The Department of Trade (DTI) has launched a detailed rebuttal of research that concluded the recent overhaul of corporate insolvency was an embarrassing own goal for the government's drive to achieve more corporate rescues.
A survey of 300 insolvency practitioners by law firm Manches found 77% thought the reforms would fail in their declared aim of achieving greater corporate rescue. Almost two-thirds believed the changes would contribute to increasing levels of insolvency in the coming year.
Commenting on the findings, Vernon Dennis, a partner at Manches, said: “The survey was pretty categorical in its conclusions. Insolvency practitioners who are at the coal face would say there's a great deal of scepticism bordering on cynicism as to whether it will have the desired effect.”
