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Section 251P: Concealment or falsification of documents

Insolvency Act 1986 · 1986 c. 45View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 7A: Debt relief orders

A person in respect of whom a debt relief order is made is guilty of an offence if, during the moratorium period in relation to that order—

he does not provide, at the request of the official receiver, all his books, papers and other records of which he has possession or control and which relate to his affairs;
he prevents the production to the official receiver of any books, papers or other records relating to his affairs;
he conceals, destroys, mutilates or falsifies, or causes or permits the concealment, destruction, mutilation or falsification of, any books, papers or other records relating his affairs;
he makes, or causes or permits the making of, any false entries in any book, document or record relating to his affairs; or
he disposes of, or alters or makes any omission in, or causes or permits the disposal, altering or making of any omission in, any book, document or record relating to his affairs.

A person in respect of whom a debt relief order is made is guilty of an offence if—

he did anything falling within paragraphs (c) to (e) of subsection (1) during the period of 12 months ending with the application date; or
he did anything falling within paragraphs (b) to (e) of subsection (1) after that date but before the effective date.

A person is not guilty of an offence under this section if he proves that, in respect of the conduct constituting the offence, he had no intent to defraud or to conceal the state of his affairs.

In its application to a trading record subsection (2)(a) has effect as if the reference to 12 months were a reference to two years.

In subsection (4) "trading record" means a book, document or record which shows or explains the transactions or financial position of a person's business, including—

a periodic record of cash paid and received,
a statement of periodic stock-taking, and
except in the case of goods sold by way of retail trade, a record of goods sold and purchased which identifies the buyer and seller or enables them to be identified.

It is immaterial for the purposes of an offence under this section whether or not the debt relief order in question is revoked after the conduct constituting the offence takes place (but no offence is committed under this section by virtue of conduct occurring after the order is revoked).

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.