JOINT AND SEVERAL MUST BE NEXT
The auditors leading the profession’s campaign for reform of joint and several liability this week called for renewed pressure on the Government, following the concession over limited liability partnerships, writes Hooman Bassirian.
Graham Ward, chairman of the English ICA’s joint and several working party, said the LLP White Paper did not signal the end of the reform campaign.
`I interpret this (the LLP decision) as being something that the Government saw as simultaneously urgent but more simple to deal with than the issue of proportionality.’
Ward said he was expecting a policy statement from the Government on joint and several by the end of this month. He added that the results of a three-month Department of Trade & Industry consultation, examining the arguments in favour of reforming the law, should be ready at the same time.
He said: ‘It would be unbelievably disappointing not have anything (from the Government) before next year.’
A DTI spokesman, however, refused to confirm that the department was poised to make a policy statement on the joint and several issue. He said the DTI was still considering its response and that there was no set date for the release of the consultation exercise’s results. Those would be released ‘in due course’, he added.
