This can cause significant problems and if you believe you have (or are about to) breach your disqualification order then you should seek legal advice immediately.

A director can breach a disqualification order in multiple ways, the most common of which will be acting as a director while disqualified or breaching a provision of their S17 permission order.

If you breach a disqualification order, you are then committing a criminal offence, and you could be fined and/or go to prison for up to 2 years and may be disqualified for a further period.

It is quite common for multiple sets of proceedings to run in circumstances like the above. Whereby the Insolvency Service will seek to disqualify you for a further period of time for the breach of the order, and you will be subject to criminal investigations and potentially proceedings.

In addition to the above, it is worth noting the following:

(1) If you are found to be acting in breach of your disqualification order, then you may become personally liable for any debts of the company that are incurred while you are contravening the disqualification. This, therefore, can cause significant financial hardship.

(2) If a disqualification order has been made against, or an undertaking given by, a director, and that company contravenes the disqualification, then all the other offices and managers may be punished as if the order or undertaking applied to them personally.

(3) If you ask somebody to act on your behalf, then that person could also be prosecuted, disqualified and/or made liable for the company’s debts.

If you encounter any of the above issues, we advise you to seek advice immediately. If this is a criminal matter, we have appropriate contacts that can work in tandem with our team to best assist you moving forward.

Section 13 – 15 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/46/crossheading/consequences-of-contravention