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

Lord Callanan Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 19th October 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Greenhalgh]

That the Grand Committee do consider the Rating (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill before Second Reading.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Callanan) (Con)]

My Lords, this is a Bill with two distinct and important measures. The first is a measure to change the valuation assumptions that are applied when making business rate determinations in the light of Covid-19. The second measure provides for the investigation and disqualification of the former directors of dissolved companies.

Let me start with the business rates measure. Clause 1 of this Bill is about how the impacts of Covid-19 should be accounted for in rateable values, the key component of business rates liabilities. This clause will ensure that the coronavirus and its effects will not be considered as a material change of circumstance for the purposes of assessing rateable values. This measure is needed to respond to the unprecedented volume of appeals received by the Valuation Office Agency since the start of the pandemic. It will provide local authorities with certainty and security against a potentially crippling financial blow. It will ensure that the law operates in the way it was designed to do, by using general revaluations of non-domestic properties to reflect the impacts of major economic events in rateable values. As noble Lords will recall from when we debated and approved the Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) (No.2) Bill, a matter which I am sure is at the forefront of all noble Lords’ imaginations, the next revaluation in England has been moved to 2023 based on the market at 1 April 2021 so that the system can better reflect the impact of the pandemic.

The pandemic has of course hit businesses hard, and the Government have responded with unprecedented support. To take business rates alone, over this financial year and the last one, we are providing £16 billion of business rates relief for retail, hospitality, leisure and nursery properties. We are introducing a further £1.5 billion of relief in recognition of the complex ways in which Covid-19 has impacted the economy and supply chains. Local government has also needed government support. Business rates provide a stable source of income for local authorities to plan the financing and delivery of local public services. The events that necessitated this measure threatened that stability and certainty in a profound way.

The Local Government Finance Act 1988 provided the source of our valuation and local business taxation systems. Ensuring that this system operates as it was designed to do is a vital part of the Government’s rationale. Business rates bills are calculated by multiplying the rateable value of the property by the multiplier or tax rate, then applying various reliefs. The rateable value of a property is, broadly speaking, its annual rental value at a set valuation date. These rateable values are updated at regular revaluations undertaken by the Valuation Office Agency, which provides a consistent tax base for all businesses and a stable income stream for all local authorities.

Of course, ratepayers can challenge rateable values outside of general revaluations for a number of reasons, such as to correct a factual error or to reflect what is called a material change of circumstances, or MCC. If not satisfied with the outcome of the challenge, the ratepayer may appeal the VOA’s decision to the valuation tribunal.

The MCC system was not designed to reflect changes in economic factors, market conditions or the general level of rents. The 1988 Act was not designed with Covid-19 in mind, and the MCC system has never been used in response to an event with such economy-wide impacts as Covid-19. Moreover, the Government are clear that relying on the MCC system to help businesses that need further support in light of the pandemic would be misguided. It would mean significant amounts of taxpayer support going to businesses with properties such as offices, many of which have been able to operate normally throughout the pandemic, of course. It would also mean resolving such disputes through the courts. This could take many years and would create additional uncertainty for ratepayers and local councils.

Instead, the Bill will clarify the law such that coronavirus, and the restrictions put in place in response to it, cannot be used as the basis for making a successful MCC challenge or appeal. It will ensure that changes to the physical state of the property can continue to be reflected in rateable values as and when they occur, irrespective of whether this is as a result of coronavirus, but that the general impact of the pandemic on the property market will not be reflected until the next revaluation in 2023. This approach will provide much-needed certainty to councils and ratepayers alike.

We have of course worked closely with the devolved Administrations on these and other matters over the last 18 months. Following a request from the Welsh Government and amendments tabled on Report in the other place, the Bill will extend to Wales as well as England. Scotland has begun its own legislative process, which mirrors our approach.

The Government welcomed the support of Labour Members in the other place. The Public Accounts Committee also recorded its approval for the Government’s approach, as did the local government witnesses in Committee. These endorsements speak to the fundamental soundness of the policy rationale behind the business rates measures in the Bill.

