news

Season’s Greetings

Posted: 23rd December 2022

Wishing all our clients and Instructing Solicitors greetings of the season, and a very happy Christmas.

Death of Queen Elizabeth II and national mourning.

Posted: 10th September 2022

Our deepest sympathies and condolences are extended to all members of the British Royal Family on the death of our soveriegn Queen Elizabeth II.

Members of Tennyson Chambers will be observing the period of national mourning for the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

It has been anounced that the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II will take place at Westminster Abbey London UK at 11 a.m. GMT on 19th September 2022. Also that this day will be a bank holiday. Chambers will be closed on this day, but open on all other working days.

God save the King!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59761477

Sesca conference at Reading University on 8th to 9th September 2022

Posted: 28th August 2022

The Head of Chambers, Susan Brown, will be giving a talk at the above conference to insolvency practitioners and solicitors entitled “Cross Border Insolvency post Brexit”. The talk will give a brief overview of the current state of cross border insolvency law and the practical aspects of insolvency practitioners gaining recognition in other jurisdictions post Brexit.

The Consumer IVA Protocol

Posted: 5th June 2021

An updated Consumer IVA Protocol 2021 has been published by the UK Insolvency Service. The new protocol contains a set of general principles and the following annexures –

(1) Standard terms and conditions for use in protocol compliant IVAs (Annex 1).

(2) Legal and regulatory framework (Annex 2).

(3) Template letter for consumers (Annex 3).

(4) Template proposal and table of contributions (Annex 4).

(5) Flowchart to explain the process for potential equity release (Annex 5).

(6) Table of distributions (Annex 6).

(7) Comparison table between bankruptcy and IVA expected outcomes (Annex 7).

(8) Terms of Reference (Annex 8).

The protocol is a voluntary agreement which does not override the legal and regulatory framework applicable to insolvency practitioners, but does provide a standard framework for insolvency practitioners and creditors when dealing with consumer IVA’s. Please click here to read the press release on the Protocol by the UK Insolvency Service. Please click here to go to our pages on personal bankruptcy and IVA’s.

Ratings (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill

Posted: 5th June 2021

Ratings (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill – The UK government has announced that it is to legislate, in this new bill introduced to Parliament,for new powers to tackle unfit directors who have dissolved their companies leaving staff or taxpayers out of pocket. The legislation will be retrospective and enable the directors of dissolved companies to be investigated where the dissolution process has been used by company directors to avoid repaying company bounce back loans and the dissolution process has been misused. The new powers of investigation include relevant sanctions such as disqualification from acting as a company director for a period of up to 15 years. Such powers to be exercised by the Insolvency Service on behalf of the Business Secretary. The measure will also prevent directors of dissolved companies setting up nearly identical businesses after the dissolution leaving company creditors unpaid. Please click here to see the UK government press release on this topic. Also look at our pages on company insolvency by clicking here.

Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing space) – Guidance for creditors

Posted: 1st June 2021

The UK government has published guidance to creditors for the Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space) which can be found here. The guidance came into force on 4th May 2021 and the breathing space is intended to assist debtors by giving legal protections from their creditors under The Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020.

There are two types of breathing space: a standard breathing space (available to anyone with a problem debt giving legal protection from creditor proceedings for up to 60 days) and a mental health crisis breathing space (only available to a person receiving mental health crises treatment and lasts as long as the treatment plus 30 days ( no matter how long the srises treatement last).

Company insolvency and statutory demands

Posted: 1st June 2021

The restriction on statutory demands and winding-up petitions to protect companies from creditor enforcement action due to debts related to coronavirus expires on 30th June 2021 and it remains to be seen whether the UK government will extend those restrictions beyond that date. A link to the UK government support page can be found here.

Evictions – both commercial and residential.

Posted: 1st June 2021

The evictions ban imposed by the UK government on residential property in England which was extended to 31st May 2021 and has now been extended to 30th September 2021 by the The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Residential Tenancies: Protection from Eviction) (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2021. The UK government ban on commercial property evictions in England is still in place until 30th June 2021 and it remains to be seen whether this ban will be extended or not by the UK government. The UK government support page on this topic may be found by clicking here.

Covid Pandemic – latest chambers news

Posted: 1st June 2021

Chambers is open for business during the Covid 19 pandemic and we are operating our normal weekday office hours of 08:30 to 18:00 Monday to Friday save for bank holidays when we are closed. Our barristers are exercising social distancing in the conduct of their work, using covid safe secure measures such as face masks where required, and our barristers are available for client conferences by video link. Court hearings are being conducted as directed by the court.

Statutory declarations and members voluntary liquidations.

Posted: 1st May 2020

Under the current temporary practice direction supporting the insolvency practice direction a statutory declaration in support of a solvent winding up may be sworn using a video link i.e. virtually and the fact that it is sworn using a video link shall not by itself be regarded as causing substantial injustice to invalidate the relevant insolvency proceedings (see paragraph 9 of the temporary practice direction which is in force until 1st October 2020).

Coronavirus Pandemic – updates

Posted: 2nd April 2020

As a result of the Covid 19 pandemic and the subsequent quarantine lock down in the United Kingdom and elsewhere there are important changes to the way that the English Courts are working. The High Court is following its contingency planning and is conducting its hearings mainly by video link on Skype for Business. You do not need special software to engage in a video link hearing as the Clerk of the Court will provide a link to enter the video hearing on Skype for Business if you contact him or her. In the County Court applications are being conducted in the main by way of telephone hearings though it is advisable to check well beforehand which method of hearing i.e. video or telephone is to be adopted for each case. Some Courts have closed temporarily whilst others are open fully or not open to the public but staffed with a Judge and court staff with suitable social distancing measures in place. The default position is that unless it is imperative to have a hearing in person the above two methods will be adopted. Guidance is changing on a daily basis and further information may be found by clicking here.

Covid 19 pandemic

Posted: 15th March 2020

Tennyson Chambers is open for business during the Covid 19 pandemic during our normal trading hours of 8.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m Monday to Friday. Our barristers are now working from home as required by the UK Government Guidance during the Covid 19 pandemic. To facilitate social distancing and in the interest of health and safety all our client conferences are now taking place by video link. We are still able to provide legal advice and representation for court hearings in England and Wales which are still taking place either by video link or by telephone as the court directs. Please provide your papers and/or trial bundles in an electronic format and not by post or DX. If your legal matter falls within one of our practice areas on our web site then do please get in touch for our legal assistance. If your business is experiencing any insolvency problems and you need legal advice then again do contact our insolvency specialists using practicemanager@tennysonchambers.com or the contact form on our web site.