The Insolvency Service have just published official statistics to demonstrate their enforcement outcomes for the year to March 2016. They investigate the cause of company failure in every insolvency and can disqualify directors or wind up live companies if they find unfit behaviour.

Company directors need to be aware that their actions can come back to bite them even after they have wound up their business!

Some recent director disqualifications include:

• in 2015-16, 47 directors have been disqualified for a total of 290 years for employing illegal workers
• the director of an investment company was disqualified for 14 years in March for mis-selling half a million pounds of worthless Rare Earth Metals
• two directors were disqualified in February for 15 years each for selling worthless Voluntary Emission Reductions (a type of carbon credit) to the public at between two and six and a half times the price it had paid its supplier

Company Investigations – companies wound up in the public interest include:

• two companies, via their agents, mislead almost 100 small businesses into each paying between £495 and £2,500 for services to challenge business rate valuations. None were revalued
• one company made false and misleading claims in persuading the elderly and vulnerable to purchase grossly overpriced and unnecessary health supplements
• a small London clothing company fabricated information enabling it to get significant credit, which it could not repay. It had falsely claimed it produced clothing for various major films and for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics

Source Insolvency Service – to read the full report click here