Useful information for creditors following an insolvency appointment

Insolvency is a highly regulated field of activity and there is all sorts of information that we are required to provide to people who deal with us. Most of this is quite technical in nature. The following information is designed to draw the attention of interested parties to the information required to be disclosed by the Provision of Services Regulations 2009. 

Licensing body

Andrew McTear FCA (IP no: 007242), Anthony Davidson ACCA (IP no: 11730), Chris Williams FCA (IP no: 008772), Gary Rupping (IP no: 16012), Hayley Watson (IP no: 23450) and Jo Watts (IP no: 23310) are licensed to act as Insolvency Practitioners in the United Kingdom by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales ("ICAEW").  The ICAEW's main contact details are:

ICAEW
Chartered Accountants' Hall
Moorgate Place
London EC2R 6EA
T: +44 (0) 20 7920 8100
F: +44 (0) 20 7920 0547
E: general.enquiries@icaew.com

Rules Governing Actions

All IPs are bound by the rules of their professional body, including any that relate specifically to insolvency. The rules of the professional body that licences our insolvency practitioners can be found at SIPs, regulations and guidance.  

In addition IPs are bound by the Statements of Insolvency Practice (SIPs), details of which can be found at R3 Statements of Insolvency Practice ("SIPs").

Ethics

All IPs are required to comply with the Insolvency Code of Ethics - an overview detailing the fundamental principles is available at Insolvency Code of Ethics overview or download the full version here.

Complaints

We always strive to provide a professional and efficient service, however we recognise that it is in the nature of insolvency proceedings for disputes to arise from time to time. If you should have cause to complain about the way that we are acting, you should, in the first instance, put details of your complaint in writing to either Andrew McTear or Chris Williams. We will endeavour to deal with your complaint under the supervision of a senior director unconnected with the appointment.  Further contact information for the firm can be found by accessing the creditor information page on this website.

Most disputes can be resolved amicably either through the provision of further information or following negotiations. However, in the event that you have exhausted our complaints procedure and you are not satisfied that your complaint has been resolved or dealt with appropriately, you may refer your complaint to The Insolvency Service, IP Complaints, 3rd Floor, 1 City Walk, Leeds, LS11 9DA.

You can make a submission using an online form available at www.gov.uk/complain-about-insolvency-practitioner; or you may email insolvency.enquiryline@insolvency.gov.uk

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Our professional indemnity insurer is Travelers Insurance Company Limited, 61-63 London Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1NA. The territorial coverage is worldwide but excludes any action for a claim brought in any court in the United States of America or Canada. 

Bribery Act 2010

McTear Williams & Wood Limited is committed to carrying on its business fairly, openly and honestly.  Our business culture is one where bribery is never acceptable.  A full copy of our policy is available here.

Legal entity

McTear Williams & Wood is the trading name of McTear Williams & Wood Limited a company registered in England & Wales with company No.10373913. Registered office Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, NR1 1RE. All of the insolvency practitioners of this practice are licensed in the UK by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

Guides to insolvency procedures

Here we provide a general guide to insolvency which takes you through the waterfall of insolvency options from least to most severe and brief guides to the most common types of corporate insolvency procedures. Simply click here to access our guides to insolvency.

R3 Creditor Guides

R3 The Association of Business Recovery Professionals is our trade body and is the leading organisation for insolvency, restructuring and turnaround specialists in the UK.

Further information about creditors' rights can be obtained by visiting the website of the Association of Business Recovery Professionals (R3).

Creditors' Committees and meetings

A creditors' committee is a group of not less than three and not more than five creditors whose purpose is to represent the interests of the main body of creditors to assist the insolvency office holder in fulfilling his or her duties.

A committee is particularly useful in large complex insolvencies where, for example, there can be many key decisions that an insolvency practitioner has to make which may involve spending money that would otherwise be available to pay a dividend to unsecured creditors.

The committee also approves how the office holder is to be paid out of the assets of an insolvent estate. 

R3 has issued a guide on creditors' committees which can be downloaded here and there are two relevant Statements of Insolvency Practice ("SIPs") - (click on the links below to download):

• SIP15 on Reporting and Providing information to Committees
• SIP2 on Investigations by Office Holders

A further guide on creditors' meetings can be downloaded here

Fees and costs

Our standard charges and pricing 

To improve communications and reduce costs creditor/shareholder reports and other documents are published below. As a creditor you will have received written notification of a login and password which provides access to reports and other information.   Click here to access the login page to download reports and other documents.

We do as much as we can to be open and transparent about our fees and the costs associated with all the work we do. Like most professionals our normal basis of charging is on time costs based on charge out rates which vary depending on the grade and experience of individuals involved. We believe that our charge out rates are very competitive and we provide a more personal but otherwise similar level of service to the larger national business rescue and insolvency firms but at around half the price. 

General advisory work 

We don't charge for initial meetings and won't charge until we agree the terms of an engagement with you. The only exception to this is non business related cases (for example consumer credit card problem debt) where we will charge a fixed fee for initial meetings. We always agree a basis for charging before work commences – usually in accordance with the time spent on your case but sometimes on a percentage of results achieved. If we are charging on a time basis we will give you an estimate of the total fee and agree further fees if necessary. 

Formal insolvency work 

In formal insolvency appointment cases we normally charge on a time basis subject to the law and guidelines laid down by our professional body listed below. Click the download links in the first table to view our charging and expenses policies for appointments pre and post 1 October 2015 and in the second table to view the official creditor guides. 

Charging and expenses recovery policies 

A creditors' guide to fees

Currently our hourly charge out rates are:

We believe these are very competitive and about half of costs charged by national firms.

Further information on fees can be found in the following Statement of Insolvency Practice ("SIP"):

• SIP9 on Payments to Insolvency Office Holders and their Associates

Transparency for insolvency fees

New rules laid before Parliament on 4 March 2015 will bring an end to the uncertainty of unlimited hourly charges in insolvency cases by requiring insolvency practitioners to provide upfront estimates of the cost of working on them. Read more here

New Insolvency Service publications

The Insolvency Service have reviewed their guidance publications and have begun the process of replacing the existing Word and PDF documents with new web based content, these publications can be found here.

ICAEW Insolvency materials

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales ("ICAEW") have developed some new materials to promote the value of ICAEW licensed insolvency practitioners and in particular a new guide entitled 'Why early action is key to avoiding or surviving financial difficulties' - which can be downloaded at www.icaew.com/guide