• Liquidation, Recovery & Personal Insolvency
• Personal service from Licensed IP
• Free, confidential consultation with Steve Ford
• Based in Leicestershire and covering the Midlands
• Most solutions offered at no cost to you

Licensed Insolvency Practitioners offering cost effective solutions to Directors of Limited Companies and Sole Traders.

Licensed Insolvency Practitioners offering cost effective solutions to Directors of Limited Companies and Sole Traders. Our low overheads mean that we can offer a professional service cheaper than virtually all of our competitors. Call us now for a quote.

At S P Ford and Co we try to deal with each situation sympathetically. We offer a free initial consultation and try to find the best solution to fit the specific problems that our clients may be experiencing.

Whether you're looking to restart your business close down and move on to other projects or just hoping to get your life back on track we can help.

About Us

S P Ford & Co is a family run business operating from Lutterworth in Leicestershire, providing business recovery, liquidation and personal insolvency services.
Why choose us:
Personal, friendly service from a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner
Initial meeting is free
Happy to meet you at any location convenient to you
Extremely competitive prices
We pride ourselves on our ability to listen, to understand and, ultimately, to offer sound, sensible advice as to the best options available.
Above all we appreciate that bad things happen to good people. Our role is to make the solution, to what is often a very difficult situation, as painless and straight forward as possible.

Administration

The Administration option provides Companies with protection, often from imminent threats from creditors.
The process, empowered by the Insolvency Act 1986, allows a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner to be appointed as Administrator with a view to, where possible, rescuing the Company and/or its business.
Your chosen Insolvency Practitioner, hopefully Steve Ford of S P Ford & Co., will work with you to try and achieve the best possible result for you and your creditors.
Pre-Pack Administration
Often the best solution for a Company is for its assets to be sold, for a fair value, to those who already know how it operates i.e its current Directors.
A pre-pack Adminstration gives protection to the Company from its creditors while the Directors and Insolvency Practitioner work together to assess a fair value for the business. When an agreement has been reached which both the Insolvency Practitioner and the Directors, or whoever is purchasing the business, are comfortable with, the Administrator is then appointed.
As soon as the Administrator is appointed he signs over the business to the purchaser, typically the Directors of the original company. The Administrator then notifies the Company's creditors that the Company is in Administration and that the business has been sold.
In order to justify the use of the Administration process the Insolvency Practitioner has to be able to evidence that a better return to at least one class of creditor has been achieved as oppose to the option of Liquidation.
Typically the Administration option will be used where there are assets with a fairly significant value (£15,000 or more). Where the assets are worth less than this the process of a Phoenix Liquidation is more appropriate and can achieve the same goal, legitimately transferring the assets of the insolvent Company back to its Directors to allow them a fresh start.

Company Voluntary Arrangement – CVA

Company Voluntary Arrangement – CVA
A Company Voluntary Arrangement, or CVA, is a formal method of negotiating a sensible agreement with creditors.
With a CVA the existing Company continues to trade. There is no need to set up a new Company through which to trade and therefore no need for the Directors to purchase the assets of the Company. Cashflow wise, and perception wise, the CVA is often an attractive alternative to Liquidation.
The main benefits of a CVA are:
Allows the Company to trade on, with legal protection from creditors
The Company makes one, affordable, payment in respect of all of its debts
Typically allows the Company to write off a percentage of its debt
Gives creditors a better return than liquidation
Has standing with HMRC and allows them to be more flexible/accommodating
Offers the Company and its Directors a light at the end of the tunnel
The offer typically takes the form of a monthly contribution from the Company into a bank account administered by a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner. Distributions are then made on a regular basis to the creditors in relation to all of the debts which existed prior to the CVA being agreed.
Whilst in a CVA the Company is protected from its creditors who cannot commence or continue any legal action in relation to the debts included in the Arrangement.
HMRC are very supportive of this procedure and are likely to accept a sensible offer which gives them a better return than the alternative which is often liquidation. Outside of the CVA, the offices of HMRC with which Directors and Company Accountants normally have to negotiate are extremely limited in what they are able to accept.
HMRC accept the majority of properly drafted CVA Proposals which can give the Company up to 5 years to make repayments.
The offer must be accepted by 75% of creditors, by value, and by more than 50% of independent, non-associated creditors.

It is also often the case that the CVA will allow the Company to write off a significant percentage of its debt.
A typical CVA may, for example, offer to pay creditors 50% of what they are owed over a 5 year period. At its successful conclusion the remaining debt is completely written off.
In order for the CVA offer to be acceptable to most creditors, including HMRC, it typically has to fulfil the following criteria:
Must offer a better return to creditors than Liquidation
Must be a fair offer – i.e the contribution is as much as the Company can afford, over a sensible amount of time (typically 5 years if the debt is not to be repaid in full)
Click here for a flowchart highlighting how the CVA process will typically work.