Insolvency Service report into Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs)
Insolvency Service report into concerns about take-on practices for Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs).
Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales
Documents
Details
An Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) is a form of debt relief under the Insolvency Act 1986 that are available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
While IVAs can work well for many, if an IVA is unsuitable, it can leave consumers struggling with their household budget, being in debt for longer, or even acquiring more debt to make IVA payments.
As a result of concerns in this area, there has been a particular focus on improving the quality of take-on procedures for IVAs with new standards, monitoring guidance, and action by the FCA and the Advertising Standards Authority. As well as increased consumer call monitoring, targeted inspections, and regulatory and disciplinary action taken by Recognised Professional Bodies (‘RPBs’).
To understand if there is a problem, the extent of the problem and what form that problem might take the Insolvency Service commissioned RSM UK Creditor Solutions LLP in November 2023 to carry out ‘Research into Concerns around IVAs’.
This research has collected and analysed 310 randomly sampled IVAs that had been both registered and terminated in England and Wales in the period from 17th September 2021 to 17th September 2023 (the ‘dataset’).
The analysis considered three key questions:
- What proportion of terminated IVAs were identified as being subject to poor take-on practices?
- What are the most prevalent categories of poor take-on?
- What proportion of terminated IVAs with poor take-on came from different take-on procedures?
Find out more about the the main concerns that have come from the findings of the research:
www.gov.uk/guidance/insolvency-service-research-into-individual-voluntary-arrangements-ivas