How to complain against The Insolvency Service

We are committed to providing a professional, fair, efficient, courteous and helpful service to all our users, whether creditors, insolvency practitioners, bankrupts, directors, redundant employees or indeed anyone with whom we have any dealings. However, if you believe that things have gone wrong and you are dissatisfied with the service you have received from us, we want you to tell us. Then we can seek to resolve your complaint, and also try to ensure it does not happen again. This publication tells you how to make a complaint about the service we provide.

All staff in The Insolvency Service receive guidance on how to handle complaints.

• Further information can be found in our publication 'Complaints Procedure'

How to complain against an insolvency practitioner

A person who acts as a liquidator, trustee in bankruptcy, administrative receiver, administrator or supervisor under a voluntary arrangement must be authorised to act as an insolvency practitioner. The authorisation process was introduced in 1986 to ensure the suitability of those who are authorised to act as insolvency practitioners. 

Authorisation may be made by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry directly, or by one of seven professional bodies (listed on pages 10, 11 and 12) recognised by the Secretary of State as being competent to do so. Each authorising body is required to have proper procedures in place to ensure that complaints against those insolvency practitioners it authorises are investigated.

In carrying out their duties, insolvency practitioners must comply with several statutory requirements. They must also follow best practice guidance and ethical guidance. 

If you consider that an insolvency practitioner is acting unprofessionally, improperly or unethically, you can make a complaint to the appropriate authorising body. However, it must be stressed that the Secretary of State or the authorising body cannot intervene directly in individual insolvencies; nor can they give directions in relation to the conduct of individual cases, or reverse or modify a decision of an insolvency practitioner. Insolvency, by its very nature, deals with a number of competing interests, most notably between the insolvent person and his or her creditors. Ultimately, commercial and other disputes may only be resolved by the courts, and the authorising body’s disciplinary procedures should not be regarded as an alternative to the powers available to individuals under the Insolvency Act 1986 or otherwise. 

Remember, the insolvency practitioner is the person who is in charge of the insolvency case. So complaints against a case administrator or a case manager, for instance, should be taken up with the relevant insolvency practitioner.

• Further information can be found in our publication 'How to make a complaint against an insolvency practitioner'