Practice requirements - becoming an insolvency practitioner

Professional conduct rules

Rule 17 of the Solicitors' Code of Conduct 2007 deals with insolvency practice.

Solicitors and registered European lawyers licensed as insolvency practitioners must also comply with the Insolvency Joint Code of Ethics (PDF 176K), agreed by the Joint Insolvency Committee on 1 November 2008. An overview and background explanation is available to download: Insolvency code of ethics: Background and overview (PDF 80K).

Annual fees

Licensed insolvency practitioners must pay a licence fee upon application.

They also pay an annual fee, usually in December, to cover the cost of mandatory monitoring and levies from the Insolvency Practices Council, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment of Northern Ireland.

The fee is recalculated annually, and will vary from year to year.

Under the Insolvency Practitioners and Insolvency Services Account (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2005, the annual fee payable to BERR by recognised professional bodies per person authorised is £200.

Period of authorisation

Authorisation as an insolvency practitioner is effective for a maximum of three years and is subject to re-authorisation.

Re-authorisation

If you are authorised and you think your license is about to expire, you don't need to do anything. We automatically send you the forms and all of the details you need at least two months before your authorisation expires.

To ensure the forms reach you promptly, please notify us by email of any changes to your practising details.

Statements of insolvency practice (SIPs)

SIPs are issued to insolvency practitioners with a view to maintaining standards by setting out required practice and harmonising practitioners' approach to particular aspects of insolvency.

The purpose of SIPs is to outline basic principles and essential procedures with which insolvency practitioners are required to comply. Departure from the standards established in SIPs is a matter that may be taken into account in the event of disciplinary or regulatory action.

The recognised professional bodies, acting through the Joint Insolvency Committee, have agreed that, for reasons of consistency, this statement of purpose should be retrospectively applied to all SIPs; solicitor insolvency practitioners should read all SIPs accordingly.

The following SIPs can now be downloaded below: 1-4, 7-16.