Director's Disqualification

One potential consequence of a director’s involvement with a company which goes into an insolvent liquidation may be proceedings brought by the Insolvency Service (part of the Department of Business Innovation and Skills) under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.  The service may seek to obtain a Court Order disqualifying the director from acting as a director for a specified period between 2 and 15 years.

Whilst there is a deliberate policy by Government to try to remove “rogue” directors from operating under the cover of limited liability we are aware that the growing number of such proceedings  unfortunately catch directors who bear little blame for the company’s failure. 

With our experience of representing directors threatened with such proceedings we can advise on the best response to the Insolvency Service and on their defence against such proceedings. We have successfully persuaded the Insolvency Service not to proceed on many occasions.

If we consider that a defence is unlikely to be successful we can negotiate with the Insolvency Service on the director’s behalf for the minimum level of disqualification which can be given by a voluntary undertaking.

If an individual has already been disqualified or accepted a voluntary undertaking but needs to continue to act as a director of a specific company then we can advise on the merits of an application to Court for permission for the director to continue to act in relation to that single company.