The second part of this Bill addresses the problem of potential abuse of the process whereby companies are struck off the register and dissolved. I am proud to pay tribute to the resilience and determination of the many thousands of British company directors who have steered their companies through challenges from lockdowns, social distancing, and other restrictions on trading, all of which were necessary to limit the spread of Covid-19 and to keep our country safe. The responsible and effective stewardship of companies has helped to save countless jobs and livelihoods and will continue to provide an invaluable contribution to the economy as it recovers from the effects of the pandemic.

Unfortunately, there will always be those few individuals who do not comply with their duties as directors, and who do not act in the best interests of the company, its employees, or its creditors. It is important that that majority of honest and diligent directors, and the wider public, are protected from the potentially very damaging actions of those few bad apples. Directors who behave recklessly or irresponsibly can expect to have to answer for their conduct and may face proceedings to disqualify them from acting in the management of a company. Evidence to support disqualification action comes from investigation of companies and the conduct of their directors, and I would like to explain a little of how this process works in practice.

For insolvent companies, conduct is investigated through powers in the Insolvency Act 1986 and the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. Insolvency officeholders submit returns to the Secretary of State, reporting on the conduct of the directors in question. These are vetted, and where misconduct is suspected, it is assessed on the basis of public interest; for example, how much harm there has been to creditors and the wider public. Further investigation may be undertaken through examining company records and seeking information from third parties, including creditors, and directors themselves will also be asked to provide information and given opportunities to explain their actions. Where evidence of misconduct is found, a period of disqualification may then be sought. Investigations may also occur in live companies, using powers in the Companies Act 1985.

This Bill extends the circumstances in which the Secretary of State may investigate the conduct of directors to where the company has been dissolved without being subject to insolvency proceedings. It will extend the deterrent effect of the disqualification regime to those directors who abuse the company dissolution process. The Government consulted on this measure in 2018, when it was welcomed by stakeholders. Implementation is now particularly important to help reduce the risk of the fraudulent avoidance of repayment of government-backed loans made to businesses to support them during the pandemic.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that people who abuse the system will seek to take advantage wherever they can, so counterfraud checks were built into the lending process for bounce-back loans. For example, as a condition of the guarantee agreement, lenders were required to undertake appropriate anti-fraud and anti-money laundering checks before loans were made, and if they did not, they would not be able to call on the Government’s guarantee in the event of a borrower’s default. The new power to investigate and disqualify former directors of dissolved companies will back up those anti-fraud measures by deterring wrongful avoidance of repayment, and so help to ensure that public funds are protected. It will also pave the way to seek compensation from disqualified directors guilty of misconduct that has caused loss to others, including in relation to bounce-back loans.

Noble Lords may also be interested to hear about other actions taken by my department to minimise the risk of companies fraudulently avoiding repayment of their bounce-back loans. In March 2021, the department entered a blanket objection to any company with an unpaid bounce-back loan being struck off the register. This has prevented almost 51,000 companies, with total unpaid loans of over £1.7 billion, being dissolved. This action has ensured that lenders can continue to make recoveries on loans due to be repaid and will ensure that the public purse is protected. I commend this Bill to the Committee.

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

Lord Callanan Excerpts

2nd reading
Thursday 21st October 2021 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Callanan]

That the Bill be now read a second time.

Debated in Grand Committee on 19 October.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Faulkner of Worcester) (Lab)]

I remind the House that the debate before Second Reading on the Bill took place in Grand Committee on 19 October, and call the noble Lord, Lord Callanan, on behalf of the noble Lord, Lord Greenhalgh.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Callanan) (Con)]

My Lords, I beg to move formally that the Bill now be read a second time.

