2020 that a revised IPD, compatible with IR 2016, was finally released and even this was quickly superseded by a more definitively revised IPD on 4 July 2018. However, there were some significant anomalies with regard to the intermeshing of these various procedural rules and practice directions, not least in the area of out-of-court appointments of administrators.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 7th October 2020
Source: hardwicke.co.uk
