Month: August 2023

The bankruptcy process applies to people living in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. There is a separate process known as sequestration in Scotland. Bankruptcy is a form of insolvency and is normally only suitable for those people who are unable to pay back their debts in a reasonable time. Most applications for bankruptcy are made by those who are in debt, but it is also possible for a person to be made bankrupt.

You can be made bankrupt if you:

• do not pay your debts and you owe £5,000 or more;
• break the terms of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA); or
• gave information that wasn’t true to get an IVA.

This process is usually seen as a last resort for creditors as there are significant costs involved and creditors will want to be sure that they will get back the money they are owed.

Initially, creditors are required to try other legal ways to get someone to pay their debt. This is usually a statutory demand or a court judgment.

If you’re made bankrupt:

• your assets can be used to pay your debts;
• you’ll have to follow bankruptcy restrictions; and
• your name and details will be published on the Individual Insolvency Register.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on 2 August 2023 and voted 6-3 in favour of raising interest rates by 25 basis points to 5.25% in a move to further contain inflation. One member of the MPC voted to keep the rate at 5% whilst two others favoured an increase to 5.5%. This is the fourteenth consecutive time that the MPC has increased interest rates with rates now the highest they have been since 2008.

This means that the late payment interest rate applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC charges interest has increased by 0.25% to 7.75%.

These changes came into effect on:

• 14 August 2023 for quarterly instalment payments; and
• 22 August 2023 for non-quarterly instalments payments.

The repayment interest rates applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC pays interest on have increased by 0.25% to 4.25% from 22 August 2023. The repayment rate is set at the Bank Rate minus 1%, with a 0.5% lower limit.

Charities in Scotland are regulated by an independent body. This body is called the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). The OSCR is the regulator and registrar for over 25,000 Scottish charities including community groups, religious charities, schools, universities, grant-giving charities and major care providers. 

The OSCR was established under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (the 2005 Act). The 2005 Act sets out the powers that OSCR has to regulate charities. This includes publishing and maintaining the Scottish Charity Register.

There is currently a Bill making its way through the Scottish Parliament that will update the 2005 Act.

The bill is intended to:

• give OSCR wider powers to investigate charities and charity trustees;
• amend the rules on who can be a charity trustee or a senior office-holder in a charity;
• increase the information that OSCR holds about charity trustees;
• update the information which needs to be included on the Scottish Charity Register; and
• create a record of charities that have merged.

These changes will keep Scottish legislation in line with changes that have been made in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to improve charity legislation since the Act came into effect in 2005.