There are options for directors wanting to continue in their role despite disqualification. Our team has been advising directors since 2002 on all aspects of director disqualification. Let us help you too.
Francis Wilks & Jones acted with great professionalism, responding quickly to my requirements, leading to an eventual withdrawal of the claim against me and my son. I am extremely grateful
A client who approached us just two weeks before the trial of a large director disqualification claim against him and his son
A director facing disqualification proceedings has limited options available – as with all litigation it is often the case that they must defend themselves or submit to the outcome sought.
When it is the Secretary of State threatening proceedings, it might threaten a persons career. One option is for that person to apply to court for permission to remain as a director despite disqualification. This can be a great way to solve a situation. We have a 100% success rate in these applications going back to 2002.
But it isn’t an appropriate option in all cases. We set out below other possible alternatives
Acting in the Management of a Company
Section 1 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 prohibits a disqualified director from acting as a director of a limited company without leave of the court but also prohibits any disqualified individual from acting in the,
“promotion, formation or management of a limited company unless (in each case) he has leave of the court”.
Accordingly, rather than applying for permission to act as a director, an individual subject to disqualification may apply for leave to act in any role which may fall within the above definitions.
This has two applications:
- firstly, for many individuals they may act as a senior manager or in a consultancy capacity and therefore do not have any requirement to be a director, but need the court’s permission to act in a senior role which may fall within the above definition; or
- they may see themselves acting in some management capacity – perhaps in their role as shareholder or in an advisory role as an accountant (although recent statutory changes have limited this risk) and thus need permission to continue fulfilling such a role.
As with seeking court permission to act, the benefit of the court granting permission to continue in such a role will protect the individual from future negative repercussion.
The benefit of such an application is that the public interest consideration is considered to be lower, and therefore the risk of not securing such an order also lower.
Declarations that individual not in breach of his / her disqualification
Often an individual disqualified may continue with their current occupation or continue holding shares in a small private company.
In both circumstances, they face a risk that they could accidentally breach their disqualification by overstepping their authority as shareholder/employee.
- where such risks could potentially occur then the individual may wish to consider applying to court with a detailed breakdown of their role and seeking a court order declaring that they are not in breach of their disqualification;
- if such an order is sought and obtained, this can protect against any future claim that the individual was acting as a director or in the management of their new company, and may protect against any criminal proceedings brought for a breach of their disqualification order or disqualification undertaking.
Such an application may be appropriate where faced with the risk of such criminal proceedings being issued, as an order declaring that the individual is (or was) not in breach of the disqualification will eliminate any risk of prosecution.
Risks
However there is associated risks with both of these application.
The most important of which is that the individual’s job description or role (as described in the application) may alter. If such a change subsequently occurred, it is arguable that the leave granted by the court may fall away or (at least) no longer protect the individual from future claims that s/he was acting in breach of their disqualification.
At Francis Wilks & Jones we regularly deal with director disqualification proceedings and can advise on such applications and your best options available. Please call any member of our director services team today for help.
I was greatly impressed with the commercial, tactical and technical ability of the team at FWJ. They quickly got to grips with a complex set of facts and, through their hard work, had the proceedings against me dropped and a significant proportion of my legal fees repaid. I couldn’t recommend them highly enough
A director we defended against a disqualification claim and other claims brought by a liquidator
