News In Focus
27 March 2006
Bankruptcy proposals attract further criticism
Insolvency practitioners in Scotland are to meet Executive ministers to voice concerns over the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill.
Bryan Jackson, PFK's Scottish senior partner in Scotland, acting as spokesperson for practitioners in Scotland, is to lobby Deputy Enterprise Minister Allan Wilson over the proposed reduction in the period of sequestration from three years to one, in line with reforms already in force south of the border.
While the Executive aims to promote an entrepreneurial culturee through the change, Mr Jackson claims that as many as 95% of the personal insolvency cases dealt with by his firm relate to consumer spending, rather than business failures. He believes it does not make sense to reduce the discharge period to a year but require the debtor to make contributions for three years, as is proposed.
Imposing a minimum dividend payment of up to 30p in the pound before a protecteed trust deed can is another proposal that comes under fire from the PFK boss. He says the idea wrongly assumes a connection between an individual's assets, income level and access to credit, and forcing people with debt problems into formal sequestration will increase the cost to the taxpayer.