Report of the Review Committee on Insolvency Law and Practice

Report of the Review Committee on Insolvency Law and Practice (1982) Cmnd 8558, also known as the "Cork Report" was an investigation and set of recommendations on modernisation and reform of UK insolvency law. It was chaired by Kenneth Cork and was commissioned by the Labour government in 1977. The Cork Report was followed by a White Paper in 1984, A Revised Framework for Insolvency Law (1984) Cmnd 9175, and these led to the Insolvency Act 1986.

Principles

The two key principles suggested by Cork were:

Recommendations

Rescue culture

The central argument of the report was that too many companies were simply left to die, when they could be revived, saved or brought to a close in a more orderly way. Cork advocated that the law should encourage a "rescue culture", to restore companies back to profitability, which would be in the longer term interests of creditors.

Floating charges

It also said there was no place for automatic crystallisation of floating charges ‘in modern insolvency law’, on the basis that it would adversely affect other creditors and that the charge did not need to be registered.