The Insolvency Service operates under a statutory framework – mainly the Insolvency Acts 1986 and 2000, the Company Directors Disqualifications Act 1986 and the Employment Rights Act 1996. Our staff are based at our network of 38 Official Receiver offices throughout England and Wales; our Enforcement Directorate and Headquarters in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh; our Banking Section in Birmingham; and our Redundancy Payments offices in Edinburgh, Birmingham and Watford. As of 1^st April 2006 Companies Investigation Branch of BERR transferred to The Service and is based in offices in both London and Manchester.

The Law in England and Wales relating to bankruptcy is different to that in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Contact details for The Accountant in Bankruptcy (Scotland) and The Insolvency Service Northern Ireland can be found here.

Please note: The Scottish individual insolvency (bankruptcy) law changed on 1 April 2008. Information on the changes is available on the website of the Accountant in Bankruptcy and can be accessed on the enclosed link. 

What we do

We:

• administer and investigate the affairs of bankrupts, of companies and partnerships wound up by the court, and establish why they became insolvent;

• act as trustee/liquidator where no private sector insolvency practitioner is appointed;

• act as nominee and supervisor in fast-track individual voluntary arrangements;

• take forward reports of bankrupts’ and directors’ misconduct; 

• deal with the disqualification of unfit directors in all corporate failures; 

• deal with bankruptcy restrictions orders and undertakings;

• authorise and regulate the insolvency profession; 

• assess and pay statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay its employees; 

• provide banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds; 

• advise BERR ministers and other government departments and agencies on insolvency, redundancy and related issues;

•  provide information to the public on insolvency and redundancy matters via our website, leaflets, Insolvency Enquiry Line and Redundancy Payments Helpline; and 

• conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into companies where it is in the public interest to do so. These enquiries are carried out by Companies Investigation Branch.

For further information please follow these links:

The Insolvency Service Corporate Plan 2008-11

The Insolvency Service Charter
Charter Mark is the UK Government's national standard for excellence in customer service. It offers public sector organisations the opportunity to work through a customer focused improvement programme and to be recognised for providing excellent customer service. The Insolvency Service is a Charter Mark holder and first received Charter Mark accreditation in 1998. This was followed by re-accreditation in 2001, 2004 and 2007.

Please click on the link for a copy of our Charter leaflet, or for more detailed information about our organisations standards of service you can read our Quality Service Standard document.

The Insolvency Service Community Involvement Strategy
The Insolvency Service is committed to making a contribution to both the wider and local community. As part of this commitment, it focuses on the contribution it can make outside those responsibilities that fall within its normal corporate business and activities. The Service's Community Involvement Strategy sets out its commitment to conduct itself as a responsible corporate citizen; and to meeting its responsibilities towards the needs of its employees, stakeholders and the environment. As part of this commitment each Official Receiver’s Office also has its own local community involvement strategy setting out how it will involve, consult and support local organisations.

Please click on the link for a copy of The Service’s Community Involvement Strategy

A Guide To The Insolvency Service

Our Annual Reports and Accounts

Our offices

Investigation and Enforcement Review

Report by Grant Thornton