Can I be a Director after an Insolvency?

The short answer is yes. Under company law, you can be a Director of as many companies as you like at the same time. Just because you’re a director of a company that failed and went into Liquidation or Administration, that does not prevent you from being a Director of any existing companies, or setting up any new companies of becoming a director.

There could be certain restrictions if the other company has a similar trading name or trading style to the one that has failed. On those occasions, you would want to take some professional advice on that aspect. You could also be affected if during the course of the officeholders investigations into the failed company, they found that the Directors acted improperly, then the Insolvency Service could look to take steps against those individuals to disqualify them from acting as Directors going forwards for a period of between two and 15 years.

However, I point out that only happens on a very small number of insolvencies to a very small number of Directors and usually the ones that are being disqualified are fully aware of the improper conduct that has caused the failure of the company.