What is the Insolvency Permit Commitee?
The Institute's Council has the power to appoint Committees, and may delegate to those Committees any of its powers. The Committee that specifically deals with insolvency regulation and compliance mattersis the Insolvency Permit Committee (IPC).
The Committee of the Institute is made up of accountants and non-accountant members. The accountant members are all Insolvency Practitioners who are drawn from all sizes of firms. Under the Insolvency Permit Byelaws, at least one quarter of the members of the Committee requires to be public interest members, that is to say individuals, other than accountants or insolvency practitioners, appointed as representatives of the public interest.
The IPC's remit, responsibilities and powers are set out in the Institute's Insolvency Permit Byelaws (see below). The IPC is responsible for granting, continuing, and on some occasions, withdrawing or suspending the insolvency permits of ICAS licensed practitioners and/or imposing conditions or restrictions on permits or imposing regulatory penalties. The IPC is also responsible for deciding the outcome of each Insolvency Monitoring visit and will consider the Insolvency Monitoring visit report and the Insolvency Practitioner's responses thereon.
The IPC meets five times a year, usually in January, March, May, August and November.
What are the Insolvency Permit Bye-Laws?
Under the Institute's Rules the Institute's Council has a general power to make and alter Bye-Laws to regulate the affairs of the Institute. Chapter VIA specifically deals with Permits to act as an Insolvency Practitioner and Rule 19A(4) allows the Council to make Byelaws prescribing, "the conditions for eligibility, issue, renewal, suspension, withdrawal and revocation of Insolvency Permits and all matters pertaining thereto".
The Bye-laws are the set of regulations that allInsolvency Practitioners require to comply with, whether they are members of the Institute or Regulated Non Members. In simple terms, the Bye-Laws set out:
- the powers, duties and responsibilities of the Insolvency Permit Committee (IPC);
- the requirements that all Insolvency Practitioners require to meet before becoming licensed;
- the rights and responsibilities of each Insolvency Practitioner.
From 1 January 2008, the Institute has been able to authorise Regulated Non Members (RNMs) as insolvency practitioners.
A comprehensive review recently took place of the Insolvency Permit Bye-laws. The Bye-laws were approved by Council on 12 March 2010 and therefore came into force and effect on this date. The Bye-laws refer to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR). On 5 June 2009, the Government announced that DBERR had been merged with the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS) to create a new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). All references in the Bye-laws to DBERR should therefore include reference to its successor, BIS.
Click here for the full text of the Insolvency Permit Bye-laws.