Remedy
Start free

Section 402: Official Petitioner.

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

Part XIV: Public Administration (England and Wales)

There continues to be an officer known as the Official Petitioner for the purposes of discharging, in relation to cases in which a criminal bankruptcy order is made, the functions assigned to him by or under this Act; and the Director of Public Prosecutions continues, by virtue of his office, to be the Official Petitioner.

The functions of the Official Petitioner include the following—

to consider whether, in a case in which a criminal bankruptcy order is made, it is in the public interest that he should himself present a petition under section 264(1)(d) of this Act;
to present such a petition in any case where he determines that it is in the public interest for him to do so;
to make payments, in such cases as he may determine, towards expenses incurred by other persons in connection with proceedings in pursuance of such a petition; and
to exercise, so far as he considers it in the public interest to do so, any of the powers conferred on him by or under this Act.

Any functions of the Official Petitioner may be discharged on his behalf by any person acting with his authority.

Neither the Official Petitioner nor any person acting with his authority is liable to any action or proceeding in respect of anything done or omitted to be done in the discharge, or purported discharge, of the functions of the Official Petitioner.

In this section "criminal bankruptcy order" means an order under section 39(1) of the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973.

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.