1. The Adjudicator process and pending petitions

The Adjudicator’s Office assumed responsibility from the Court for making bankruptcy orders in April 2016.

A bankruptcy application is now completed online and, on submission, is subject to a number of automated checks. The Adjudicator team undertakes further checks to ensure the applicant meets the required criteria before the decision is made to make a bankruptcy order. The Adjudicator’s Office has 28 days within which to decide to make a bankruptcy order or to refuse the application, although over 98% of bankruptcy orders are made within two working days of the application having been submitted.

One of the key checks made by the Adjudicator team is whether there is a pending bankruptcy petition for the individual who has made the application. If there is a live pending petition the Adjudicator must refuse to make a bankruptcy order on the application. Sometimes this check fails and an order is made when it should not.  In these circumstances the Adjudicator will apply to the court for an annulment of the bankruptcy order on the grounds it ought not to have been made.  In most cases the court will grant the annulment without the need for a hearing.

If an insolvency practitioner becomes aware of a case where a pending petition was lodged prior to an application and bankruptcy order being made to the Adjudicator under the online system (whether or not a bankruptcy order has been made on the petition) the practitioner should email the Adjudicator team at adjudicator@insolvency.gov.uk with the details and the team will take steps to have the adjudicator order annulled.

It is important to note that where the petition was presented prior to the application being submitted to the Adjudicator it is the Adjudicator case which needs to be annulled and not any order made by the court on the pending petition.    

Any enquiries regarding this article may be directed to adjudicator@insolvency.gov.uk 

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2. The Adjudicator Process and notice of closure

We have recently received a number of enquiries from insolvency practitioners who have completed the administration of cases and want to know where to send the notice of closure. All correspondence, including the notice of closure, should be sent to the Official Receiver who was the original trustee.

Any enquiries regarding this article may be directed to adjudicator@insolvency.gov.uk