[Lord Cormack (Con)]

My Lords, I would like to put it on record that I took part in the debate in Grand Committee. Because the timing was changed twice, many who wished to take part in that Second Reading had to withdraw. This is not a very satisfactory way of proceeding. It is exceptional and I would like my noble friend’s assurance that he does not wish to do this again. Second Readings should take place on the Floor of your Lordships’ House.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, much as I would like to reassure the noble Lord, these matters are not within my control. As he is no doubt well aware, these are matters agreed between the usual channels of the main party groupings. There have been extensive opportunities to take part in briefings and other matters related to the Bill.

Bill read a second time and committed to a Grand Committee.

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

Lord Callanan Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 1st December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

My Lords, I have put my name to Amendments 5 and 6, although, with all credit to the noble Lord, Lord Fox, his team did most of the work in compiling the text. Given the hybrid nature of the Bill, I need to declare a completely different set of interests, which is that I am chairman of an AIM company, Manolete Partners plc, which is in the insolvency-related area.

The direction of travel from the noble Lord, Lord Fox, and me is to ensure that regular creditors, in addition to Her Majesty’s Government and agencies such as HMRC, are looked after where companies have been dissolved. It is clear that some people are prepared to be struck off as directors and do not see that as much of an impediment to their business life. I am grateful to the insolvency trade association, R3, which has advised us that insolvency and restructuring professionals, who have extensive experience in tackling fraud, have noted that serious serial rogue directors do not see being disqualified as a significant deterrent, and will often go on to commit repeat frauds. Insolvency practitioners frequently see disqualified directors contributing to successive business failures or breaching the terms of their disqualification by working as shadow directors or “advisers” to these phoenix companies that are subsequently set up. In fact, R3 has given us specific examples of where that has taken place.

It is clear that the disqualification mechanism is not in itself deterring culpable directors, thereby putting the public at risk. For the policy to be effective, it is clear that investigations should lead to prosecutions. It is not clear to me how the prosecution of a director of a dissolved company—that is, a company that no longer exists—can legally take place without the company first being restored. Perhaps the Minister can clarify that. Does the Insolvency Service intend to restore every company when it is going for prosecutions? That is why we want to see how the Insolvency Service will do that and how successful it has been. That is why Amendment 5, particularly proposed new subsections (2) and (3), is required.

There is still the open question: is this the right route? For example, should we be looking at changing the law somehow to allow prosecution of directors of former companies, now dissolved, without returning them to the register? I would be keen to push the Insolvency Service to tell us, as proposed new subsection (2)(b) of Amendment 5 requires. But what the noble Lord, Lord Fox, and I are most concerned about is compensation. In that regard, I thank the Minister for his letter of 22 November setting out the position on the existing regime as far as Sections 15A and 15B of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 are concerned in respect of compensation orders.

As I understand it, using a compensation order means that many other frauds, not just the bounce-backs that prompted this legislation, can be carried out, whereby the directors simply will not get investigated or identified if the dissolved company is left alone. As I have mentioned, currently it is only by restoring these entities and putting them through an insolvency process that misplaced assets, other frauds, misfeasance and so on can be identified, leading to further action against these directors.

I genuinely think there is some confusion—certainly for me and possibly the noble Lord, Lord Fox, and others—in understanding whether or not a company needs to be restored before further action can be taken. If it is not restored, what are the mechanics of a compensation order in respect of a company that does not exist anymore? We would like to see the evidence of what the Insolvency Service is up to. With a dissolved company remaining dissolved, the normal creditors—non-government creditors—stand to gain nothing from the compensation order because the fraud concerned related primarily to bounce-back loan fraud. This is clearly very important where the Government are the victim and we all want to assist them, but that does not help the wider body of creditors who have suffered.

I appreciate we are straying into some technical areas, and we are going to have to rely on assurances that compensation orders will be used by the courts for the benefit of all creditors rather than just HMRC. We are also, frankly, just going to have to wait and see what definition will be used for public interest. I do not think there has been any offer of assistance in defining public interest. We are going to have to see how many cases are dealt with by the Insolvency Service. That is why we have tabled Amendment 6, so we can see what happens and—as is our usual style—then suggest some helpful further steps that might be taken.

