New Act to relieve burden on businesses during COVID-19

A new Act has been passed which will relieve the burden on businesses during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill, which came into effect immediately on Friday 26^th June, allows businesses to focus all their efforts on continuing to operate through the pandemic.

A summary of the Act:

• Introduces temporary easements for Annual General Meetings (AGMs) and filing requirements for public limited companies (PLCs)
• Introduces new corporate restructuring tools to the insolvency regime to give companies the time they need to maximise their chance of survival
• Temporarily suspends parts of insolvency law to support directors during this difficult time

Under the secondary legislation, companies will receive an automatic extension for:

• Confirmation statements
• Registrations of charges (mortgage)
• Event-driven filings, such as a change to your company’s directors or people with significant control

Most companies will also be given more time to file their accounts.

Next steps:

Further guidance is available on the Gov.co.uk website outlining the details of the Act, including changes for PLCs with an accounts filing deadline between 26^th March 2020 and 29^th September 2020, as well as guidance for private companies.

Deadlines will be updated automatically, and you do not need to apply for an extension.

If you have already extended your accounts filing deadline, you may not be eligible for an extension. It’s important that you file your documents by the new deadline.

For more advice and support for your busines during COVID-19, visit the Coronavirus Hub on our website.