The Insolvency Service has, this week, launched a new information hub on the Gov.uk website “to help limited company directors make the right decisions at the right time”.

The hub includes advice and guidance on the statutory duties of limited company directors, as well as on “business themes commonly faced by companies”, such as recognising financial distress early warnings, company and personal debts, and the different forms of insolvency.

There is no new advice in the ‘Director information hub’ (as it is officially titled); instead, the existing content published by the Insolvency Service has been reviewed, improved, and better organised in a single place.

The project has been informed by “extensive” research with micro and small company directors and input from Companies House, HMRC, Royal Bank of Scotland, and business groups such as The Directors Helpline and the Institute for Directors.

One section of the hub focuses on the options available to businesses when they are owed money. Starting with an explanation of mediation and how it can be used in such cases, the advice page goes on to outline using court action, statutory demands, bankruptcy petitions and winding up petitions in debt recovery.

The hub provides a brief overview of each topic area, with links out to existing further information elsewhere on the Gov.uk website. For example, staying with the debt recovery advice page, while there is only a single sentence on the hub about getting a company wound up, a link is provided to the detailed information about this process within the ‘Business and self-employed’ section of the government’s website.

Offering guidance to directors on their obligations and what to do when facing financial difficulties was an objective in the Insolvency Service’s five-year strategy, published in 2021.

The topics included on the hub are:

• Getting your company started
• Your duties, responsibilities and obligations as a director
• Company money
• Spotting the signs of company distress
• Turning your company around
• Avoidable insolvency and insolvency
• Consequences of company insolvency
• Director information hub: Help and guidance resources.

The launch of the hub comes less than a month after the Insolvency Service announced a 40% year-on-year increase in the number of registered company insolvencies in May 2023 (also higher than the levels seen both during and before the pandemic).

Responding to the launch of the hub, Jonathan Cooper from The Directors Helpline said:

“[It] is a welcome tool in the current climate for Directors of all types and sizes of businesses. We have been pleased to be recognised by the Insolvency Service as an important part of its development, due to the number of Directors we help on a monthly basis and will continue to support its ongoing development.”

Litigation support services from ESA Risk

If you are hoping to claim back a debt owed to you or your business, we can support you with a range of services under our litigation support banner, including tracing the address of a debtor, delivering documents such as statutory demands, winding up petitions and bankruptcy petitions (process serving), and tracing assets to aid the recovery process or determine whether legal action will be a worthwhile investment.

To instruct us or for more information on our litigation support services, contact Mike Wright, Risk Management & Investigations Consultant at mike.wright@esarisk.com, on +44 (0)843 515 8686 or via our contact form.