FOI request (FOIR-141050031)

Change of carriage Bankruptcy Proceedings

1. Does your council billing authority or has it in the past, instigated bankruptcy proceeding against individuals by out sourcing this work to an external solicitor firm rather than carrying out this work in-house. For both council tax and business rates.

2. Does your council or have they in the past, instructed a external solicitor or solicitors firm to serve a Statutory Demand and a Bankruptcy Petition, do they further instruct a Process Server on the council billing authority behalf, or is this local service carried out by your in-house team of lawyers to save costs.

3. Does your council billing authority now or have they in the past changed the carriage of your petition to a different creditor.

4. Has the change of carriage of your petition ever been taken over by your external solicitor as a creditor in their own right and if so has an order been made by the court as to the change in carriage.

5. If your external solicitor has notified the council billing authority under The Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 s.10.29 of their intention to appear at a hearing and apply to the court for an order giving that person carriage of the petition in place of the original council billing authority petitioner, instead of prosecuting the original petition on your council's behalf.  Please state the name of the person ("the relevant person")and how they became a creditor to the debtor, and if their debt was unsecured or secured. And whether their debt occurred due to appearing in court on behalf of the council billing authority in connection with the council instigating bankruptcy proceedings and instructing them to attend.

6. Please state the occasions and dates that the council billing authority as a petitioner has failed to prosecute your petition etc under this section of the insolvency rules and the reason given.

7. Please provide the date and the name of the court that made the order.