Insolvency Act 1986, section 124A

Petition for winding up on grounds of public interest

Part IV Winding Up of Companies Registered under the Companies Acts

(1)Where it appears to the Secretary of State from—

(a)any report made or information obtained under Part XIV [F293 (except section 448A)F293] of the M6 Companies Act 1985 (company investigations, &c.),

[F294 (b)any report made by inspectors under—

(i)section 167, 168, 169 or 284 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, or

(ii)where the company is an open-ended investment company (within the meaning of that Act), regulations made as a result of section 262(2)(k) of that Act;

(bb)any information or documents obtained under section 165, 171, 172, 173 or 175 of that Act,F294]

(c)any information obtained under section 2 of the M7 Criminal Justice Act 1987 or [F295 section 28 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995F295] (fraud investigations), or

(d)any information obtained under section 83 of the Companies Act 1989 (powers exercisable for purpose of assisting overseas regulatory authorities),

that it is expedient in the public interest that a company should be wound up, he may present a petition for it to be wound up if the court thinks it just and equitable for it to be so.

(2)This section does not apply if the company is already being wound up by the court.F292]

Definitions used in section 124A 1

the company

2 Section 233B does not apply in relation to a contract for the supply of goods or services to a company (“the company”) where any of paragraphs 3 to 11 applies.

Defined in Sch.4ZZA para.2 · see it in the full Act

Cases considering section 124A 33

The Commissioners For HMRC v Payroll & Pension Services (PPS Umbrella Company) Ltd

[2024] EWCA Civ 995 · 23 August 2024Limits

The provision gives the Secretary of State, rather than HMRC generally, a public-interest winding-up route where the statutory conditions are met. The court used that legislative allocation to reject an enlarged public-interest category for HMRC. (see paras [15]; [29]; [40])

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy And Industrial Strategy v PAG Asset Preservation Ltd

[2020] EWCA Civ 1017 · 31 July 2020Interprets

The Secretary of State’s view that winding up is expedient permits presentation of the petition, but the court must independently decide whether winding up is just and equitable. It must balance all the circumstances and identify the public interest which an order would promote (see paras [38]-[40]; [61]-[62]).

Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform v Amway (UK) Ltd

[2009] EWCA Civ 32 · 29 January 2009Interprets

The court treated section 124 A as conferring a discretion to decide whether winding up was just and equitable at the hearing, on the totality of the evidence and current circumstances. Past misconduct did not create an automatic winding-up rule where reforms altered the balance. (see paras [1]; [28]-[29]; [62]-[65])

13 more judgments, and what each says about section 124A, are in the case-law panel in the full Act.

Amendments and notes

8 notes from legislation.gov.uk

Amendments

  1. F292S. 124A inserted by Companies Act 1989 (c. 40, SIF 27), ss. 60(3), 213(2)
  2. F293Words in s. 124A(1)(a) inserted (by Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004 (c. 27), ss. 25(1), 65, Sch. 2 para. 27; S.I. 2004/3322, art. 2(2), Sch. 2 (subject to arts. 3-13)
  3. F294S. 124A(b)(bb) substituted for s. 124A(b) (1.12.2001) by S.I. 2001/3649, arts. 1, 305
  4. F295Words in s. 124A(1) substituted (1.4.1996) by virtue of 1995 c. 40, ss. 5, 7(2), Sch. 4 para. 56(2) and 1978 c. 30, s. 17(2)(a)

Modifications

  1. C338S. 124A applied (with modifications) (6.6.2013) by The Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (Contractual Scheme) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/1388), Pt. 3 reg. 1, Sch. 2 paras. 3, 5 Table (with reg. 24)
  2. C339S. 124A excluded (E.W.) (31.1.2019) by The Further Education Bodies (Insolvency) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/138), regs. 1(1), 16 (with regs. 1(2), 3(a)(ii))

Marginal citations

  1. M61985 c. 6 (27).
  2. M71987 c.38 (39:1).