Insolvency Practitioner's fee

[DCASTLE]

Hello,

I am seeking some advice or comments, please.

I recently received a balance sheet/breakdown from the Insolvency Practitioner (IP) regarding my creditor's claim. In the breakdown, there is a charge labeled "Trustee's Remuneration" of £58,000. I assume this is the Insolvency Practitioner's fee. In my opinion, this charge seems very expensive, considering the work started in February 2025 and has now been finalised. Furthermore, there are only three parties on the creditors' list, and the total amount the IP recovered is just under £170,000. It appears that over a third of the available funds are going to the IP. Does that sound reasonable?

I was content to let the Insolvency Service handle the work, but one of the creditors insisted to use an IP instead. Since their claim is larger than mine, I had no say in objecting. As a result, I am now receiving only 12% of my total claim - less than a third of what the IP is being paid. I could scream here!

Many thanks in advance!

[Frank1]

If the company is registered you could try searching for the company accounts online at Companies House.
You may find the IP has filed a report which includes details of the work they carried out along with a cost breakdown of their fee.

[Frank1]

IP's remuneration and expenses are covered in
The Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 Part 18 Chapter 2 Progress reports and in particular 18.4 and 18.9

[DCASTLE]

IP's remuneration and expenses are covered in
The Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 Part 18 Chapter 2 Progress reports and in particular 18.4 and 18.9

Hi, thank you for your comments. I’m now on the Companies House website and was able to locate the company using the company number. On the page, there are five tabs: Overview, Filing History, People, Charges, and More. Could you please let me know which tab I should look under to find the report you mentioned?

Many thanks!

[Frank1]

I'm guessing filing history.

Another useful guidance is
"Liquidation: A guide for creditors on insolvency practitioner fees" version 1 April 2021

This guidance covers fixed and estimated fees, hourly rates, anticipation of work involved.

[DCASTLE]

I'm guessing filing history.

Another useful guidance is
"Liquidation: A guide for creditors on insolvency practitioner fees" version 1 April 2021

This guidance covers fixed and estimated fees, hourly rates, anticipation of work involved.

Thanks again! I'm really sorry, but I don't seem to be able to locate the report on the Companies House website.

I did a Google search and found that the company charges between £350 and £470 per hour for directors and IPs, and between £295 and £350 per hour for managers and assistant managers. Their rates seem as high as those of a senior solicitor/solicitor partner. Also, to generate a fee of £58,000, they would have had to spend over 100 hours. However, the case seems quite straightforward to me, unless there were a lot of things going on behind the scenes that I’m not aware of.

[Frank1]

Read through the guidance provided in posts 3 and 5, then formally write to the IP querying their fees. You may want in your letter to refer to the particular guidance document and paragraph number

[DCASTLE]

Read through the guidance provided in posts 3 and 5, then formally write to the IP querying their fees. You may want in your letter to refer to the particular guidance document and paragraph number

Thanks! I am reading the guidance report from post 3 now.

[Frank1]

Refer to para 4.1.4 in the guidance in post 5
'
"Payments to a liquidator from a liquidation should be fair and reasonable............."

Unless those hourly rates were agreed by creditors beforehand the fees sound unreasonable.

State you are unable to find their reports on Companies House register and ask if there is a reason for this

[DCASTLE]

Just wanted to double-check: do these guidelines apply to personal insolvency? It's an individual who owes me money, not a company. Sorry for not mentioning that at the start.

[Frank1]

Have you forgotten your post 4?

[DCASTLE]

Have you forgotten your post 4?

I’m sorry, I don’t follow. Also, apologies if I have misunderstood the context.

In relation to post 4, I looked up the insolvency company where the IP works on the Companies House website. My understanding is that the IP manages business liquidation and personal bankruptcy. In my case, I am owed money by an individual who went bankrupt just over a year ago. I noticed that the guidance reports you referred to mention 'liquidation', which is why I wondered whether those reports—or the associated rules—also apply to personal bankruptcy.

[Tofros]

I think I see the misunderstanding here. In cases of corporate insolvency the insolvency practitioner files reports at companies house on the file for the bankrupt company not on their own organisations file. The OP was looking at the IP file. I don’t know what happens re reporting when the bankrupt is an individual.

[Frank1]

IP's must be approved by creditors in bankruptcy. Creditors have the right to propose an alternative practitioner if they consider another may provide better value or service.
If a creditor is unable to resolve a dispute with the IP's fees they can contact the regulatory body for assistance.

[DCASTLE]

IP's must be approved by creditors in bankruptcy. Creditors have the right to propose an alternative practitioner if they consider another may provide better value or service.
If a creditor is unable to resolve a dispute with the IP's fees they can contact the regulatory body for assistance.

There are three parties of creditors in this case: a legal representative of the debtor, a group of three individuals, and myself.

The group of three individuals appointed the Insolvency Practitioner (IP) without giving me any notice. And because the total amount of their claim is higher than mine or the legal representative's individually, we essentially had no say in the matter.

I was not made aware of the IP’s fees or rates beforehand. I simply assumed that, as a fellow creditor making a claim, the group of three individuals would have done their due diligence and selected the right IP—someone offering good value for money and quality service—to handle the case. However, now that I see a “Trustee's Remuneration” of £58,000, I seriously doubt that those individuals knew what they were doing in the first place.