I am aware that the Insolvency Service, as has been mentioned, publishes an annual report, which I have read carefully; it was updated a couple of weeks ago. That shows that the Insolvency Service is a big and important agency. I was surprised to learn that it spends some £625 million per year. By statute, it has to report on its activities, and I was pleased to see that it has an 84% customer satisfaction result, on which I congratulate it and the Minister. But it is not clear to me from reading this report that the specific items requested in Amendment 6, particularly subsection (2) of the proposed new clause, would be required to be disclosed as separate, specific issues. I welcome the Minister’s views on how we can best achieve some transparency, and how the Government are getting on with implementing this Bill and achieving the aims we all seek.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Callanan) (Con)]

My Lords, Amendments 4, 5 and 6 seek to put reporting requirements into statute, and I am happy to comment on them. I am grateful to noble Lords for giving me the opportunity to talk both about the process of investigation and disqualification and the reporting work that the Insolvency Service already undertakes. I also put on record my thanks to the noble Baroness, Lady Blake, the noble Lord, Lord Fox, and my noble friend Lord Leigh, for the very constructive and helpful meetings that we have had in the lead-up to this debate.

Before I talk specifically about resourcing and reporting of investigative outcomes, let me take some time to remind noble Lords of the process which leads to the disqualification of company directors, focusing on the situation where a company is subject to insolvency proceedings—which is different to the situation where a company is dissolved. The officeholder, whether they be an administrative receiver, a liquidator or an administrator, must report to the Secretary of State on the conduct of the directors of the company within three months of the company going into insolvent liquidation, administration or administrative receivership. Upon receipt of this conduct return, the Insolvency Service will assess the information provided to prioritise the case in terms of its public interest. Factors that could be considered—for the benefit of my noble friend Lord Leigh—might be the seriousness of the misconduct in terms of the damage caused, the previous behaviour of the director in question and the need for protection of the public from the actions of the director. This assessment is used to prioritise the most serious cases, which are then investigated using the powers in the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.

Of course, not all investigations will lead to disqualification proceedings being brought. One outcome of the investigation might be that the director acted reasonably given the information that was available to them at the time, and if this became apparent then the investigation would be concluded. Where there is evidence of misconduct, though, and the Secretary of State is satisfied that public interest criteria are met, disqualification proceedings may be sought, either through an application to the court or through the director giving an undertaking not to act as such for a period of time, depending on the determined seriousness of the misconduct. An application for disqualification must not be made after three years from the start of the insolvency proceedings unless the court gives its permission. For unfit directors of insolvent companies, the period of disqualification can be between two and 15 years.

Following on from successful disqualification proceedings, if it can be identified that the director’s conduct caused losses to creditors, then the Secretary of State may seek payment from the director for their benefit by way of disqualification compensation. As with the disqualification proceedings, this may be dealt with by way of an application to a court or by an undertaking given by the director. Compensation may be paid to the Secretary of State for the benefit of a specific creditor or creditors, or a specific class or classes of creditors, or instead may be paid to the insolvency officeholder for the benefit of all creditors.

Compensation work is undertaken by investigators at the Insolvency Service, so as much of the money as possible may be returned to creditors. I confirm for the benefit of the noble Lord, Lord Fox, and my noble friend Lord Leigh, that no preference is given to any particular creditors or groups of creditors, other than that the compensation payments are for the benefit of those who have lost out as a result of the misconduct. It is important to note also that, if the insolvency officeholder had already used the various provisions in the Insolvency Act 1986 which allow them to seek recoveries for the benefit of creditors, such as the fraudulent or wrongful trading provisions, then compensation would very probably not be sought for the conduct which led to those claims so that the directors would not face double jeopardy.

