FOI22_23-077 - Disqualification orders (both sought and successful)
Published 20 January 2023
© Crown copyright 2023
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/insolvency-service-foi-responses-october-to-december-2022/foi22_23-077-disqualification-orders-both-sought-and-successful
Our ref: FOI22/23-077
Re: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request
Thank you for your email of 12 October in which you requested from the Insolvency Service:
- Broken down by year (2016/17 to 2021/22) plus the current financial year, I would like to be provided with the a) number of director disqualification orders BEIS has applied for b) the number that were successfully obtained.
- In addition, I would like to be provided with any corresponding BEIS press releases regarding any cases related to 1
1) Your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
2) I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested (subject to the qualification at point 5 below) and I have provided answers to your questions below.
3) For question 1(a) please see below table which shows the number of director disqualification orders and post issue disqualification undertakings[1] the Insolvency Service (INSS) applied for since 2016.
| 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 YTD | |
| Total Proceedings Issued | 335 | 234 | 208 | 246 | 205 | 192 | 71 |
| Disqualifications | 307 | 212 | 191 | 220 | 168 | 122 | 8 |
| Proceedings Withdrawn / Lost | 28 | 22 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 7 | 0 |
| Awaiting Outcome | 5 | 11 | 26 | 63 | 63 |
4) Please note that the figures above are cases where proceedings have been issued at court. Most of our disqualifications are obtained without issuing proceedings (pre-issue undertakings).
5) The figures provided relate only to disqualification orders sought by the INSS. Whilst the INSS applies for the large majority of director disqualification orders, Companies House, also part of BEIS, has powers to disqualify directors for persistent breaches of companies legislation (under section 3 Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (CDDA)). You can make an FOI request to Companies House here.
6) The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is a non-ministerial department (and not part of BEIS), can also seek disqualification orders (under section 9A CDDA). If you wish to contact them, you can do so through their website.
7) For question 1(b) please see our published statistics on investigation outcomes, which include successful disqualification orders. This data can be found here.
8) Our Press Office does not publish a press release for every disqualification order successfully obtained, only those that are deemed of public interest. All press releases are published on our website.
Complaints
If you are not satisfied with this response and would like us to reconsider our decision by way of an internal review (IR) please contact our Information Rights Team at foi@insolvency.gov.uk or by post at:
Information Rights Team
The Insolvency Service
3rd Floor
Cannon House
18 Priory Queensway
Birmingham
B4 6FD
United Kingdom
You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you wish for them to investigate any complaint you may have regarding our handling of your request. However, please note that the ICO is likely to expect an IR to have been completed in the first instance.
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Team
The Insolvency Service
[1] An undertaking is an agreement by the director to be subject to the same restrictions as a disqualification order and which has the same effect as a disqualification order.