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Section 391: Recognised professional bodies

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

Part XIII: Insolvency Practitioners and their Qualification

The Secretary of State may by order, if satisfied that a body meets the requirements of subsection (4), declare the body to be a recognised professional body which is capable of providing its insolvency specialist members with full authorisation or partial authorisation.

The Secretary of State may by order, if satisfied that a body meets the requirements of subsection (4), declare the body to be a recognised professional body which is capable of providing its insolvency specialist members with partial authorisation only of the kind specified in the order (as to which, see section 390A(1)).

Section 391A makes provision about the making by a body of an application to the Secretary of State for an order under this section.

The requirements are that—

the body regulates (or is going to regulate) the practice of a profession,
the body has rules which it is going to maintain and enforce for securing that its insolvency specialist members—
are fit and proper persons to act as insolvency practitioners, and
meet acceptable requirements as to education and practical training and experience, and
the body's rules and practices for or in connection with authorising persons to act as insolvency practitioners, and its rules and practices for or in connection with regulating persons acting as such, are designed to ensure that the regulatory objectives are met (as to which, see section 391C).

An order of the Secretary of State under this section has effect from such date as is specified in the order.

An order under this section may be revoked by an order under section 391L or 391N (and see section 415A(1)(b)).

In this Part—

references to members of a recognised professional body are to persons who, whether members of that body or not, are subject to its rules in the practice of the profession in question;
references to insolvency specialist members of a professional body are to members who are permitted by or under the rules of the body to act as insolvency practitioners.

A reference in this Part to a recognised professional body is to a body recognised under this section (and see sections 391L(6) and 391N(5)).

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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.