Noble Lords will have seen that the Bill gives a similar standing to the new measures to investigate and disqualify former directors of dissolved companies as currently exists for insolvent companies and they use the same sections of the Company Directors Disqualification Act. Unlike insolvent companies, though, there will not be an officeholder in a dissolved company, so the investigation process will not start with a report on the director’s conduct. Instead, the Secretary of State will in most cases be alerted to potential misconduct through complaints received by members of the public. This will not mean that conduct reports provided by insolvency officeholders will be overlooked in favour of complaints received in dissolved companies. All will be assessed in terms of their relative seriousness and the level of public interest. A disqualification application must not be made after three years from the date of dissolution unless the court gives its permission.

This would perhaps be an appropriate point in my remarks to pay tribute to the excellent work of insolvency practitioners, who provide the conduct returns to the Insolvency Service, and who in many cases continue to assist with the investigative effort beyond that initial assessment.

Noble Lords may well recall that these measures were developed and consulted on back in 2018, before any of us had even heard of a disease called Covid-19 or a bounce-back loan. At the time, the Insolvency Service had been receiving a regular low level of complaints about the abuse of the process of company dissolution. Many of those complaints concerned its use in phoenix companies—where one company is dissolved only for another to spring up essentially doing the same thing but without the debts. Because of the dissolution, the Insolvency Service had been unable to take action against the directors responsible. The opinions of stakeholders on new powers to tackle this kind of misconduct were sought, and these were generally fairly positively received. Implementation of the measures has now become even more important and more urgent because of the risk of abuse of the dissolution process to avoid repayment of bounce-back loans.

This brings me to the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Blake. I can tell the noble Baroness that the Bounce Back Loan Scheme closed for new applicants on 31 March 2021. At the time of the scheme’s closure, £47.4 billion-worth of finance had been provided to some 1.5 million businesses. Given the levels of uncertainty around the economy and the virus, the anticipated fraud levels are very preliminary and speculative. They are not based on any repayment data because that did not even begin until May 2021.

I make a final point on the process for disqualification. I can confirm to my noble friend Lord Leigh that it would not be necessary for a company to be restored to the register for the conduct of its directors to be investigated, and the same applies if and when compensation is sought from a disqualified former director of a dissolved company. There will be no automatic restoration process, nor is there any need for one for the purposes of the investigation and disqualification. This way, the costs and administrative burden of restoration can be avoided.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Fox (LD)]

Before the Minister sits down, first I thank the Minister, who has largely been able to meet most of our concerns. On a point of clarification, he said something like, “There will be no automatic restoration process, nor is there a need for one” for the purposes of investigation and disqualification. Does that also mean that there would be no need for one for the purposes of pursuing a compensation order? Can the Minister confirm that there does not need to be reinstatement for the compensation order to be pursued?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Yes, it is my understanding that the Bill, if passed, will enable compensation to be pursued, and there is no need for the restoration of companies to the register for that to take place.

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I start by thanking the Minister for a very full response. Sometimes when I get a very full response, I wonder whether it is an attempt to overload the system, but actually it was very technical. I also thank him—I think on behalf of us all—for taking time to bring his officials together to talk us through it.

We established in Committee that the Bill does not have the capacity to deal with some of the serious concerns raised in our discussions. We will need to revisit some of the worst excesses and infringements of current legislation. Some of the personal testimonies to the levels of fraud and the fact that some directors were re-emerging and getting away with some unspeakable behaviour is still of huge concern to us all.

On reporting, would it be possible to have a conversation on how we can pull out the relevant information from the various reports to which the Minister referred? With the best will in the world, we will not all be able to sit down to go through a whole set of annual accounts. With the particular experience with Covid and the extent of concern about it, there is a real need for transparency. I hope that we can pick this up and take it forward.

My concern about resourcing is still very live, and I hope that after the reassurance on the spending review and the need to focus on this, the debate in this Chamber will help to inform the decisions that are made. Noble Lords will have heard several in-depth media reports on the concern about the levels of fraud that have been perpetrated over the past 18 months, and I think there is a lot more to come to light.

I thank the Minister for his reassurances, and we will keep scrutinising progress in this important area. I look forward to opportunities—perhaps through further legislation—to deal with some of the real problems that continue.