Insolvency Service

Insolvency Service

The Insolvency Service is an executive agency of the United Kingdom's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS) which:

• administers and investigates the affairs of bankrupts, of companies and partnerships wound up by the court, and establishes why they became insolvent;
• acts as trustee/liquidator where no private sector insolvency practitioner is appointed;
• acts as nominee and supervisor in fast-track individual voluntary arrangements;
• takes forward reports of bankrupts’ and directors’ misconduct;
• deals with the disqualification of unfit directors in all corporate failures;
• deals with bankruptcy restrictions orders and undertakings;
• authorises and regulates the insolvency profession;
• assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay its employees;
• provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds;
• advises DBIS ministers and other government departments and agencies on insolvency, redundancy and related issues; and
• provides information to the public on insolvency and redundancy matters via their website, publications, Central Enquiry Line and Redundancy Payments Helpline.