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The Insolvency Act 1986 priority list

    Fixed charge holders
    Insolvency practitioner fees and expenses, s 176ZA
    Preferential creditors, ss 40, 115, 175, 386 and Sch 6
    Ring fenced fund for unsecured creditors, s 176A and SI 2003/2097
    Floating charge holders
    Unsecured creditors, s 74(2)(f)
    Interest on debts proved in winding up, s 189
    Money due to a member under a contract to redeem or repurchase shares not completed before winding up, CA 2006 s 735
    Debts due to members under s 74(2)(f)
    Repayment of residual interests to preference, and then ordinary shareholders.

Sources: Insolvency Act 1986 and Companies Act 2006

Since the Bankruptcy Act 1542 a key principle of insolvency law has been that losses are shared among creditors proportionately. Creditors who fall into the same class will share proportionally in the losses (e.g. each creditor gets 50 pence for each £1 she is owed). However, this pari passu principle only operates among creditors within the strict categories of priority set by the law:[32]

    The law permits creditors making contracts with a company before insolvency to take a security interest over a company's property. If the security is refers to some specific asset, the holder of this "fixed charge" may take the asset away free from anybody else's interest in order to satisfy the debt. If two charges are created over the same property, the charge holder with the first will have the first access.
    The Insolvency Act 1986 section 176ZA gives special priority to all the fees and expenses of the insolvency practitioner, who carries out an administration or winding up. The practitioner's expenses will include the wages due on any employment contract that the practitioner chooses to adopt.[33] But controversially, the Court of Appeal in Krasner v McMath held this would not include the statutory requirement to pay compensation for a management's failure to consult upon collective redundancies.[34]
    Even if they are not retained, employees' wages up to £800 and sums due into employees' pensions, are to be paid under section 175.
    A certain amount of money must be set aside as a "ring fenced fund" for all creditors without security under section 176A. This is set by statutory instrument as a maximum of £600,000, or 20 per cent of the remaining value, or 50 per cent of the value of anything under £10,000. All these preferential categories (for insolvency practitioners, employees, and a limited amount for unsecured creditors) come in priority to the holder of a floating charge.
    Floating charge holders come next. Like a fixed charge, a floating charge can be created by a contract with a company before insolvency. Like with a fixed charge, this is usually done in return for a loan from a bank. But unlike a fixed charge, a floating charge need not refer to a specific asset of the company. It can cover the entire business, including a fluctuating body of assets that is traded with day today, or assets that a company will receive in future. The preferential categories were created by statute to prevent secured creditors taking all assets away. This reflected the view that the power of freedom of contract should be limited to protect employees, small businesses or consumers who have unequal bargaining power.[35]
    After funds are taken away to pay all preferential groups and the holder of a floating charge, the remaining money due to unsecured creditors. In 2001 recovery rates were found to be 53% of one's debt for secured lenders, 35% for preferential creditors but only 7% for unsecured creditors on average.[36]
    Any money due for interest on debts proven in the winding up process.
    Money due to company members under a share redemption contract.
    Debts due to members who hold preferential rights.
    Ordinary shareholders, who have the right to residual assets.